PM Portfolio: Toolstack Audit
A toolstack audit is one of the most differentiating portfolio pieces a PM can have — it demonstrates commercial awareness, evaluation rigour, and cross-functional thinking.
Structure of a compelling tool audit
A good audit has four parts: the problem statement (why you were evaluating), the criteria you used to evaluate (with weights), the evaluation itself (tool × criterion matrix), and the recommendation with rationale.
Criteria to include
Useful evaluation criteria for PM tools: core feature fit, learning curve, integration with existing stack, pricing at team scale, vendor stability, support quality, and switching cost. Weight criteria by your context — a startup weights differently than an enterprise.
How to present it
A scorecard table is more compelling than prose because it shows your reasoning was structured, not just opinionated. You can build one in Notion, Airtable, or even a Google Sheet. Link it from your portfolio with a brief summary of what you decided and why.
Template
| Criterion | Weight | Tool A | Tool B | Tool C | |---|---|---|---|---| | Core feature fit | 30% | 4/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 | | Integration fit | 20% | 5/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | | Learning curve | 15% | 3/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | | Pricing (our scale) | 20% | 4/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | | Vendor stability | 15% | 5/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | | **Weighted total** | | **4.05** | **3.70** | **3.80** |
Tools worth featuring in this type of piece
High-authority tools that carry weight on a PM resume and portfolio.