Comments on: 7 Essential Productivity Tools for Product Managers

By: Travis Jensen

Travis Jensen — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:13:52 +0000

This is a great list. Regarding Balsamiq, I can’t recommend it high enough for product managers. The sketches are rough enough that people don’t get locked into “what it looks like” mode that stifles creative thinking; it is very fast to make those sketches; and it doesn’t cause UX to think you are trying to do their job.

I’ve been using it for over a year now and it is still my most recommended piece of software.

I also agree on Evernote. I’m a big fan of Dropbox, too.

By: Rian

Rian — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:11:17 +0000

Thanks for the feedback, and good point. I’ve removed the “prototyping” reference from the post and now only refer to it as wireframing.

By: Steve G.

Steve G. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:01:04 +0000

OmniGraffle and Balsamiq Mockups are more like wireframing tools. Prototyping is something that you’d normally do with more interactive tools like Axure, iRise if you have the cash for it, or lower priced tools like Flairbuilder which is pretty good actually.

Interesting list, nevertheless!