Productivity & Planning
The minimal project management setup
Keep your team aligned with one source of truth instead of five apps.
The biggest mistake teams make with project management is buying too much software. A board full of features nobody uses is just noise. The goal is one place everyone trusts enough to check every morning.
Pick one source of truth
Decide where tasks live. It can be Linear, Notion, Trello, or even a spreadsheet at first. The tool matters less than the habit of putting work in one place.
Keep statuses honest
Most project tools fail because statuses lie. A task sits in "In progress" for two weeks because nobody wants to mark it blocked. Build a culture where blocked, paused, and cancelled are acceptable states.
Protect focus time
Project management software can become a notification factory. Turn off most alerts. The best setup is the one that helps people do deep work, not the one that keeps them busiest.
Review weekly
A ten-minute weekly review is more useful than any dashboard. Look at what moved, what stalled, and what can be removed. The simplest stack is the one you actually maintain.