Aha! Product Management Review (Features, Pros, Cons)

Strategic planning, roadmapping, marketing, forecasting… product management involves a lot of work.

Fortunately, with tools like Aha!, it doesn’t have to be a lot harder than planning your Friday night Netflix binge. Aha product management can help companies that want to launch successful products and sustain their market.

But will this platform really make you go aha! with joy?

In this Aha product management review, we’ll discuss Aha!’s key features, pros, and limitations. We’ll also highlight the best solution for Aha!’s limitations.

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Ready? Just hit play on this Aha product management review.

What Is Aha!?

The Aha! software can help any product manager understand the why, when, and what of their products to make product management easy.

In essence, it tries to make your project full of those ‘Aha!’ moments we all love! 😜

This product roadmap platform offers several tools for:

Portfolio management
Requirements management
Marketing strategy planning
Release management
Product strategy framework creating
Idea management
Visual roadmap creating

And even with all this functionality, Aha! isn’t here to hog your space.

The software uses the cloud to set up files and save conversations, so your device storage is left untouched.

Additionally, its features allow you to determine everything you’ll need even before building the product.

But before you say uh-huh to Aha! let’s check out its key features.

4 Key Features Of Aha!

Here are the top four features of Aha!

1. Features

Hold the confusion.

This is a feature called ‘features,’ which are fundamental units of work in Aha!.

(Not really smart naming, right? )

Features represent a task or work item that you must complete to achieve your strategic plans.

So if your strategy is to finish watching The Walking Dead by the weekend, each episode can be a feature!

To keep everyone that works on your features in the loop, you can directly link them to:

Strategic goals
An initiative
An idea
Notes
Product release
And more

This will tell them the context and importance of the feature. They’ll also know how they’re chipping in for your brilliant product strategy.

2. Roadmaps

Our Aha product management review can’t be complete without mentioning its roadmaps.

It’s like talking about Netflix without discussing at least one Netflix original.

Aha! roadmaps are a great way to visualize and communicate where your product, campaign, or service is headed. It gives you a high-level view of your strategic plan that helps you define goals and keep communication clear.

Aha! lets you add data, like a timeline or strategy, to create a strategic roadmap and choose if you want to visualize it as a Gantt chart, calendar, starter, or custom roadmap.

You can then share the live version of the roadmap with your product team for easy collaboration.

3. Collaboration

In Aha!, you get real-time collaborative editing.

So when multiple people are editing notes or description fields, you can see other participants names’ as flags. The flags move in real-time, which helps ensure transparency and effective collaboration.

Moreover, every key product functionality in the software, like features, epics, and initiatives, has a comments section where you can communicate with your team as you work.

It’s like Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party), where you can watch the same show or movie with your friends who live far away while conversing in real-time. 🎥🍿💬

This collaboration tool also lets you share beautiful visual plans, such as timelines, to coordinate cross functional team work in one place.

4. Integration

You know how when you search for a movie on Netflix, it appears in the search suggestion? But then you select it just to realize it isn’t there because of regional restrictions? *sobs in relatability*

Chances are you won’t face this heartbreak when searching for Aha! integrations.

Aha! integrates with several tools for development, project management, collaboration, customer relationship management, and support.

Some of its popular integrations include:

Now that you know Aha! key features, let’s move onto the next episode, ‘advantages of Aha!’

3 Major Advantages Of Aha Product Management

Here are three key advantages of Aha product management:

1. Easy product management to deliver what customers want

Product management is a breeze on Aha! as it lets you set a strategy, capture customer ideas, and pay attention to features.

It also has an idea 💡 portal, which is kinda like the Netflix help page where you suggest movies and shows for them to add.

Except, here, the portal is yours.

You collect and manage every idea that users submit.

You also get user story maps to visualize and prioritize the work that’ll build your customers’ desired user experience.

While mapping the user story, your team can create a powerful outline of a representative user’s interactions with your product and assess the steps that benefit the user most. This will work like feedback and help you streamline product management.

2. Allows effective marketing planning

In Aha!, your marketing team can see all programs and campaigns in one place. This makes it easier to coordinate their marketing activities across different levels.

It’s like the team is your Netflix buddy, and you share the same account with them because you have nothing to hide.

Your marketing planning can be effortless with Aha! tools that let you:

Describe all marketing activities
Assign to-dos
Track dependencies
Collaborate on deliverables
Streamlining the approval process

Want a closer look at how the planning process works?

Check out our step-by-step breakdown of the marketing planning process.

3. Can customize the tool for your needs

What Netflix did with its crime shows, Aha! has done that with its customization abilities.

There are so many options, and they all have something to offer!

Here’s a tiny glimpse at what you can customize in Aha!:

Statuses
Fields
Workflows
Layouts
Tables
And more!

However, the most important question is: is this roadmap software right for you?

5 Limitations Of Aha Product Management (With Solutions)

Let’s leave the cliffhangers for Netflix shows and not your product management software.

So in this Aha product management review, let’s see where Aha! falls short:

1. Limited notes feature

Aha! has a notes feature that lets you:

Create a blank note
Create a note template
Share and export your notes
Organize your notes, and more

It feels extremely elaborate for something that’s named just ‘notes.’

But when it comes to putting the notes to work, Aha! doesn’t have anything.

You can’t create tasks from your notes. You can’t even add a simple checklist.

Let’s end the awkwardness.

Say hello to ClickUp. It’s one of the world’s highest-rated project management tool, a favorite of many teams in small, medium, and large companies.

ClickUp solution #1: Notepad

Note-taking in ClickUp is way more purposeful than in Aha!.

Use the Notepad to create notes that you can easily convert into tasks in seconds.

Here’s how it works:

Your note title becomes the task name
The note’s content becomes the task description
Add the appropriate details before saving it

And unlike Aha!, ClickUp also lets you create simple checklists in your notes.

ClickUp solution #2: Docs

When notes don’t suffice, where do you go?

ClickUp has just the right place for it: Docs.

Here, you can create large databases such as project charter documents, workflow processes, onboarding instructions, contracts, and so much more.

ClickUp automatically stores your documents alongside your projects for quick access.

It also offers other features like:

2. No mind maps

For a product management tool, Aha! kinda hits the skip intro button for a very important planning feature.

It doesn’t have a mind map or any sort of whiteboard feature to sketch out your plans, we guess.

ClickUp solution: Mind maps

A mind map is a visual tool that uses hierarchical diagrams around a central concept. This makes it easy to brainstorm for all kinds of project planning.

On ClickUp, you can put your sketches to work.

How?

The task mode lets you drag and drop branches to rearrange your Workspace. You can even create, delete, or edit tasks right here.

Imagine the time you can save as you plan and create tasks simultaneously.

So you have more time to…

a woman saying start binge-watching something

Want nothing to do with tasks or the Workspace structure?

Use the blank mode and just draw your ideas to your heart’s content.

3. No real-time time tracker

In Aha!, you can log time worked in the field ‘estimate’ by clicking on ‘log time.’

But where exactly is the time going?

How do you know if you’ve worked an hour and now it’s time for a one-episode-long break?

There’s no way to track time for specific tasks in real-time unless you integrate with time tracking apps.

Why do that when software like ClickUp can do it without external support?

Compare Aha! Vs. Jira!

ClickUp solution #1: Native time tracker

When you enable the Time Tracking ClickApp in your Space, you can start tracking time for all your tasks.

Start and stop the native time tracker as and when you like, just like playing and pausing shows on Netflix. Minus the *Netflix tou-doum* opening sound. 😛

You can also gain insights and generate reports on tracked time using the time tracking widgets on our Dashboard. The time reports let you see the hours put in by employees that make payday easy. Cha-ching!

Bonus: how to use time tracking to finish projects faster.

ClickUp solution #2: Time tracking integration

Do you already have a favorite time tracking app?

ClickUp integrates easily with many time tracking apps, including Time Doctor, Everhour, Toggl, etc. So you can track the time spent on different ClickUp activities and projects with ease.

If your team performs remote work, this will also add a sense of accountability.

However, it’s not just time tracking.

ClickUp has other integration options, too, for

Communication apps (Slack)
Customer feedback collecting apps (Userback)
Storage apps (Google Drive)
And more!

4. Can’t annotate PDF

If you use Aha!, you can’t annotate PDFs.

So that means each time you have feedback for a PDF, you’ll have to download it, annotate it in a different tool, and then share it with the creators.

Imagine the time wasted. ⏰

More importantly, this is no way to collaborate. Shouldn’t you need something that encourages smooth feedback sharing and co-creation?

ClickUp solution: PDF annotation

Using proofing, you can annotate PDFs by highlighting the markups that you need.

You can add comments where you want a change and assign it to a specific person to carry out the change.

Proofing in ClickUp is great for image markup since you can place clear markers on design mockups where you want alterations.

5. Very expensive

The biggest deal-breaker is Aha! pricing.

They have two plans:

A startup plan for companies that are less than 18 months old, have less than $1.5M in funding, and have fewer than 10 employees
A premium plan that starts at $59/user per month

Yeah, it’s sort of jaw-droppingly expensive.

ClickUp solution: Free Forever Plan

Unlike Aha!, ClickUp has a Free Forever Plan. No catches!

So whether you run a startup or a corporate, you can get ClickUp for zero dollars.

Your Netflix subscription can be the only expense. You’re welcome! 😇

And our paid plans are affordable for all sizes of teams. Take a look:

Unlimited ($5/user per month):
- Portfolios
- Future recurring task on calendar
- Unlimited views
- And more
Business ($9/user per month):
- Work in Progress Limits
- Custom task ID
- 24/7 support team
- And more

We aren’t done yet!

ClickUp has so many features that can do what Aha! can and more.
Here’s a quick look at some of them:

Send and receive emails on ClickUp with Email ClickApp
Find support for Trello, Asana, and Jira integration
Set and track dependencies on Gantt chart view
Automate repetitive tasks using triggers, actions, and conditions
Assign a single task to multiple assignees or even an entire team
Use team templates for product management, law, customer relationship management, etc.

Does Aha! Have The Aha Factor?

It’s clear from this Aha product management review that Aha! is a decent tool.

But it’s always the little things that make or break a deal.

Expensive. No offline mode. No mind maps.

These things make Aha! a less-than-complete package.

If you need a tool that can do all that (and more), the answer is ClickUp!

It’s a powerful project management tool that can be your task, document, resource, and time manager, all at the same time.

So join ClickUp for free today and get ready for the best season of ‘product management’ yet!

a man looking for food in the refrigerator

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