I like opinionated people as much as I dont like opinionated (productivity) software.
I keep thinking that what drives efficiency and success for one person or company might not work for another. This is why I have a strong preference for non-opinionated tools—those that are flexible and allow users to tailor them to their unique workflows and needs.
💡 Productivity can mean different things to different people, teams and organizations- this is why it is better to have tools that respect and adapt to this diversity. Instead of imposing a rigid structure, these tools provide a framework that users can mold and shape to their needs.
Some of the tools that come to mind are: Notion, Clickup and Trello.
In Notion, for example, an HR team can use a Notion database to track incoming job applications with different fields for candidate name, application status, interview dates, etc. At the same time, an engineering team can use the same feature (Notion database) to manage and track engineering projects and initiatives, while at the same time collaborating with the HR team to qualify candidates, arrange technical interviews, exchange notes etc.
In Trello, a marketing team might use card templates for campaign planning, including fields for target audience, marketing budget, and key dates, ensuring consistency across campaigns. At the same time, another user could create a card template for managing personal goals, with options for the goal description, steps to achieve it, deadlines, milestones etc, making it easier to track progress on various personal or professional goals.
We followed this principle while building Fusion, which is based on “Fusion blocks” (header, text, table, code, XML, JSON, query etc etc.). This modularity allows users to create a single source of truth that is always up-to-date (no matter if this is API specs, Test Cases, or API documentation). This way, everyone – from frontend and backend developers to QA Technical Writers and Product Managers – all can have their own dedicated processes while at the same time being able to view and collaborate on the same API docs when required- resulting in a unified API development process.
🔍 By choosing such (non-opinionated) tools, we can create processes and systems that support different teams, styles and goals, ultimately enhancing productivity in the long term.
Do you agree? Do you prefer tools that are opininated or not?
P.S I am looking for feedback for the new version of Fusion (Yes its an API Client and No! its not (another) copycat of Postman. Try it here: https://apyhub.com/product/fusion
Cheers,
Nikolas
