9 best productivity tools for product managers
Productivity is crucial for product managers, who are responsible for wearing many hats (a.k.a are very busy!). We surveyed product managers at some of the top companies in the industry, including Google, Microsoft, and Vercel, to find out their favorite tools for staying organized and on track. Here are the top 9 productivity tools, as recommended by experienced PMs.
1. Miro
What it is
Miro is a popular online collaboration and brainstorming tool that allows you to create interactive whiteboards that can be shared and edited in real-time with remote teams. This makes it a great tool for planning and managing product development, as well as for conducting workshops and design sprints.
Miro is highly customizable and offers a wide range of templates and integrations with other tools, which makes it an excellent choice for product managers looking to streamline their workflows and improve collaboration.
Why Venkat, Group Product Manager at Okta loves it
“I love using Miro for visual thinking and brainstorming. When working with a distributed team Miro helps to collaborate with designers and engineers for brainstorming ideas, diagramming and user journey mapping etc. Miro also allows me to create low-fidelity wireframes to quickly mock up ideas.”
– Venkat Viswanathan, Group Product Manager at Okta
Why it’s awesome
- Really fun and easy to use
- Real-time collaboration features
- Customizable templates and integrations with other tools
What’s the price
- Free plan - $0
- Starter plan - $8/member/month
- Business plan - $16/member/month
Learn more at miro.com/pricing
Where to get it
2. Microsoft 365 for iPad
What it is
Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based service that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, and Outlook. With Microsoft 365 for iPad, users can create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the go, as well as access and share files from anywhere. Additionally, the service includes features such as real-time collaboration and support for cloud-based storage.
Why Ramit, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft loves it
“The Microsoft 365 app lets me make handwritten notes during meetings and sync them across all my devices. So useful! Especially when taking notes at a customer meeting where I don’t want to be on my computer and typing.”
– Ramit Arora, Senior Product Manager at Microsoft
Why it’s awesome
- Versatile tool for note-taking, drawing, and organizing ideas
- Same level of functionality and flexibility as on a desktop computer
- Seamless to pick up where you left off from your computer onto iPad
What’s the price
- Microsoft 365 Personal Plan - $6.99 for 1 user
- Microsoft 365 Family Plan - $9.99 for 6 users
Where to get it
3. ClickUp
What it is
ClickUp is a project management and collaboration platform that offers a range of features to help teams manage and organize their work. It offers tools for task and project management, document collaboration, and real-time communication, as well as integrations with other popular productivity tools. ClickUp is designed to be user-friendly and customizable, with a range of views and interfaces that allow teams to work in the way that best suits their needs. It is a popular choice for businesses and organizations looking to improve their productivity and collaboration.
Why Irtefa, my Co-Founder at Jam loves it
“ClickUp is an amazing tool for managing the product development process, from ideation to launch. It's easy to use, intuitive, but also full of powerful customization features. I also love their branding. When you signup, you get an email titled: Warm chocolate ClickUp cookies”
– Irtefa Mohd, Co-Founder, Jam
Why it’s awesome
- Highly customizable and very user-friendly
- Integrates with other popular productivity tools
- Great real-time collaboration features
What’s the price
- Free plan - $0
- Unlimited plan - $5/member/month
- Business plan - $12/member/month
- Business plus plan - $19/member/month
Learn more at clickup.com/pricing
Where to get it
4. Slack video messaging
What it is
One of Slack’s key features is the ability for users to record and send video messages, instead of typing a chat. This allows you to communicate more personally and expressively, by sharing a video of yourself speaking or showing something.
Why Simon, Senior Product Manager at Vercel loves it
“One trick I found to help with productivity is instead of setting up a call or writing a super long Slack message, just make a quick video recording on your phone. Saves a lot of time and gets the topic across with some personality.”
– Simon Wijckmans, Senior Product Manager, Vercel
Why it’s awesome
- Quick and easy to send a video
- You can share more expressively than in a typed chat
- It’s built into Slack so you don’t need another tool
What’s the price
This feature comes built-in with Slack, which costs:
- Free plan - free
- Pro plan - $7.25/person/month
- Business+ - $12.50/person/month
Learn more at slack.com/pricing
Where to get it
5. Capture
What it is
Capture is a platform that helps you manage your life by organizing information, thoughts, and goals. It's designed to help you make sense of the constant influx of ideas and information that you encounter every day. With Capture, you can easily track what's important to you, think more deeply about complex ideas, and plan for the future.
Why Rishab, Product Lead at Rippling loves it
“It’s a combination of a to-do list, Gmail and Pocket. You can use it as a to-do list and also capture articles and categorize them that you want to read later.”
– Rishab Hedge, Product Lead at Rippling
(PS - you can read more of Rishab's productivity tool recommendations in our blog interview with him here)
Why it’s awesome
- More powerful than most note-taking tools
- You can also keep track of files and links, as well as tasks, reminders, and notes
- Great collaboration features
What’s the price
- TBD, currently in Early Access
Where to get it
6. Mode Analytics
What it is
Mode Analytics is a business intelligence and data analysis platform that allows users to analyze and visualize data from various sources. It offers a range of features including SQL-based querying, collaboration tools, and pre-built analytics templates. With Mode, users can create dashboards and reports to gain insights from their data and share their findings with others. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and accessible to people with a variety of technical skill levels, making it a popular choice for businesses and organizations looking to quickly and easily gain insights from their data.
Why Nemo, Product Manager at Primitives loves it
“I’ve been using Mode Analytics to write database queries and make quick visualizations. I know my way around SQL but python scares me, so I used to write queries, download a .csv and make graphs in Excel (embarrassing but true 😂). Mode saves me a lot of time because I can do it all in one place.”
– Nemo Blackburn, Product Manager, Primitives
(PS - you can read more of Nemo's productivity tool recommendations in our blog interview with him here)
Why it's awesome
- SQL-based querying for data analysis
- Collaboration features for teams
- Pre-built analytics templates
- Easy to use and accessible to users of all skill levels
What's the price
- Studio plan - free
- Business plan - custom
Learn more at mode.com/compare-plans.
Where to get it
7. Good ol’ Google Calendar
Sometimes the oldies are the goodies.
What it is
The calendar app built into Google Workspace.
Why product managers at Pinterest and Cloudflare love it
“As a PM (and mom), I have to ruthlessly prioritize at all times and I tried a lot of different methods (and still exploring what "productive" really means). I use Google calendar to block focus time to write PRD/review XFN doc and add comments or create reminders that I need to follow up on things. I also like to specifically star emails or snooze at a different time so that I can follow up later too. I used to have various note-taking apps and now I just use Google calendar's auto-generated Google Doc meeting notes for the meeting and have major bullet points and assign action items, which comes in handy to search in the future.”
– Yiyang Hibner, Senior Product Manager, Pinterest
“My day is very meeting driven so I constantly check it for what's coming up and what I need to prepare for. I will also then use blocks and put the things I need to get done in the description as a reminder of what I promised to do.”
– Rita Kozlov, Director of Product, Cloudflare
Why it’s awesome
- Simple & reliable UI that just gets the job done
- It’s free with Google Workspace
- Powerful enough that you can do what you want without having to learn a new tool
What’s the price
Google Calendar is included with Google Workspace, which costs:
- Business starter plan: $6/user/month
- Business standard plan: $12/user/month
- Business plus plan: $18/user/month
Learn more at workspace.google.com/pricing
Where to get it
8. Good ol’ Google Docs
Why reinvent the wheel? As discussed before on this blog, Google Docs is the cheese pizza of documentation tools for product managers.
What it is
The word editor built into Google Workspace.
Why Arman, Product Manager at Google loves it
“Working with globally distributed teams can be challenging, especially when building new products. Google Docs has been instrumental in our success of shipping great products. Every PRD, technical design, GTM strategy, etc. begins life in a Google Doc. Being able to comment, review, and edit documents in real-time has been essential to our teams success.”
– Arman Rye, Product Manager, Google
Why it's awesome
- Really easy to share, comment and suggest changes
- Most of the people you work with know how to use it and have an account
- Simple, reliable and gets the job done
- Comes free with Google Workspace
What's the price
Google Docs is included with Google Workspace, which costs:
- Business starter plan: $6/user/month
- Business standard plan: $12/user/month
- Business plus plan: $18/user/month
Learn more at workspace.google.com/pricing
Where to get it
9. Jam
What it is
Meet the productivity tool we’re building here at Jam, used by 10,000+ to ship high-quality software, faster. Jam makes it extremely quick to capture and report bugs without context switching, and the tickets you create with Jam automatically include all the console logs/network requests/info engineers need. Say goodbye to frustrating bug reports and hello to a supercharged bug reporting workflow!
Why Nic, Head of Product at PLEXUSS loves it
With Jam you don’t need separate resources focusing just on bugs. You can get more done with less people.
– Nic Nuyten, Head of Product @ PLEXUSS
Why it's awesome
- Instantly record and annotate your screen
- Auto-capture critical developer logs
- Integrates with your tools (Jira, ClickUp, GitHub, Slack, Etc.)
- You can even share your last minute as a video with developers
What's the price
- Free plan - $0
- Pro plan - $10/teammate/month
Learn more at jam.dev/pricing