TSN #11 - Summer Tech/Tool-stack Cleanup

Hey! 👋

Continuing the Tech/Tool-stack theme, today we will have a look at the reasons why review of the apps you’re using makes sense. I am also covering the reasons why I dropped a handful of tools.☀️

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My lessons learned from this “app purge”:

Here's the deal – it's easy to get caught up in the hype of new tools and fancy features. It happens to me a lot, especially with the high number of AI-powered apps coming out recently. But at the end of the day, what matters is how these tools actually impact your productivity and bottom line.

My arguments for doing a review:

1. Being cost conscious: tools ranging from 10$-90$ per month per user can stack up nicely.

2. Technology advancements: what worked before might be outdated by now, or replaced by a “free” alternative.

3. Big ecosystem players don’t sleep: built-in tools that come with ecosystems you're already using are getting better from time to time(looking at you, Apple and Google).

4. Tech Stack minimalism: ultimately you want to get the job done as efficiently with as many tools as possible. Fancy features are cool, but only if you actually use them.

This baseline can differ for other people, but it was a solid starting point for my cleanup.

Thank you for your service & goodbye for now:

1/ ChatGPT 4: Switched to Claude for now

Why I ditched it:

• Claude and other AI tools stepped up their game

• The growth of AI tools focused on particular topic means they are stronger in their respective fields, a good example is Gamma.app I talked about last week

• 20$ is a premium

I am still open to coming back for GPT Search and I am still using GPT 3.5 for some tasks. Let’s see what the upcoming few months will bring.

2/ Taplio: The LinkedIn Helper That Couldn't Keep Up

Why it got the axe:

• Native LinkedIn features improved significantly, especially in scheduling. Although I noticed a drop in impressions if posts are scheduled.

• Taplio’s AI tools to help you write posts are mediocre, same with image generation. I don’t see much value ad in actual AI post writing.

• $60 a month for scheduling posts is an overkill that can be replaced with a simple weekly planning with calendar.

There is also one more reason, it’s a plugin which requires you to use Chrome, which I don’t use.

3/ ClickUp/Todoist: The Task Managers That Overcomplicated Things

Why they got replaced:

• Apple Notes & Reminders stepped up their game (and they're free!). Strong in terms of sharing, planning, sorting. You can even use Tiago Forte’s second brain methodology using Notes and Reminders.

• It is difficult to build a muscle to visit tools outside of the built in ecosystem. The simplicity of built-in tools matched my workflow better

• Cost is not much of an issue here in this case tbh.

Not yet onboard with Apple Email client, but maybe one day I’ll ditch Spark for Mail.

4/ Zoom: Is it even a surprise?

Why it got the boot:

• Google Meet finally works fine with Safari.

• Already paying for Google Workspace/Office 365, so why double up?

• I was shocked by the popularity of Zoom given how bad the app is. Finally the time is here to drop it fully, I haven’t seen any zoom invites for a long time.

• + $14.99

5/ Miro Board: The Collaboration Tool That Became a Ghost Town

Why it got left behind:

• Google Jamboard or Apple Freeform offered similar features (and it's part of Workspace/Apple ecosystem)

• From my perspective Miro was great, but since it gained on complexity and started having performance issues I found it painful to live with it.

• The subscription cost wasn't justifiable for occasional use, especially on a team level.

If you use Figma, then it definitely makes sense to use their alternative, but otherwise you are good to go with Jamboard or Freeform. They are strong on the sharing front.

All for today! Have a lovely Sunday!

- Slavo

P.S. If you've recently had your own "great app purge", drop me a line. I’m interested to see what apps are people dropping.