The only tools you need spec software in 2009

image This post highlights the tools you need to be a PM today in order to ideate & define the products & specifications you own.  If you need more than this you are doing it wrong.  The idea is to clearly communicate the goals & intent of your specifications well enough so that your development teams can start their own iterative cycles rapidly.

This list is not intended to cover bug tracking or work item management… if you read my list of grievances you’ll know I don’t have a solution for that yet.

image 0. Evernote You aren’t always focusing on the things that you get inspired to do in your daily life.  You need a way to capture that inspiration in an organized fashion so that when the time is right you can start pulling together these inspiration into ideas.   Evernote is a tool that lets you do just that. Hell, there are iPhone & Windows Mobile clients that lets you record voice, picture, or text notes while you are out and about.

image 1. A public wiki – Whatever public means to you… the point is that you shouldn’t be writing novels and you should be sharing ideas early & iterating often.  Word, today, makes it a pain to get feedback on documents, keep them up to date, and invite mass participation.  Publish your goals, feature ideas, user stories, and conceptuals more often and more broadly than you ever thought you should.  Clearly label things as drafts, but don’t be afraid. 

The truth is that, opening the door to collaboration early doesn’t make you look bad… it actually is a tool that can help you get more support.  People are always more bought in on something when they’ve had the opportunity to give you their 2 cents… even if they only had 1 to give.  The second truth is that just publishing something to the wiki doesn’t mean you’ll get hundreds of comments right away.

image 2. Balsamiq – A PM is not a product designer.  I’ve learned that you also shouldn’t pretend to be.  Your goal is to, as efficiently as possible, impart experts with the vision of success you have in your head.  Your “PM-Franken-Comps” need to be developed quickly and also allow for rapid iteration as the stories evolve.  Once you have general agreement you should be turning your ideas over to the real design experts.  Balsamiq is the tool you need for this.  Visio is great, but it’s pricey and typically overkill for what you need. 

image 3. Powerpoint – I’ve only recently seen this used as I’m about to describe, but I think we will see more of it in 2009. There is something powerful in the combination of a tool like Balsamiq & the animated nature of a powerpoint presentation.  Take your Franken-Comps, drag them onto slides, add an animation or two, and present your ideas in story format that mocks a user clicking through your application.  Bonus points for recording a narrated version of your presentation that you publish as a video.   Oh, BTW, it’s also still the best tool for building presentations available today on the market. 

image4. Snagit – The next great thing has been implemented, but something is wrong… or could be better about the UI. You need to capture that quickly, add a note about what needs to be improved, and move on.  Snagit makes that incredibly easy.  Well worth the $49 dollars. In the last year alone I’ve snagged and added notes to over 500 items!

image 5. Paint.Net – This tool is hanging on by a thread for me and, given my resolutions in 2009, will likely get removed for PM work.  It used to be my tool of choice for building out conceptuals, but it’s being squeezed out by Balsamiq, Evernote, & Snagit.  The only thing left I use it for on a regular basis is when I want to demonstrate an idea that’s a combination of 2 or 3 other things layered.  The snagit editor handles layers less elegantly and make it difficult to edit something a bit more detailed.  So, if I want to take a page from CS, and re-order the layout of the page as well as show a new navigation concept I might drag things together here. 

I’m sure everyone has their own favorite toolbox, but this one is mine and I wanted

to share my thoughts. Enjoy!