Miro has been named to Constellation Research’s 2026 ShortList™ for Collaborative Product Development Solutions, a curated list of 12 tools selected from 40+ evaluated options. The ShortList highlights platforms where the main value is team collaboration, supported by AI features such as summarisation and insight discovery that help teams align and decide faster.

AI has made it easier for individuals to work faster — but product development still wins (or loses) based on how well teams share context, make decisions, and move together. That’s why Miro’s inclusion in the 2026 Constellation ShortList™ for Collaborative Product Development Solutions matters: it signals that the market is shifting from “single-player AI” to collaboration-first workflows.

In this post, we’ll explain what the ShortList is, why Constellation’s criteria matters for modern product teams, and how to translate the announcement into practical next steps.

Updated as of 19/02/2026 (Europe/London): This post reflects Miro’s announcement dated 18 February 2026 and Constellation Research’s ShortList page published 2 February 2026.

What the Constellation ShortList is (and why it’s not just a badge)

Constellation Research’s ShortList™ is an analyst-curated set of leading technology solutions intended to help enterprises quickly identify best-fit vendors.

For the Collaborative Product Development Solutions category, Constellation frames the space around aligning product strategy, design, and delivery so teams can translate insights into decisions. The emphasis is important: these tools act as a coordination layer across functions — not just another siloed system.

Constellation also makes a point that AI features can help (summarisation, prioritisation, insight discovery), but the defining value remains collaboration, not automation.

What Miro was recognised for in 2026

In Miro’s announcement, Constellation evaluated more than 40 solutions and selected 12 for the 2026 ShortList — with Miro included.

Miro’s framing is consistent with Constellation’s: the biggest gains don’t come from AI that makes one person faster; they come from AI that helps teams work better, together — with shared context, visible decisions, and one place for customer insights, roadmaps, and design work.

Miro also points to its Miro for Product Acceleration solution as the end-to-end approach product teams can use to connect strategy to delivery and get more from AI investments.

Why this matters now for product and digital teams

Most organisations are past the novelty phase of AI. The question is no longer “Can AI generate something?” — it’s:

• Can teams trust what gets generated?

• Can they keep decisions and evidence connected?

• Can they move from discovery to delivery without losing alignment?

Constellation’s ShortList criteria reflects that reality. It highlights capabilities such as product planning, real-time and async collaboration, ideation/prototyping support, customer feedback collection, integrations with delivery tools, and governance.

For teams scaling product development across time zones and functions, these criteria are effectively a checklist for avoiding “AI sprawl” — where outputs multiply but shared understanding doesn’t.

What “AI-augmented collaborative product development” looks like in practice

Miro’s announcement references several collaboration-led AI patterns teams are adopting today:

1) Shared synthesis, not private summaries

Instead of individuals summarising research in isolation, teams can use collaborative AI workflows to cluster themes, summarise notes, and turn messy inputs into a single, reviewable view.

If you want a practical blueprint, our guide on how Miro transforms product development with AI, collaboration and public boards is a strong starting point: it outlines a repeatable “Product Hub” structure and weekly cadence for turning feedback into decisions.

2) Faster alignment through prototypes and structured workflows

Miro cites examples where teams use Miro Prototypes alongside AI features (including AI Sidekicks and AI Flows) to move from brief to validated direction faster.

The outcome isn’t “more assets”; it’s fewer cycles wasted because stakeholders can see, comment, and decide in the same shared space.

3) Decisions stay connected to evidence

A practical way to keep teams aligned is to create an explicit “Decisions” area (or frame) on a board and link every decision back to:

• customer evidence (quotes, usability findings, support themes)

• constraints (tech, compliance, budget)

• impact assumptions (what you expect to improve)

This is the kind of governance Constellation calls out (alignment, traceability, integrations) — and it’s where teams typically feel the ROI.

Practical steps: how to use this announcement internally

If you’re responsible for tooling decisions, this is how to turn the ShortList recognition into action without overselling it.

Step 1: Use the ShortList as a buying and governance checklist

Take Constellation’s capability areas and map them to your operating model:

• Do you need roadmap visibility across multiple product lines?

• Are you trying to connect customer feedback to prioritisation?

• Do you need stronger stakeholder governance?

• Which integrations are non-negotiable (e.g., Jira/Asana, Teams/Slack)?

Step 2: Run a 2-week “collaboration baseline” pilot

Avoid feature tours. Instead, pick one real workflow to improve (for example, discovery synthesis → prioritisation → sprint planning).

Track:

• cycle time from insight to decision

• number of handover points

• time spent re-explaining context

Step 3: Turn on AI where it removes admin, not judgement

The easiest wins tend to be:

• summarising discussions and research notes

• clustering themes from sticky notes

• structuring diagrams and canvases so boards stay readable

Then set guardrails for what AI cannot decide (priorities, commitments, risk approvals).

Step 4: Make ROI visible (so adoption sticks)

If you need to quantify impact, start with a simple ROI story:

• Where do meetings repeat because context is missing?

• Where are decisions revisited because evidence is scattered?

If you’d like help building a business case, our Miro page includes an ROI approach and implementation support as a certified partner.

What this doesn’t mean (and the sensible caveats)

Being on a ShortList is useful validation — but it isn’t a guarantee of fit.

Miro will be strongest where:

• teams need cross-functional collaboration at scale

• discovery and delivery need a shared source of truth

• you want AI support for synthesis and structure, not isolated generation

If your organisation is heavily constrained by policy, data residency, or regulated workflows, the key is to validate governance, security controls, and admin capabilities early in the evaluation.

Summary

Miro’s inclusion in Constellation Research’s 2026 ShortList for Collaborative Product Development Solutions reflects a broader shift: AI is becoming valuable when it strengthens shared understanding — not when it accelerates isolated work.

If you want to apply this in your organisation, focus on one workflow, measure collaboration friction, and use AI to remove admin while keeping decision-making human.

Next steps

• Explore how we support Miro adoption, training, governance and ROI: https://www.gend.co/miro/

• If you’re choosing between visual collaboration tools, compare options here: https://www.gend.co/blog/miro-vs-figjam-vs-mural

• Or start with a practical product development setup guide: https://www.gend.co/blog/how-miro-transforms-product-development-ai-collaboration-public-boards

FAQs

Q1: What is the Constellation ShortList?
Constellation Research’s ShortList™ is an analyst-curated set of leading technology solutions designed to help enterprises shortlist best-fit vendors.

Q2: What is “collaborative product development” in Constellation’s terms?
It’s the connected set of workflows that aligns product strategy, design collaboration, delivery, and customer feedback so teams can translate insights into decisions across the product lifecycle.

Q3: How many solutions were evaluated and selected in the 2026 ShortList category?
For the 2026 Collaborative Product Development Solutions ShortList, Constellation evaluated more than 40 solutions and selected 12.

Q4: What kind of AI capabilities does Constellation associate with this category?
Constellation notes AI-driven capabilities such as summarisation, prioritisation, and insight discovery — but emphasises that collaboration is the defining value.

Q5: What should product teams do after seeing this ShortList recognition?
Use the criteria as a checklist, pilot one real workflow for two weeks, apply AI to reduce admin, and measure time saved through better alignment and fewer rework loops.