Techstack Source of Truth

 In this article, you’ll learn:

• What a Techstack SoT is & why it’s important

• How to select and evaluate your tools

• How to create a techstack SoT of your own 

If you want help getting started on building your own, you can buy our Techstack SoT template here:

What is a Techstack SoT & why is it important?

In modern workplaces today, there are dozens of tools that can help you accomplish your goals and complete your work more efficiently. And yet, too often we find that knowledge workers are getting tool fatigue and often lament the manager’s idea of adding yet another tool for some new initiative. To help avoid tool burnout, you and/or your team should have a shared understanding of when to use which tools to use for what work. This is what a Techstack Source of Truth (SoT) can help with. 

The Techstack SoT documents which technology products should be used for which purposes and it is shared across the team. It can also contain helpful information such as where to find relevant materials about the tool and any conventions that are important for the tool’s use. 

Having and using a Techstack SoT can offer three main benefits:

• Increases trust:

  • If everyone is using the same tools the same way, each tool becomes a valuable source of information for that use or workflow. This provides trust in the information within, thus creating the “source of truth”. 

  • For example, if each person uses a different list to track the status of tasks for a project, there is no easy way to see exactly what needs to be done and how it is progressing. Rather, if everyone is using a shared project plan and updating it as they complete work, there is a shared source of truth that everyone can trust for how the project is progressing.  

• Adds clarity

  • In addition to increasing trust in the information within each tool, having a source of truth also adds clarity of where to go to input or get information needed. This reduces confusion or frustration for the team as there is no question about where to go for what information.

  • For example, if each sales person tracks their contacts and deals in a separate spreadsheet, it would be hard to see if someone else has contacted a particular customer already or where a deal is in the sales cycle. Instead, if there was a shared CRM or customer contact list, everyone would have clarity about where to update the status of their sales as they progress and where to enter new contacts. Additionally, everyone knows where to see whether a customer is in contact with the team or how to report on current pipeline forecasts.

• Improves efficiency:

  • Lastly, by having a shared source of truth that everyone uses, the team will get familiar with the tools and can share best practices and use the most efficient workflows to save time for completing routine tasks.

  • You will also be able to improve the efficiency of onboarding new teammates as you can send them your list to help them understand which tools the team uses, get set up with applicable accounts, and access relevant information. 

  • For example, if everyone is using the same file storage tool and system of organization, they can save time looking for relevant documents and create new documents in the right location with ease. This saves time both on the use of the tool and when trying to locate information stored within tools.

Once you understand the benefits of creating your techstack SoT, you are ready to create your own. 

Creating your techstack SoT

Your Techstack SoT can vary in the amount of information you capture in it. It can be extremely simple as a clean list of the various uses or workflows for your team and the tool you use for each. You can add more complexity and context where helpful for you or your team such as links, conventions, or materials on how to use the tool. Some larger teams or enterprise organizations may also want to use a single sign-on (SSO) tool to manage application provisioning such as Okta or OneLogin, which can accomplish some of the same purposes as your SoT list. Now you’ll learn the basic steps to building your SoT list including:

• Outlining your list

• Adding other helpful context (if desired)

• Training or transitioning from other tools

To create your Techstack SoT list, start by making a list of all of the tool needs and which tool your team uses for each.  There is an example of the tool needs at the end of this article, and you can also get our template if you want to start with the areas built out. 

If your team is getting started in thinking about which tools to use, you should start your Techstack SoT list from scratch.  If your team is already using a variety of tools that you want to simplify or centralize, you may want to start by capturing a list of all the tools used through a conversation or by gathering input from the team through a form or request. Then you can decide on the preferred tool among all of the current options and help teammates transition to the shared tool. You can use this list of current tools as the starting place for your SoT list and add from there. 

Once you have the list outlined, you can then add any other context that would be helpful for you to have about each tool. For example, you may want to capture a link to the tool website, details about who has accounts or how many licenses you have, who owns the billing for the tool, and/or links to any training materials. Any information you find yourself sending to the team regularly or want to provide for new hires is good to include in your list. This will save you time in referencing this information and sharing it with others in the future.

When creating your source of truth and helping your team get on board with your tool selections, you will need to consider training your team on each tool and helping them transition any information from other tools they’ve used into the new tool. This will vary in time and complexity depending on the tech savviness of your team and how much information they have in other tools, but it is important to commit to doing this to ensure each teammate is able to commit to using the tool you’ve defined as the source of truth. 

Now you have a great outline of source of truth for each workflow or type of information your team needs. But what happens if you need a new tool or can’t decide on which tool to use for a particular need? Next, you’ll learn how to select your tools so you can find the right source of truth for each need on your list.

How to select tools

If you need to select tools to complete your Techstack SoT list, it can be overwhelming to select among the dozens of product options available today. Below is a recommended high-level tool selection process and best practices you can use to make the right decision.  

Needs gathering

Start by gathering the needs for the particular use or workflow. Organize this into a list where you outline all of the needs or “jobs to be done” for the tool. Think about everything you need the tool to be able to do in order to work for you, along with the “nice to have” features. For example, for an email tool, some of your needs might be:

• Receive email

• Catch and remove spam

• Send email

• Schedule emails to send later

• Out of office setting

Once you have started the list of needs, then you should get input from your team or any other stakeholders who will also need to utilize the tool you select as well. Gather all of their needs into your list so you have a comprehensive list of everything you need in your tool. 

Then, you should prioritize the list by adding detail about how essential each need is. You can do this by categorizing each item by “Must have” (deal breakers), “Should have” (needs that are important but not deal breakers), and “Nice to have” (needs that would be nice but are easy to live without). Then you can sort the list of needs by their priority and use this later in the evaluation phase. 

Research

Once you have a comprehensive list of the needs for your tool, it is time to start evaluating options. The best place to start is often an online search for your particular workflow or need. For our email tool we might search for “best email tools for teams”. As you find potential options, create a list of the ones that seem like a viable solution. 

You can also source and do initial research on technology review sites such as G2 Crowd or Capterra. Using these review sites, you can parse the list down to your top choices. 

Once you have a list of the top potential options, you can find demos and videos online that show you the features of the product. This can help you do an initial validation against your needs list to determine whether they will be able to satisfy your “must have” items and how well you think they could accommodate the rest of your needs. If you are looking at tools with a large cost, you can often set up live demos with a sales person where you can ask questions and get a more detailed idea of how the tool could work for you.

Using the demos and information available online, try to narrow your list down to the top options (typically 2-5) so you can do a more robust evaluation to make a decision.

Evaluate

With your list of top options, you are ready to do a deeper evaluation. To do this, go back to your list of needs, and add a column for each of your top options. Using the information available through demos, review sites, help content, and videos, try to validate whether each option meets each of the needs on your list. For any needs you aren’t able to determine through online resources, you can usually reach out to the sales or support team for the company and ask them whether they can perform the function needed. 

You can also consider trying the product through a free trial or demo account if the product has this option. This can help you understand what it would feel like to use the tool and you can validate how well it can meet each of the criteria you outlined in your needs list. 

In addition to reviewing yourself, you should also get input from any stakeholders who are critical to get on board or to help make the decision. You can do this during the research or evaluation phase, and you should ask for their opinion on which option they like best and what they like and dislike about each solution. 

Lastly, get the pricing for each tool either from the prices outlined on their website or through a custom quote or proposal. Use this to review the options and your recommendation with your manager or anyone else who would need to approve the budget for the tool. If the purchase will be a large expense, put together a more formal business case for why you need the tool and why you are recommending the tool you’ve selected. 

Decide

Before moving forward with the final selection, perform a few final checks to make sure it is the right tool for your team. The depth of this review will vary depending on the price of the tool, the number of people who will need to use it, the size and industry of your organization, and the importance of the tool to your team’s work. Below are a few checks you may need to perform before you move forward:

• Review with your legal, procurement, or security team (or any other teams that are involved in tool procurement)

• Get budget approval from your manager or finance team

• Review with teams who will participate in implementation, such as design, IT, or business intelligence

• Review how the tool will connect or integrate with other tools you use

After completing these checks as needed, validate the workflow in your preferred tool with anyone who will need to use the tool. This includes going through the process of using the tool as you plan to for its use and identifying any points of friction or problems. If the tool works as expected, you should be ready to move forward with the selected solution.

The final step is to outline your plan for implementation and training for your team to be sure you can get the right resources you will need for these steps. This could include resources from the company providing the tool or service or through your own organization or team. If the tool is straightforward, you may be planning to implement and train your team or stakeholders on your own, and this can simplify the process.

Now you are ready to select your tool! Go ahead and sign up, create an account, and/or purchase your subscription or product as applicable to your selected tool. Make sure that you note this new tool in your Techstack SoT list as the solution for that particular use or workflow. 

Set up & train

Now that you’ve selected and purchased your tool, you’re almost done. The final step to success is to get the tool set up and get your team using the tool. Again, the complexity and time involved in this will vary depending on the tool and your organization, but the basic components include:

• Implementing: This is where you configure the settings of the tool to your needs and outline any conventions for exactly how you are using the tool

• Testing: This is where you test the solution so you can adjust the settings or configuration as needed

• Onboard your team: This is where you set up accounts or invite your team to use the tool

• Train:  This is where you teach your team how to use the tool and what conventions they should follow

You’ve done it! You have selected a tool as your source of truth for another workflow or need of your team, filling another gap in your team’s Techstack SoT list. Now you can follow the same steps for any other areas where you need to choose a tool for your team.

Techstack areas

Now that you know what a Techstack SoT list is, how to create one, and how to select tools when needed for your team, you are ready to manage the tools for your team with more confidence. 

If you want to start with a template for your own SoT list, you can purchase one here:

If you prefer to create your own, below are some areas you can use to start with as areas to include on your list to make sure your team has the tools they need to succeed.

• General

  • Project management

  • Task management

  • Process maps

  • Email

  • Calendar

  • Documents (text-based and spreadsheets)

  • Communication / instant messaging

  • Time tracking (if applicable)

  • Meeting agendas

  • Presentations

  • File storage

  • Password management

  • Scheduling

  • Forms

  • Goal planning

• People management:

  • Recruiting/hiring pipeline

  • Onboarding

  • Off-boarding

  • Interview questions

  • Performance and peer reviews

  • Expense management

  • Training / learning & development

• Team-specific

  • CRM

  • Design

  • Video production

  • Video hosting

  • Business intelligence / data analysis

  • Email outreach

  • Call recording

  • Call notes