Often I am asked what tools do you used as a product manager? This is a toolkit I complied for my portfolio and one that I will always keep up to date. However, I realize every industry uses different tools and frameworks. Examples include Software Development Lifecycle, SCRUM, and Sprint Planning. Others are Release planning, Backlog Management, Use Cases, PRD, User stories, Epics, and Roadmapping.
These are just the tools I have used for my current role as a product manager
Product Development Cycle
Customer Research / Discovery
Through Customer discovery research, user interviews, and user surveys it can help you create the user experience journey.
Usability Skills
At core of what product management does is to bring UX, Business, and Technical side together. Bringing together stakeholders to execute on idea from conception to deployment. Usability is one those key arenas of experience and knowledge you need to development. The feature cannot just look aesthetically pleasing, it has to incur a experience for human being using your product. Start hear to get a understanding Usability 101: Introduction to Usability. Nielsen group is a great resource for learning about UX.
Also develop your own sense of design principles or learn one to follow preferable one to be used and understood by your industry and customers. Personally I am a big fan of Dieter Rams who worked for BraUn which inspired Apple’s product design.
- Good Design is innovative
- Good Design makes a product useful
- Design is aesthetic it has a effect on people
- Product is easy to understand
- Product is unobtrusive neutral
- Good Design is honest (my favorite)
- Good Design is long-lasting (do not follow trends)
- Good Design is thorough down to the last detail
- Good Design is environmentally friendly
- Good Design is as little design as possible
User Stories
I have seen variety of different Userstory structures across the industry. Each Userstory template is usually paired with Epic and it depends the culture of the organization this template is a example of Userstory I have created and you can watch me walk through my thinking .
“As a [type of user], I want to [goal], so that [benefit].”
You read the userstory here at my github.
Product Requirements Document
Currently, I keep a template for Product Requirements Documents. I do think they come in different variations. This varies from company to company I have worked with. You can copy and paste my template if you need one.
Ideation / Brainstorm
In this phase if I have the resources and budget I like to have team of UX researchers, UI/UX designers, and Technical writers collaborate to create the initial prototype.
How to Prioritize issues
Currently I use ICE method to evaluate and prioritizes steps in a user story. You can check the template here.
Sprint Planning: templates for defining sprint goals, task estimation, prioritization frameworks.
Release Planning examples: Gantt charts, roadmap alignment, dependency tracking tools (Jira, Asana).
Backlog Management: strategies for grooming, prioritization metrics, and visualized backlogs (e.g., Kanban boards).
User Journey Mapping
Journey Map simply walks the team through the experience a person goes through with your product. For example
- Users walking sees a Starbucks sign.
- Users potentially has taste for coffee.
- User walks in the coffee shop and sees RedCups.
This is oversimplification however you can just fill out the NN/g Journey Mapping. User journey map is composed of actor, scenario, expectations, journey phases, actions, mindsets, emotions, and opportunities.
User journey mapping is really to just communicate story about user or customers and the question we are asking ourselves is “What can we give users the best possible experience?” You can read more here.
Also reminder User Experience Mapping is higher level than user journey map they are different. Experience Map is just broader while User Journey is just individual actor + product.
Roadmap Presentation
- Formats for internal roadmaps: quarterly focus, theme-based planning, and resource allocation.
- Formats for external roadmaps: simplified timelines, high-level deliverables, and milestones for stakeholders/customers.
Business Case Development
- Templates for feature justification: problem statement, customer insights, cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, and ROI calculations.
- Investment cases: competitor analysis, market opportunity sizing, and strategic alignment documentation.
Product Performance Dashboards
- Examples of dashboards: real-time metrics (e.g., CTR, NPS, churn rate), trend visualizations (historical vs. goal comparisons), and actionable KPIs.
- Tools used: Looker, Tableau, or in-product analytics integrations.