Tools

Software genuinely fixes recall, repetition, coordination across distance, and arithmetic. It only makes visible unclear ownership, undefined process, priority disagreements, and a manager who is not managing — and treating visibility as resolution is the failure.

Recording hours and observing behaviour are different needs sold in the same products. The administrative version needs start, end, purpose, attribution and export, and it produces more truthful numbers because observation changes behaviour.

74% of US employers monitor and 22% of employees know. Told in advance with access to their own data, 77% accept it; discovering it, 54% would consider leaving. The difference is one conversation. For a related reference, see read more.

A CRM stops describing reality the moment a number in it determines somebody's standing — activity targets, self-reported stages and close-date rules are each gamed within a quarter.

Adoption is the whole problem, and partial adoption is worse than none: an incomplete record misleads.

And ten questions before buying anything, sent before the trial, because two weeks with a product creates commitment and commitment is the wrong state for reading a contract.

• Adoption Is the Problem

  Most failed software was perfectly fine. Five reasons people route around a tool, and what predicts whether they will.

• CRM as a Record

  The same system used to remember and to judge produces neither. Why activity targets destroy the data they are drawn from.

• What Monitoring Does

  Most employers monitor and most employees do not know. Six figures on what that does to the people being measured.

• Tracking Without Surveillance

  Billing accuracy and capacity planning need hours. Neither needs screenshots. Where the line sits and how to stay on the right side.

• What a Tool Changes

  Software encodes a decision about how work happens. Four things it genuinely fixes and four it only makes visible.

• Before You Buy Anything

  Ten questions in one email, before the trial. What each protects against, and why the order matters more than the list.

For additional context on this topic, see Rock Paper Shotgun.

For additional context on this topic, see SANS Institute.