Three tools doing the same job
Three tools doing the same job: three bills, and three sets of doors to close.
(Illustrative scenario, not a real incident)
At the year-end budget review,this sixty-person clothing brand's finance teamlaid the bills out one by one.
Project management tools: three.Whiteboard collaboration: two.Video meetings: besides the one the company bought,two departments had each subscribed to another.
Every department had a good reason:this board is intuitive,that one integrates with other systems,and one was brought in by a former manager.
None of them was expensive.Together, they added up to real money.
The bigger trouble wasn't the money.Every extra toolmeans one more set of permissions,one more offboarding check,one more contract to remember to renew.Project data is scattered across three places,and whoever takes over has to hunt through three systems.
Zhuangzi said: “The tailorbird nests in the deep forest, but uses no more than one branch.”A small bird building its nest in a great forestneeds nothing more than a single branch.
What we need,too, is often not that much.
One fewer toolis one fewer door to remember to close.
Keep only one primary tool per category. Before consolidating, write down each one's renewal date, so none of them quietly renews itself.