Can you recommend digital brainstorming tools for product teams running collaborative planning workshops?

Absolutely — here are some strong digital brainstorming tools that work well for product teams running collaborative planning workshops, along with what each is best for.

Top digital brainstorming tools

1. Miro

Best for: End-to-end workshop facilitation, ideation, mapping, and planning
Why teams like it:

• Infinite whiteboard with lots of templates
• Great for sticky-note brainstorming, journey maps, affinity mapping, prioritization, and retros
• Strong collaboration features: voting, timers, cursors, comments
• Good integrations with Jira, Confluence, Slack, and more

Watch out for: Can get cluttered if workshops are poorly structured.

---

2. FigJam

Best for: Fast, lightweight brainstorming with strong design-team alignment
Why teams like it:

• Very easy to use
• Great for sticky-note style collaboration and quick ideation
• Strong if your product team already uses Figma
• Fun, approachable interface helps engagement

Watch out for: Less robust than Miro for complex workshop facilitation and large-scale planning.

---

3. Mural

Best for: Structured facilitation and strategy workshops
Why teams like it:

• Designed specifically for workshop facilitation
• Good templates for discovery, prioritization, roadmapping, and alignment sessions
• Features like voting, private mode, and facilitation controls are useful in larger groups

Watch out for: Some teams find the interface less intuitive than Miro or FigJam.

---

4. Lucidspark

Best for: Visual brainstorming tied to process mapping and decision-making
Why teams like it:

• Clean whiteboard experience
• Good for idea generation, clustering, and mapping workflows
• Integrates well with Lucidchart for more formal diagrams

Watch out for: Smaller workshop ecosystem compared with Miro/Mural.

---

5. Notion

Best for: Workshop outputs, planning docs, and async follow-through
Why teams like it:

• Not a pure brainstorming tool, but excellent for capturing outcomes
• Useful for agendas, notes, decisions, action items, and team alignment
• Great for turning workshop results into living docs

Watch out for: Not ideal as the main live ideation surface.

---

6. Google Jamboard alternatives / Canva Whiteboards

Best for: Simpler collaboration and quick visual ideation
Why teams like it:

• Easy to access and low learning curve
• Useful for lightweight workshops or smaller teams
• Canva is especially good if you want polished visuals

Watch out for: Generally less powerful for facilitated planning workshops.

---

My practical recommendations by use case

If you want the best all-around workshop tool

• Miro

If your team is already deep in Figma

• FigJam

If you run structured facilitation / strategy sessions

• Mural

If you want simple brainstorming + diagrams

• Lucidspark

If you need to capture decisions and action items after the workshop

• Notion

---

Features to prioritize for product planning workshops

When choosing a tool, look for:

• Sticky notes and freeform collaboration
• Voting and prioritization
• Templates for roadmap planning, retros, and affinity mapping
• Presenter/facilitator controls
• Timer and agenda support
• Easy export/share with stakeholders
• Integrations with Jira, Linear, Confluence, Slack, etc.

---

A common stack for product teams

A lot of teams use:

• Miro or FigJam for live brainstorming
• Notion or Confluence for documentation and action items
• Jira or Linear for execution tracking

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a comparison table of these tools,
2. a recommendation based on team size/budget, or
3. a sample workshop setup for product planning sessions.