Why I stopped chasing every new tool

There was a stretch where I said yes to every demo. Each tool promised to fix a real problem, and each one was true enough to get my card. A year in, I sat down and counted what my managers actually opened on an average Tuesday. The list was short and most of what I was paying for was not on it.

A tool nobody opens is worse than no tool

Unused software is not neutral. It fragments where the team looks, it adds another login, and it quietly trains people to ignore tools in general. I cancelled most of it and the locations got calmer, not worse.

Earn the Tuesday

Now the bar for anything new is simple. Will a manager open it on a normal Tuesday without me reminding them. If the honest answer is no, it does not matter how good the demo was.