Improving Your Product Management Tools

Most product managers rely on tools — predominantly, Microsoft Office — that do not adequately support them. The information in question is critical to any technology company: What do customers really need, and, by extension, what should we be providing? Tools specifically designed to handle product requirements exist, but most technology companies do not embrace them. The vendors that have already embraced requirements tools — smaller, younger, and often software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based — represent the future of the industry; every technology company should seriously consider the competitive advantages that a requirements tool might provide. Whether or not they decide to implement a specialized requirements tool, product managers need to re-evaluate their tool kits in light of the complex challenges they face in handling requirements.