I see this pattern all the time with creators and small teams (and lived it myself):

You start with Google Docs + Google Sheets because:

• they’re free

• everyone knows how to use them

• “we’ll switch later when it gets serious”

Fast forward a few months and suddenly you have:

• 12 docs for one project

• a spreadsheet no one wants to touch

• tasks hidden inside comments

• versions named final_final_v7_REAL.doc

Docs and Sheets are amazing documents, but they’re not great systems.

Where Google Docs/Sheets break down

For creators and small teams especially:

• ❌ No real task ownership

• ❌ No clear project structure

• ❌ Progress is invisible unless you manually track it

• ❌ Context lives in 5 different files

• ❌ Planning = copy/paste + hope

They’re static. Projects aren’t.

Why specialised tools actually help (even solo)

A lot of people think project management tools are “overkill” unless you’re a big team. In reality:

• Solo creators benefit most from clarity

• Small teams need less friction, not more tools

Specialised tools give you:

• Tasks that actually belong to projects

• One source of truth (not doc sprawl)

• Clear priorities without constant mental load

• Momentum - you see progress, not just text

It’s not about complexity. It’s about reducing cognitive overhead.

The real shift

The moment things changed for me was realizing:

Once you separate those two, work gets lighter.

That said…

You don’t need Jira.
You don’t need enterprise software.
You do need something built for how creators and small teams actually work.

Curious:

• What are you using right now instead of Docs/Sheets?

• Or what made you finally switch (or not switch)?

Would love to hear what actually worked for people - not theoretical advice.