Best illustration tool for product managers

There are roughly 40-60 tools competing for this space, ranging from Figma and Adobe XD (design-first, overcomplicated for PMs) to Miro and Mural (collaboration-first, too abstract) to specialized PM tools like ProductBoard (feature-focused, weak visuals). The real pain point isn't illustration capability—it's context switching. PMs need to sketch ideas fast, add annotations that matter, hand off to designers without friction, and reference back to user research and specs without jumping tabs. Most tools either go too deep into design tools (Figma's learning curve kills adoption) or stay too shallow (Miro boards feel disposable and lack hierarchy). The actual gap is a tool that sits between napkin sketching and design handoff, with built-in connectors to research, specs, and user flows. A new shipper should focus on: (1) one-click exports that preserve PM intent without forcing design polish, (2) native linking to research artifacts and user journeys, (3) collaborative commenting that surfaces actual design decisions—not just 'looks good', and (4) templates that PMs recognize from their workflow (jobs-to-be-done mapping, user story flows, feature comparisons) rather than forcing blank canvases.