For the last 5 years, I’ve been working across multiple teams simultaneously, and I noticed something counterintuitive: the more collaboration tools we add, the worse our coordination gets.
I use to think I was being smart by adopting every async tool available (eg those incredible options mentioned in recent collaboration discussions). Instead, I created a coordination nightmare where important decisions were scattered across six different platforms and nobody knew where to find anything.
This connects to what was shared about conversion tracking complexity: sometimes our solutions create more problems than they solve.
What Actually Works Better
After some painful lessons: fewer tools used consistently beats more tools used sporadically. We went back to one primary communication hub, one shared document space, one clear decision process.
But here’s the key insight: no tool can replace being proactive about how your work affects others. This reminds me of the burnout discussion where the real issue wasn’t workload but coordination overhead.
The Questions That Actually Matter
Before I send that message or make that decision, I now ask:
“Who else needs to know about this?” - Not just who’s directly involved, but who might be affected downstream.
“Who will my task affect?” - Which teams, timelines, dependencies am I creating?
“Should I talk to those people directly?” - Sometimes a 2-minute conversation prevents a 2-hour confusion spiral (or even a lot more).
The teams I work with that coordinate best aren’t using the fanciest tools. They’re using basic tools really well and over-communicating rather than under-communicating. This echoes what came up in the Protocol UX discussion: the interface matters less than the underlying coordination.
This also ties into discussions about KPI vs OKR frameworks: clear communication processes might be more important than perfect measurement systems. And definitely relates to the AI automation reality checks discussion: no automation can replace thoughtful human coordination.
What’s your experience? Are you seeing similar tool multiplication in your teams? What’s actually working for you in your teams?