The momentNew hires kept landing on the Ops Manager's desk.
The agency wasn't short on tools. Between Slack, Asana, Notion, Google Workspace, and a handful of others for marketing, design, and client work, there was a tool for almost everything. What there wasn't was clarity on which one was for what. SOPs were scattered across whichever app someone happened to be in when they wrote them. Information was stored inconsistently from one project to the next.
New hires didn't have a place to look — they had a person to ask. Every onboarding routed back through the Ops Manager, one question at a time.
The real problemToo many tools wasn't the issue. No boundaries between them was.
The audit looked at how each tool was actually being used versus what it was good for. The pattern was consistent: tools weren't competing for the same job so much as overlapping into each other's territory with no agreed rules.
- Multiple tools were being used for the same kind of information, with no clear rule for which one was authoritative
- SOPs and templates existed, but scattered across apps with no single home
- Slack carried everything — relevant updates and noise alike — so important changes were easy to miss
The fix wasn't fewer tools. It was clear jobs for the tools that earned their place, and a plan for retiring the ones that didn't.
The shiftOne stack, with defined roles and the connections to match.
I helped the team decide what to keep, what to retire, and what each surviving tool was actually for — then connected them so work could move between tools without anyone manually carrying it. Notion became the central hub: SOPs, meeting notes, strategy docs, client requirements, and timelines all live there now. Asana was refined specifically for project tracking, with forms for client requests and workflow setups, plus reusable templates so new projects don't start from a blank board. Slack was streamlined to carry only what's relevant, integrated with the rest of the stack so project changes, client submissions, and deadlines reach the right people without anyone tool-hopping to check.
Specifically, I built and delivered:
- A defined core purpose for each tool, with redundant tools removed
- SOPs, templates, meeting notes, strategy docs, and client timelines consolidated in Notion
- Final timelines linked from Notion directly into Asana for execution
- Asana forms for client requests and new projects, with built-in templates for faster setup
- Slack integrated with Asana, Google Workspace, and the rest of the stack for automated updates
- A tool deprecation plan, so the stack doesn't quietly sprawl again
- A "Which Tool for What" guide and a live training workshop
- Loom training videos covering the full workspace setup and best practices for Slack, Asana, Notion, and Google Workspace
The team didn't need to learn new habits from scratch — they needed the tools they already used to finally agree on whose job was whose.
The resultA stack the team can actually navigate.
The team now works within a clearly defined, integrated tool stack. Information is organized, project intake is streamlined, and updates flow automatically into Slack instead of getting lost in it. Onboarding is faster, and day-to-day operations run without the confusion or tool-switching that used to define a normal day.