Your team has used Trello, Asana, Monday, Notion, Jira, ClickUp, and now you're evaluating Linear.
Each time, the story is the same. The current tool isn't working. It's too rigid, or too floppy, or too complicated, or too simple. Something's wrong, and the next tool is going to fix it.
Except it never does. Six months later, you're shopping again.
Why do teams cycle through project management tools like they're trying on jeans?
The Honeymoon Phase
Every new tool feels amazing at first. It's clean. It's fast. It solves the exact problems you hated about the old tool.
The team is energized. Everyone actually updates their tasks. Meetings feel productive again. You wonder why you didn't switch sooner.
Then reality sets in.
The Creep
As you use the tool more, you start customizing it. Adding fields. Creating workflows. Building automations. Integrating other tools.
The simplicity that attracted you starts to erode. The tool gets heavier. Slower. More complicated.
And here's the kicker: you did this to yourself. The tool didn't fail you. You turned it into the same bloated system you were trying to escape.
The Real Problem
Here's what teams don't realize: the tool was never the problem.
The problem is that you're trying to use a tool to fix a people problem.
- If priorities are unclear, no tool will clarify them
- If communication is poor, no tool will improve it
- If the team doesn't trust each other, no tool will build that trust
- If you're working on too many things, no tool will focus you
Tools can't solve misalignment. They can't resolve conflict. They can't replace judgment.
The Switching Cost
Every time you switch tools, you pay a tax:
- Time spent evaluating options
- Time spent migrating data
- Time spent learning the new system
- Time spent reconfiguring integrations
- Lost context from the old tool
- Broken links in docs and Slack
For a small team, that's weeks of productivity. For a larger team, it's months.
And for what? To land in the same place six months from now, frustrated with the new tool and ready to switch again?
What Actually Works
The best teams pick something simple and stick with it. They resist the urge to over customize. They use 20% of the features and ignore the rest.
They recognize that the tool is just infrastructure. It's not the work. It's not the strategy. It's just a place to write things down.
And when something's not working, they fix the process, not the tool.
Because here's the truth: if you can't make it work in a simple tool, you won't make it work in a complex one either. You'll just have more fields to fill out while you fail.
Stop chasing the perfect tool. There isn't one. Pick something good enough, and focus your energy on the work that actually matters.
✨
Ready to try Bonjour?
A hyper-focused feed for your team. No endless lists. Just the work that matters.