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Product Manager Role: Definition & Tips

So, what is the role of the Product Manager in Agile? In this text I will give you a definition of the role of the Product Manager – a key figure who steers the success of a product from strategy development to market launch.

I also talk about the crucial skills of this job profile – what skills a Product Manager should have – and compare it to other roles such as Product Developer or Tech Lead. Finally, there are a few tips on what mistakes you should avoid as a Product Manager 🙂

Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

Product Manager Role: Definition and Responsibilities in Agile

So let's start with the definition of the Product Manager role. What is the role of the Product Manager in Agile? 

A product manager is a key figure in an organization who is responsible for the development, marketing and success of a product or product line. The exact role definition may vary depending on the company and industry, but in general the role of the product manager includes the following tasks:

  1. Role & Key Responsibilities – Develop product strategy: The product manager is responsible for developing a clear product strategy that takes into account the company's long-term goals. This often involves analyzing the market, identifying opportunities and setting targets for the product.

  2. Role & Key Responsibilities – Product Development: The product manager works closely with the development teams to ensure that the product meets customer requirements and expectations. This may include specifying features, defining product requirements and monitoring the development process.

  3. Role & Key Responsibilities – Market Research: The product manager must constantly monitor and understand the market to identify trends that could impact the product. This often involves analyzing competitors, customer needs and technological developments.

  4. Role & Key Responsibilities – Product Marketing: Marketing the product can also be an essential part of the product manager role. This could then include developing marketing strategies, positioning the product in the market, setting prices and creating sales promotion materials.

  5. Role & Key Responsibilities – Customer Communication: Product managers need to communicate closely with customers to understand their needs, gather feedback and ensure that the product meets their expectations. This can include dealing with customer complaints, collecting feedback and organizing customer surveys.

  6. Role & Key Responsibilities – Performance Measurement: The product manager is responsible for monitoring the success of the product and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs). This makes it possible to evaluate the product's contribution to the company's success and make adjustments if necessary.

  7. Role & Key Responsibilities – Project Management: Product managers are often involved in coordination and project management, especially when it comes to the development of new products or functions. They have to ensure that all teams involved work well together, that milestones are reached and that the schedule is adhered to.

  8. Role & Key Responsibilities – Budget Management: Product managers are usually also responsible for managing the budget for their product. This includes resource allocation, cost control and ensuring the efficient use of available funds.

  9. Role & key responsibilities – Agile Use methods: Many product managers today use agile methods such as Scrum or Kanban to make product development more flexible and efficient. This requires close collaboration with development teams and the ability to adapt quickly to changing requirements.

Overall, the Product Manager role definition is therefore that the position ensures that the product meets market requirements, is successfully positioned and makes a contribution to the company's success.

What does the product manager role actually look like in Scrum, and what does the framework have to do with it?

Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

Scrum Product Manager Role: Non-existent

What is the role of the Product Manager in Scrum? In short, there is no explicit role called "Product Manager" in the Scrum framework, or rather no official definition. Instead, there is the role of "Product Owner", who is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and prioritizing the work of the development team.

The Product Owner works closely with the Scrum team to ensure that the functions and features created meet the requirements of the market and stakeholders.

The Scrum framework would therefore recommend that companies agree on one role in order to avoid responsibility diffusion or conflicts: both roles are probably too similar to exist side by side.

What is the role of the Product Manager in Agile? Well, a good Product Manager can keep calm and smile even in chaos.

To summarize once again: What is the core job purpose of the product manager?

Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

The Product Manager Job Purpose

In essence, the job purpose of a Product Manager is to manage the entire lifecycle of a product and ensure that it meets the needs of the customers, the objectives of the company and the requirements of the market – which of course corresponds to the Product Manager definition above.

The Product Manager acts as a link between various departments and stakeholders to ensure the development, marketing and success of the product – and thus the success of the company.

In this respect, the product manager has a very central role in product organizations – just imagine you were at the spearhead of Airbnb or Dropbox as a product manager – that was very valuable work that was done there in a customer-centric way! 

Let's move on to the next question: If you want to be as good as the big names in the industry, what skills should a product manager have?

Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

Product Manager skills: Which should a Product Manager have?

To create a Silicon Valley-style product organization, think of Airbnb, Facebook or Google: what skills are needed? Do we perhaps need to expand the product manager definition? Let's take a closer look.

The most important skills of a Product Manager include a combination of technical knowledge, interpersonal skills and strategic thinking:

  1. Top Skill Product Manager – Market Understanding: The ability to analyze the market, understand customer needs and identify trends is crucial to developing a successful product.

  2. Top Skill Product Manager – Communication: Strong communication skills are necessary to interact effectively with various stakeholders, internal teams and customers.

  3. Top Skill Product Manager – Project Management: The ability to plan, organize and manage projects is crucial to ensure that the product is developed on time and within budget.

  4. Top Skill Product Manager – Technical understanding: A basic understanding of the technical aspects of the product enables the Product Manager to communicate effectively with development teams and understand requirements.

  5. Top Skill Product Manager – Prioritization: Effective prioritization of tasks and requirements to ensure the team is working on the most important and valuable functions.

  6. Top Skill Product Manager – Customer orientation: A deep understanding of customer needs and the ability to incorporate these into product development.

  7. Top Skill Product Manager – Team Collaboration: The ability to work well with different teams, from developers to marketing and sales teams.

  8. Top Skill Product Manager – Innovation Promotion: Promoting creativity and innovation in order to continuously improve the product and secure competitive advantages.

  9. Top Skill Product Manager – Entrepreneurial thinking: An understanding of the impact of product decisions on the overall business, financial performance and long-term vision of the company.

The question "What skills should a product manager have?" should now be answered. Together, these skills enable the Product Manager to successfully manage the entire product lifecycle and ensure that the product meets the needs of the customers while achieving the business objectives. 

From the perspective of Silicon Valley start-ups, one thing in particular is underestimated: the value of excessive customer communication in the development of innovative products. Before we give any more tips, I would like to highlight the differences between product managers and other roles.

Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

Product Manager Role & Responsibilities: Comparison to other positions

There are also some questions floating around the internet about how the role of a product manager compares to other roles in an agile organization, for example the product developer vs. product manager. So here are a few brief distinctions of selected roles:

  1. Product Manager vs. Product Developer:

    • Product Developer vs. Product Manager: The Product Manager is primarily responsible for the strategic direction of the product, market analysis and communication with stakeholders.
    • Product Developer vs. Product Manager Difference: The Product Developer is usually technically oriented and focuses on the implementation of product requirements in the development phase.

  2. Product Manager vs. Team Lead:

    • Product Manager vs. Team Lead: The Product Manager focuses on the overall strategy and direction of the product while working with various teams.
    • Product Manager vs Team Lead Difference: The Team Lead (or Team Leader) is more focused on leading and organizing a specific team to ensure that work objectives are met.

  3. Product Manager vs. Tech Lead:

    • Product Manager vs. Tech Lead: The Product Manager is responsible for the overall strategy and success of the product, focusing on market needs and company goals.
    • Product Manager vs. Tech Lead Difference: The Tech Lead is more specialized in technical aspects, leads development teams and ensures that technical standards are met.

  4. Principal Product Manager vs. Director:

    • Principal Product Manager vs. Director: The Principal Product Manager is usually an experienced product management role with a strong focus on strategic product development and leading the product team.
    • Principal Product Manager vs. Director Difference: The Director (or Division Manager) may focus on different aspects, including managing multiple teams, strategic planning or general business management.

  5. Product Manager vs. Program Manager Difference:

    • Product Manager and Program Manager Difference: The Product Manager is responsible for the development and orientation of a specific product.
    • Product Manager and Program Manager Difference: The Program Manager is more responsible for coordinating and executing programs, which may include multiple projects and products, to achieve organizational goals. To learn more about the definition of "programs", take a look at the Scaled Agile Framework SAFe. 

It is important to note that the exact role (or title of the role) and responsibilities/definition may vary depending on company culture, industry and organization. So comparing Product Developer vs Product Manager in other companies could lead to the same result as comparing Software Developer vs Product Manager. Either way: In many cases, these roles work closely together and their responsibilities may overlap, especially in agile environments. 

Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

Product Manager Role & Responsibilities: Some tips

Now that we know the differences between the roles and what skills a product manager should have – what other tips are there? Personally, I like tips that address the typical mistakes of roles best. That's why I've kept it that way here too. What are typical mistakes made by product managers and what could be possible solutions? What should a product manager not do? A few thoughts on this: 

  1. Lack of market analysis: Insufficient understanding of market trends and customer needs.

    Solution: Carry out regular market analyses, obtain customer feedback and understand the competitive situation.

  2. Poor communication: Unclear communication with teams and stakeholders.

    Solution: Establish clear communication channels, hold regular meetings and use tools for transparent communication.

  3. Lack of prioritization: Unstructured prioritization of tasks and features.

    Solution: Implementation of a clear prioritization methodology based on company goals and customer requirements.

  4. Rigid planning: Resistance to agile adaptations.

    Solution: Promote adaptability, implement agile methods and react flexibly to change.

  5. Ignoring feedback: Neglect of customer and team feedback.

    Solution: Introduce a continuous feedback mechanism to enable rapid adjustments and improvements.

  6. Ignore tools: Blanket rejection of tools as a distraction and unhelpful

    Solution: Try out proposed solutions in an open and agile manner, including any tools – the risk is often much lower than the potential benefit.

By now you should have a good definition of the Product Owner role. Finally, I would like to give you one last tip.

"Many team members are afraid to speak up!"

Solve this challenge

"We discover too many unexpected issues & bugs at a late stage!"

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"Why does it sometimes take me hours to prepare a simple retrospective?"

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Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

A tool for product owners

Do you want your team to get better and better at delivering on time? Then I would recommend you have a good Scrum Master or focus on really continuously improving. Our digital coach Echometer can help you with this, which has been specially developed for teams that may not have a dedicated full-time Scrum Master.

Echometer is a digital tool that helps agile team leads with agile retrospectives and team Health Checks. Whether remote, hybrid or on-site: it makes team coaching measurable and professionalizes your work while saving you a lot of work. Just take a look at our website to find out more: www.echometerapp.com.

"The answer to everything (or at least many things) for good product managers: customer feedback."

Christian Heidemeyer, Psychologist & Scrum Master

Agile Scrum Product Manager Role: Definition, responsibility and skills

Conclusion - Product Manager Definition

The definition above should have shown you that the Product Manager is at the center of product development. standswith a broad range of skills that include both technical understanding and interpersonal communication.

The Product Manager role is critical to the success of a product and requires a balanced combination of strategic thinking, driving innovation and effective collaboration with different teams and stakeholders. I hope my text has given you a deeper insight into the role and responsibilities of a (good) Product Manager.

Finally, another quick hint: If you would like to know how it feels to develop your team with our tool: You can start an agile retrospective below without logging in, in this case the "Keep, Stop, Start" workshop. 

Alternatively, simply forward our website to the responsible colleagues: www.echometerapp.com.

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FAQ about the online retrospective tool

No, you do not need to log in to Echometer or register to test the Retro Board and Retro Tool in Echometer.

You can try out Echometer's Retro Board via the following link without logging in: Try a Practice Round

First, simply register for free in Echometer. Then navigate to the workspace for which you would like to purchase the retro tool. If you haven't already done so, you can do so here: Create account in Echometer 1:1 tool

You can then manage your subscription (for both the retro tool and the 1:1 software) within the workspace settings.

You can choose from various payment methods when upgrading.

If you do not have access to your company's credit card yourself, you can simply add a buyer as a workspace admin in your Echometer workspace so that this admin can carry out the upgrade for you.

In Echometer there are two separate software solutions that are available within each workspace in Echometer:

  • 1:1 tool: Software for planning and conducting 1:1 meetings and tracking employee development
  • Retrospective tool: Software for planning and moderating retrospectives and tracking team development through team health checks

Both are independent software solutions, so they can be used separately from each other.

However, they work according to the same principles and aim to achieve the same added value: The continuous improvement of agile teams. In this respect, the simultaneous use of both software solutions is recommended.

Yes, you can assign administration rights to any number of users at both team level and workspace level. Please note the following:

  • Only workspace admins can take out and manage a Echometer subscription for a Echometer workspace.
  • Only workspace admins can create additional teams and name or remove additional workspace admins.
  • Team admins can appoint and remove additional team admins and team members for their team

If an agile team does not yet have much experience with retrospectives, a tool that effectively guides you through the retrospective and offers many templates is recommended:

  • Echometer is known not only for being an intuitive online retro board, but also for offering a very effective guided flow through the retrospective. At the same time, Echometer offers whiteboards that can be flexibly integrated into the retrospective. This makes Echometer very beginner-friendly.
  • Echometer also has extremely versatile and creative templates for retrospectives and team Health Checks that stimulate team reflection. Inexperienced teams in particular are very grateful for the food for thought in Echometer.

This makes Echometer the best software recommendation for beginners with agile retrospectives or Scrum beginners. By the way, you can try out Echometer for free without logging in: Echometer Try out the retro tool

Yes, you can collect and measure the eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) in Echometer's Health Checks and surveys for retrospectives.

The eNPS can be evaluated in Echometer both at team level and across teams. For example, you can use the heat map in the Workspace Health Dashboard for cross-team evaluation.

The Echometer Retrospective software is designed to guide teams through the retrospective process with maximum ease and effectiveness, following best practices.

The steps and their sequence can be customized using the navigation within the retro. By default, a retrospective in Echometer is structured in this way:

  • Icebreaker
  • Review of open measures from past retros
  • Collect feedback (first Health Checks, then open questions)
  • Prioritization of feedback
  • Deriving action items
  • Conclusion of the retrospective with the "ROTI score" (Return on Time Invested)

Additional whiteboards (e.g. for workshops, for analyzing problems or for brainstorming measures) can also be added spontaneously at any point using the Retrospective navigation.

Yes, the Echometer Retrospective Tool offers various export options for retrospectives.

The most popular method is to generate a PDF that contains the feedback, the votes from the prioritization and the measures of the retrospective. It is also possible to share the retrospective via a sharing link.

A summary of the retrospective is also automatically sent to other participants by email after the retrospective, provided they are registered as team members in the team.

Yes, the online retrospective tool Echometer is one of the few retrospective software tools that also optimally supports the recording and tracking of measures:

  • Integration: You can also record measures directly in Jira via an integration.
  • Automatic follow-up: All open measures from past retros appear automatically in the measure review of the next retrospective for tracking purposes. This gives the team an overview of which measures are currently still open and creates a commitment to implementing the agreed measures.
  • Reminders: Measures are assigned to a person responsible, who automatically receives a reminder email when the measure is created so that the measure is not forgotten. In addition, each participant can flexibly receive action reminders via email and manage the action status at any time in the Echometer Retro Tool.

This means that Echometer's tool for team retrospectives has extensive and well thought-out functions for action tracking.

Yes, Echometer allows grouping and prioritizing (voting on points) of feedback on the Retrospective Board.

All participants can simply drag and drop cards onto each other and group them together.

There are 2 modes for prioritizing:

  • In "Live Voting" (the recommended mode), the moderator selects how many votes each participant should have and then starts the hidden voting. As soon as all votes have been cast, the moderator can close the live voting. During the voting, you can see how many votes are still to be awarded. After the voting is closed, the cards in the columns are automatically sorted in descending order so that the cards with the most votes are at the top.
  • In "Facilitated Voting" mode, the moderator simply selects how many votes are allocated to each topic. This mode is only necessary in exceptional cases.

Feedback can be optimally processed in the team using Echometer and the measures derived from it can also be easily recorded in Echometer in direct connection with the feedback.

Yes, with the online retrospective software Echometer you can collect asynchronous feedback on the retrospective in advance via a survey.

This means that obtaining feedback is asynchronous and you can make the most of the time spent together in retrospect.

Yes, absolutely: The online retrospective software Echometer is optimized for distributed teams working remotely and includes various options for interacting with each other in real time.

Both the retrospectives and the whiteboards are synchronized in real time for all participants and you can also optionally display your colleagues' cursors.

Yes, the online retrospective tool Echometer is a free tool that you can try out without logging in.

You can get started right away using this link: Echometer Retro Tool without login.

To invite other participants to your online retrospective in Echometer, you will need to register. Participants only need to enter their email address to join the retrospective, but do not need to log in.

After the retrospective, participants can optionally log in to access the summary even after the retrospective has ended.

Yes, Echometer offers many high-quality templates for retrospectives and the respective steps of a retrospective.

Echometer is the retrospective software tool with probably the most integrated retrospective template ideas and patterns:

  • The retro templates in Echometer contain sample questions for the retro board. These are often creatively based on specific topics in –, such as the "Kart racing retrospective" or the "Time travel retrospective".
  • Some retro templates also contain templates for Health Checks. For example, to measure the Spotify Health Check or psychological safety in the team.
  • When creating a team, you can choose from various team templates for management teams or scrum teams, for example. The team templates then put together a suitable team Health Check for the team.
  • For icebreakers in the retrospective, Echometer has over 50 ideas for sample questions that can be used spontaneously and randomly in a retrospective via a random generator.
  • And then there are whiteboard templates in Echometer, which contain ideas for check-ins, team building and the development of measures.

One of the greatest strengths of the Echometer Retro Tool are the various templates for retrospectives, which can be used as patterns for the creative design of your own retrospectives.

Here is a short list of the samples as an insight into the retrospective templates:

  • Happy, Wondering, Sad
  • Three Little Pigs
  • Team Morale Health Check
  • Easter and Christmas retrospective templates
  • DORA Retrospective
  • 5 agile values Health Check
  • Spotify Squad Health Check Radar
  • Psychological safety Health Check
  • DORA Retrospective
  • Unique retrospective templates such as the "7 Dwarfs Retrospective" or the "Football Retrospective"

If you are interested in the Retrospective Tools templates, take a quick look at the tool: Echometer Retro Templates & Templates

Yes, Echometer is an online tool for retrospectives that offers Jira integration.

With the Jira integration in Echometer, measures from Echometer can be created in Jira boards with a single click.

This makes Echometer a good retrospective software tool if your team is already using Jira.

Echometer is not available in the Atlassian Marketplace, but as separate software via my.echometerapp.com callable.

Yes, Echometer can be called a starfish retrospective tool, because with Echometer you can easily perform the starfish retrospective on an interactive online retrospective board.

Hot tip: If you are interested in the Starfish Retrospective, take a quick look at Echometer. Because the special thing about Echometer is that you can try out the starfish retrospective immediately (time-saving, without logging in) at this link: Echometer Starfish Retrospective Access without login

The Echometer Sprint Retrospective software has very extensive features, both for beginners and experts. The following features form the core of the tool:

  • Structured retrospective flow with integrated whiteboards for flexible brainstorming on individual focus topics
  • Retrospective board for brainstorming, presenting, grouping and voting with live collaboration
  • Moderator tools such as a timer, anonymity settings and control over the agenda step (focused for all participants)
  • Integrated tracking of measures from past retrospectives with automatic resubmission and incl. Jira integration
  • Unbiased brainstorming: Concealed cards on the retro board as well as on the integrated whiteboards prevent participants from influencing each other during the brainstorming session.
  • Simple, quick setup of the tool: Many users report that they were able to start their first retrospective in less than 10 minutes.

The following features are Echometer's unique selling points that are relevant for experienced Scrum Masters and team leaders:

  • Dashboard with retrospective history, including duration of the retrospective, number of participants and ROTI score
  • PDF and Markdown export of the retrospective after completion
  • The retrospective can take place asynchronously (e.g. also via a survey that is sent out before the retro) or in real time
  • Anonymous feedback via survey or on the Retrospective Board
  • Anonymous voting and prioritization of feedback on the retrospective board by awarding points
  • Query or measurement of the "ROTI score" (i.e. Return on Time Invested) after the retrospective for continuous evaluation and improvement of the retrospective by team members
  • Creation of Health Check surveys or pulse surveys as a happiness check and mood barometer in order to recognize trends (e.g. increasing dissatisfaction) in the team at an early stage
  • Health Check KPIs and agile metrics in the analysis dashboard including history
  • Health Check Surveys or pulse surveys also possible across teams

The Echometer Retrospective Tool offers the following features for retrospective template ideas, questions and samples:

  • 50+ Retrospective Template Ideas including Keep Stop Start, Happy Wondering Sad and the Starfish Retrospective
  • 200+ Retrospective Health Check questions and templates
  • Retrospective Icebreaker Library with 50+ fun retrospective check-ins to promote psychological safety and team spirit etc.
  • Whiteboard templates for visual, interactive retrospective icebreakers (including seasonal highlights for e.g. Easter and Christmas)
  • Whiteboard templates to structure and facilitate the creation of measures

Yes, the retrospective software tool Echometer is easy to use even for beginners who are not yet familiar with retrospectives.

Many users report that they were able to carry out their first retrospective in Echometer in less than 10 minutes of preparation!

Thanks to the structured process in Echometer, carrying out the retrospective is also very easy.

On the testimonial page of Echometer you will find numerous confirmed user reviews: Echometer Testimonials

Echometer is the best software tool for retrospectives compared to alternative retrospective software tools such as Retrium, EasyRetro, Reetro, Neetro and TeamRetro for three reasons:

  1. Large selection of creative templates for retrospectives: Users of Echometer confirm that Echometer has a uniquely wide range of retro board ideas.
  2. Echometer has a simple and intuitive structure for retrospectives that guides teams through retrospectives using best practices. This also makes Echometer very beginner-friendly.
  3. Echometer offers a generous free version.

Users of Echometer particularly appreciate the unique function of Echometer to insert Health Checks into their agile retrospectives: These agile Health Checks make a massive contribution to stimulating team reflection and actively involving every team member in the retrospective.

To summarize, even alternative retrospective software tools such as Parabol do not have the unique features of the Echometer retrospective tool, which are both simple and effective. Therefore, it can be said that Echometer is the best software app for conducting agile sprint retrospective meetings.

Yes, in Echometer you can get anonymous feedback from the team.

Echometer is one of the few online retrospective tools that can be used to collect feedback anonymously.

In Echometer, feedback can even be collected anonymously before the retrospective via asynchronous surveys, which is unique among online retrospective tools and distinguishes Echometer positively from tools such as the retrospective software Parabol.

Yes, Echometer offers a generous free version of the online retro tool that can be used permanently free of charge for one team. This includes all functions for team retrospectives.

You only have to switch to a paid version for additional functions such as SSO, multiple teams or an unlimited number of retrospectives.

Further information on the variants of Echometer's retro tool can be found on the pricing page here: Retro-Tool Price List

The greatest strengths of the Echometer retrospective tool are its impact on time savings, participant engagement and productivity.

  • With hundreds of ideas for retrospective templates in combination with the integrated surveys, Echometer makes it very easy to prepare great retrospectives in just a few minutes.
  • Thanks to the guided steps and the playful and interactive retrospective board, implementation is child's play, focused and results-oriented at the same time.
  • The integrated tracking of measures and team health makes it easier to recognize trends in the team at an early stage and ensure that measures from retrospectives are not forgotten

Combined with the unique features of the agile Health Checks and flexible whiteboards, Echometer is one of the best, if not the best, retrospective tool on the market, even better than the better-known Parabol retrospective tool.

Yes, Echometer's retro tool is technically secure and GDPR-compliant.

Several European financial institutions and insurance companies have chosen to purchase Echometer's retrospective tools over other alternatives due to strict regulatory requirements.

The data is stored and securely processed in Germany. The contract for commissioned data processing with details on the technical and organizational security measures of Echometer's processing can be viewed here: https://echometerapp.com/gdpr-and-security/

Echometer's tool for retrospectives offers the following integrations:

  • Jira (for easy tracking of measures from retrospectives in Jira boards)
  • Google login
  • SSO (only in paid version)

Echometer are particularly positive about the increase in the effectiveness of retrospectives and the improved measurability of team development through Echometer.

Here are some officially confirmed quotes from users and customers of the Echometer software tool, all of whom hold leadership positions in agile teams:

Duane Hill, Scrum Master Coach:

  • "Echometer is like a combination of Miro and a really smart retro board. It even provides metrics on the effectiveness of my coaching so I can easily spot trends in team development. I really love this tool – highly recommended for anyone who wants to make their retrospectives more effective!"

Lena Tölke, Agile Coach at Deutsche Bahn Sales:

  • "Thanks to the targeted questions in Echometer, we keep coming up with new insights for our further development in retrospectives and can make these transparent and measurable for all team members."

Clemens Schöne, Scrum Master at Communardo Products:

  • "Echometer is like the combination of Mural and EasyRetro – I am thrilled! With Echometer, remote retros can work much better and even be fun!"

Patrick Böttcher-Exner, management position at Relaxdays GmbH:

  • "One major advantage is that Echometer allows us to carry out and track both remote and on-site retrospectives in one tool."

Carina McLane, Senior Software Developer at Volvo:

  • "As a Scrum Master, it's not about the tools, but this one really makes the work a lot more enjoyable. After two years of experience with Echometer, I can recommend it to anyone who wants to enrich their retrospectives and understand their team better!"

Echometer is the perfect retrospective software tool for busy team managers, team leaders, engineering managers, but also scrum masters and Agile coaches in distributed or hybrid agile teams ("remote teams").

Users particularly appreciate how much time the tool saves for retrospective moderators and how it increases the engagement of participants in the retrospective. Therefore, people who value time savings, retrospective effectiveness and engagement benefit most from the functions of Echometer.

In addition, Echometer offers an easy, playful introduction to retrospectives and is therefore particularly suitable for teams that do not yet have much experience with retrospectives or are just starting out with agile working methods.

The Echometer retrospective software works as follows:

  • Simple preparation of retrospectives using templates for retro formats, surveys and whiteboards
  • Intuitive and step-by-step implementation of retrospectives. Possible both online and on-site. Simply use the QR code on site so that participants can take part via their smartphone with the Mobile Companion app.
  • Automatic follow-up through export functions and integrated tracking of developments and measures including retro archive.

The implementation of a retrospective in Echometer is as follows:

  • The retrospective board allows the agile team to start with a fun welcome screen where they can wait for the rest of the team while playing an interactive game.
  • Once all participants of the retrospective have arrived, continue with an icebreaker question. Echometer has several icebreaker question templates, including both open-ended questions and visual whiteboard templates with workshops and small games.
  • After the icebreaker, you reach the screen for tracking measures: Here, the team reviews the open actions from past retrospectives and decides whether to keep, close or discard the actions. This step is unique to Echometer and significantly improves the quality of the continuous improvement process of agile teams.
  • Then it's on to Team Health Check: all team members answer various questions, for example a question about satisfaction in the team or questions about psychological safety. This type of question increases engagement in the retrospective, even with introverted team members, as well as the creation of agile KPIs to track the mood in the team over time.
  • Then you continue with the retrospective board, where everyone can leave anonymous feedback on open questions – if this has not already been done in advance via a survey. There are hundreds of retrospective templates for different retrospectives on the Echometer retrospective board.
  • Feedback is first written face down on the retro board so that the participants do not influence each other. The moderator can then reveal the feedback column by column.
  • Once the feedback on the retro board has been uncovered, presented to the team and any queries about feedback have been clarified, the prioritization, i.e. the voting, can continue.
  • Voting in Echometer is anonymous. During the voting process, you can see how many votes have already been cast and how many are still open.
  • At on-site retrospectives, you can also vote using your smartphone.
  • As soon as the voting is complete, you can derive measures. To do this, you can either create a measure directly for the feedback or open the feedback on a new whiteboard to analyze the problem in more detail and brainstorm ideas for measures.
  • The brainstorming of measures on a separate whiteboard within the retro is a point of differentiation for Echometer compared to other tools for retrospectives such as Parabol. In Echometer, you can create a separate whiteboard for each topic within the retro and thus optimally control the focus of the discussion.
  • Finally, Echometer enables the retrospective to be concluded by anonymously asking the entire team about the ROTI score on a scale of 0 to 10 (i.e. the "Return on Time Invested"): This helps the team and in particular the retrospective moderator to continuously improve the quality of the retrospectives within the team itself.

Given this unique, structured and flexible retrospective process, combined with the range of functions, Echometer is often described as the best tool for agile retrospectives.

Further questions?

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