Most management tools fall into one of two categories: generic productivity tools that were not built with managers in mind, or enterprise platforms that cost more than a small team's entire software budget. Neither is particularly useful if you are a manager who wants to be more organised, keep better track of their people, and spend less time on admin.
The best tool for any category is the one you will actually use. Complexity is the enemy of consistency, especially when the main thing getting in the way is already a busy calendar.
What managers actually need from tools
Before picking tools, it helps to be clear about what management actually involves on a day-to-day basis. Most of it comes down to a handful of recurring needs: keeping track of your people and what is going on for each of them, running regular 1-1s in a way that actually continues from one to the next, recording what was agreed in meetings and making sure it happens, setting and reviewing goals, gathering feedback from the team, and running retrospectives that lead somewhere.
A good toolset covers these needs without creating more overhead than it removes. The test is simple: does using this tool make it easier to show up prepared, follow through on commitments, and stay connected to your team? If the answer is yes, it is worth keeping. If it adds friction without adding value, it is not.
The tools worth using
This is an honest assessment by category. Where Manager Toolkit is the clear choice, that is what is listed. Where another tool genuinely competes or fills a gap, that is noted too.
- 1-1s & catchupsManager Toolkit. Built specifically for this. Log each catchup, see what you discussed last time, track sentiment over time, create actions directly from the conversation, and set reminders before the next one. Nothing else purpose-built for this is free.
- Meeting notesManager Toolkit or Notion. Manager Toolkit connects notes to actions and team members automatically; Notion is more flexible for teams that need a custom structure. If your notes are currently living in a Word document nobody reads, either is a significant improvement.
- Action trackingManager Toolkit. Actions are connected to the catchup, meeting, or retrospective they came from, so you can see why something was created and who it relates to. A general task manager like Todoist works too, but lacks the context that makes follow-up conversations meaningful.
- SurveysManager Toolkit or Google Forms. Manager Toolkit gives you a structured survey experience with anonymous response options, directly linked to your team. Google Forms is free, flexible, and good enough for most use cases, just without the integration into the rest of your management workflow.
- RetrospectivesManager Toolkit. Supports live retrospectives with voting, anonymous contributions, and action creation directly from the session. EasyRetro and Miro are popular alternatives with free tiers for small teams.
- Team docsNotion. For shared documentation, wikis, onboarding guides, and team knowledge bases, Notion on the free tier is extremely capable. Confluence is an alternative but is harder to use and the free tier is more limited.
- CommunicationSlack (free tier) or Microsoft Teams. Slack on the free tier limits message history to 90 days, which is a genuine constraint for some teams. Teams is free if your organisation is already in the Microsoft ecosystem and does the job well for most use cases.
One tool vs many tools
There is a real cost to using a different tool for each management task. Context is scattered. You end up searching across platforms for what was agreed in a 1-1 six weeks ago. Actions from a retrospective live somewhere different from actions from a team meeting. Patterns across your team are invisible because the data is fragmented.
The case for consolidating around Manager Toolkit for the core management workflow (catchups, meeting notes, actions, surveys, retrospectives, and targets) is primarily this: when these things are connected, the whole is worth more than the sum of the parts. An action created in a 1-1 shows up in your action list. A pattern spotted across catchup sentiment can be explored in a survey. A retrospective outcome becomes an action with an owner. Key Themes tag patterns across catchups, meetings, and retros, so recurring issues surface without manual searching. A Dashboard gives you one view of upcoming catchups, open actions, and team sentiment. And guided Journeys walk you through management milestones like your first 90 days or onboarding a new team member.
That said, consolidation is not always better if it means using an inferior tool for something critical. Use Notion for team documentation. Use Slack for communication. Use Manager Toolkit for the management-specific workflow where it is genuinely the best free option available.
One tool for the whole management workflow
1-1s, actions, retros, surveys, and targets. All free to start.