What Product Development Software Should You Have?

When developing a product, it is inevitable to use product development software. But what product development software do you need? Not everyone has the answer, especially if you are new to product development. 

In this article, we would like to show you the product development process, what product development software you should have based on the process, and why you need it. 

What is the Product Development Process?

Developing a product is not an easy task, it has a long process and takes a long time.  To have a clear idea about what product development software is, you should make the process sense first. 

1. Product Concept

The first stage is that you should have an idea about the product and what kind of product you want to develop. You can have a brainstorming with your team members and collect different ideas. Then, do market research to check whether they are what customers need, find their competitors, what features they have, and how you can get your product to stand out. 

Once you have all answers to these questions, you can have a clear product concept. 

2. Prototype and Feasibility Analysis

As we know, you cannot produce the product on your own. You need your team members to collaborate with you. In this case, you need to let them know your thought and what the product will be like. And your team members need to analyze whether they can succeed in producing according to their knowledge,  technology, and resources. 

The best way to convey your ideas is using a prototype and product document requirement file. 

3. Plan, Assign Tasks and Collaborate

When your team members confirm they can develop the product per your requirements, you can create a plan with the deadline of each task and assign tasks to the correct members.  You should follow it and collaborate to complete the goal. 

4. Product Design

The designer will design the product interface based on your prototype and product requirements documents. 

5. Product Develop

The developer will develop the product based on your requirements and design work. 

6. Test

When the product features are ready, testers need to check whether they can work well, whether the interface has any problems, and if the links, words, or pictures on the product are correct? You need to promise the product that customers will use has no bugs. 

7. Product Training

Product training is the first step to promoting your product on the market. Your marketers should know what the product is, what problems it can fix, in what cases the product is better than competitors, and more. Only when they know all the above, can they introduce the product to customers better and promote it quickly. 

8. Launch and Promotion

When you finish all the above work, you can launch and promote it.  You can reach your customer via social media, email, pop-up windows, blog posts, media, ads, etc. 

Why Do You Need A Good New Product Development Software?

The product development process is complex and takes a long time. You have to use good product development software to faster the process. And there is a lot of new product development software in the market, good and bad. You need to judge and choose the one that suits you as incorrect product development tools can waste a lot of time and may result in failed product development.

1. Improve Working and Collaboration Efficiency

The product development software can help you save time in communication and collaboration. For instance, You can create one prototype file with interactive effects to present to your team members. It will help them understand easily what you want to say.

2. Make Sure Everything is on Schedule

When you have a good tool, you can control everything well, especially when you pick the correct task management tool. You can track and know the process of each member and follow up and respond quickly if there are any unusual actions. 

3. Save Time and Money

As mentioned above, tools can help you improve working efficiency and save time. Time is money, in another word, it can help your company save a lot of money. And some tools are designed with user-friendly UI that can help beginners get started without taking time to learn and check any tutorials. 

What Product Development Software Should You Use?

According to the product development process, three types of software are necessary. They are collaboration tools and whiteboard tools for all members, prototype tools for product managers, and design tools for designers.  

Collaboration Tools for Team Members:

For better collaboration and tracking of the product development process, you can use one project and task management tool. Here are the two best ones for you to pick. 

Monday.com

Monday.com is a tool that allows you to track projects and workflows, have an overview of your data, and collaborate with your team members effectively. 

Features：

1. You can have a plan with monday.com with a timeline view and grid view as you want. 
2. Track the process of development with one glance. You can tag your team members, comment, and communicate in one place. 
3. Have a data report with different widgets based on your need. 
4. Integrated with popular tools such as Slack, Gmail, Excel, etc. 
5. You are allowed to turn excel into a visual table directly and create a table with a template easily. 
6. Automatical notifications, adding elements, or changing status with simple triggers and action settings. 

Price: $8 – $24 per seat/month

ClickUp 

ClickUp is another collaboration tool. It has all features of monday.com. And it also has standout features that can help you collaborate with team members better. 

Features：

1. Plan, manage and assign tasks and projects with this tool. Tag different members, attach files, and comments, and communicate. 
2. It allows you to set your goal with a clear view. 
3. It provides a whiteboard that allows you and your team members can have a brainstorming remotely. 
4. Create documents directly on the software. You can easily store and share with your team. 
5. Integrated with many third-party tools and also can set automatic actions with triggers and action commands. 
6. Templates are available. 

Price: $5 to $19 per member/month and have a lifetime free version for you to have limited features. 

Whiteboard Tool for Team Members:

InVision

InVision is a collaboration tool based on the whiteboard. It is designed for designers. But it has a lot of features that can be used for different cases. It allows you to create a plan, prototype, customer journey map, brainstorm, flowchart, etc. 

Features：

1. Collaborate with brainstorming, adding comments, responses, etc. 
2. Create prototype files. 
3. Use different templates to create the files you need such as journey maps, brainstorming, etc. 
4. Hand off design work to the developer.

Price: Free version with limited features. And $4 per user/month

Miro

 Miro is another powerful whiteboard tool that can help you collaborate with your team remotely and easily. 

Features：

1. Collaborate with your team in real time via comments, chats, video calls, and voice. 
2. Easy to start with in-built templates, add files, and integrate with third-party tools.
3. You are allowed to collaborate with your teams anywhere and anytime as it has mobile, desktop, and web versions. 

Price: $8 – $16 per member/month

Please note: If you already have ClickUp, you do not need to buy another whiteboard tool as ClickUp has this feature. 

Prototype Tool for Product Managers

Prototype files are vital for product managers to express their idea. It is easy for designers and developers to understand what product managers need. You can use the below powerful prototype tool.

Axure

Axure is a popularly used desktop prototype tool and has powerful features. Most of the other prototype tools are created based on this one. 

Features:

1. Low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes are supported
2. Its library provides a lot of prepared icons and components. 
3. It has mindmap features that can help you create a mindmap with simple clicks. 
4. Pen and pencil features allow you to customize any shapes or layouts you need. 
5. Powerful interactions help you create interactive effects per your requirements. 
6. Easily share your prototype file by publishing it to Axure cloud, generating files, or exporting images. 

Price: 30-day free trial without any limitation and $25-$42 per user/month. 

Mockplus

Mockplus is an online prototype tool. It is much easier to use than Axure and almost has all features of Axure. 

Features:

1. Create low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes easily. It provides in-built icons and components, command plus status interaction modes, main artboard plus sub artboard mode, prepared free templates, etc. 
2. Easily share prototype work with your team. 
3. Coedit with your team on the same prototype file. 
4. Create product requirements documents with links to prototype files. 

Price: Free for personal use. The pro version starts from $5.95 / month

Design Tool for Designers

Product design is an important part of the product development process. With a good tool, designers can be much easier to design.

Figma

Many designers are using Figma. It is easy to design and hand off. Although it is an online tool, it is very stable to use. 

Features:

1. Easy to collaborate. You can share your design, get feedback, and save your assets in one place. 
2. Can not only work to design but also produce low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototype files. 
3. Create a design system with this tool.

Price： Free with limited features. The pro version starts from $12 per editor/month

Sketch

It is an icon and interfaces design tool easier than PhotoShop and more powerful than Illustrator. But please note it only has a Mac version. 

Features:

1. Create design works and export graphics easily. 
2. Vector editing tools. 
3. Support a lot of plugins that can help your design easily. 
4. Smart guides can help you know the distance between the selected objects and the margins. 
5. Color pickers and templates are available. 

Price: $9 per editor/month

Final Thought

Product development is not easy, but it will be much easier with product development software. All tools we mentioned above are powerful. You can select the ones you need to faster your work and enhance collaboration.