Free tools · Elle Anderson · andersonco.uk

The Tool Alignment Check

Twelve checks that show whether a tool is still solving the problem it was chosen to solve. Use it for a business tool your teams use internally or for the product you are building for customers. The product is the problem you are solving, and the tool is only ever a solution. Tick only what is true today, and use the question under each check to test it honestly.

The Problem

We can name, in one sentence, the problem this tool solves for us.Ask everyone in the room to write that sentence alone, then compare. If the sentences differ, the problem has never been agreed.

We can name the decisions this tool helps people make better or faster.Ask: which decision last month relied on this tool? If nobody can name one, it is a record, not a decision aid.

The problem was agreed before the tool was chosen.Ask: what did we compare it against, and why did it win? If the answer is a good demonstration or a favourite from someone’s last role, score half.

Ownership and the Model

One named person owns how the tool is set up and kept healthy, and has time in their week to do it.Ask: who fixes it when it goes wrong? If the answer is “whoever notices”, nobody owns it.

The naming, structure and definitions are written down and short enough to remember.Ask: what counts as an active user, an idea or a priority here? Three different answers mean there is no model.

Every team uses the tool in the same way.Open two teams’ views side by side. Could a leader read both without a translator?

Ritual and Trust

The tool is opened in at least one regular meeting where real decisions are made.Ask: name the meeting. A tool that nobody opens in a meeting is a tool that nobody trusts.

People trust what the tool says enough to act on it without checking elsewhere.Ask: when did someone last export the data to a spreadsheet to check it?

We measure whether the tool is working against the problem it was chosen to solve.Ask: what has improved since we bought it, and how do we know?

Overlap and the Exit

No other tool in the stack does the same job.Ask: where else does this information live? Two homes mean two versions of the truth, and the arguments about whose number is right.

We know what we would lose if we switched it off tomorrow.Ask: would anyone notice? If the honest answer is no, you have found your saving.

We could take our data with us if the tool stopped solving the problem.Ask: how would we export it, and in what form? Knowing this is what makes a pivot easy rather than painful.

Reading the Score

10 to 12: the tool is earning its licence. Keep checking once a year, because problems move.
6 to 9: the tool is useful but drifting. Start with the first unticked box, because each section depends on the one before it.
0 to 5: you have a tool without a reason. Go back to the problem before you spend another hour on configuration or another penny on renewal.

How to use this: run it for one tool at a time, with the people who use it and the people who pay for it in the same room, and agree each tick together. The conversation about whether a box deserves a tick is worth more than the score. Run it before you buy, before every renewal and whenever a new leader arrives with a favourite tool. For the thinking behind it, read the Field Note Product Tools Without a Reason.