You know it’s bad when you’re updating the tracker more than the actual product.
In high-pressure, multi-vendor projects, a simple Google Sheet or Notion page can start out as a helpful tool—and quickly become the entire battleground. When comms are broken, clarity is missing, and team members ghost each other, the humble tracker becomes the surrogate PM. And that’s when the real project starts slipping.
What is Communication Debt?
Think of it like tech debt, but for alignment. It’s the silent build-up of:
- Missed context
- Unspoken assumptions
- Updates that should’ve been said out loud, but weren’t
It corrodes decision-making and saps your ability to lead with focus. And in most cases, it’s invisible until it costs you weeks.
5 Signs the Tracker Has Taken Over
- You’re chasing updates more than making decisions
- Your role feels like admin, not strategy
- Team performance is judged by cells, not context
- Leadership keeps asking, “is it in the sheet?” instead of syncing directly
- The sheet becomes the only artifact anyone references
The Real Cost
- Missed context leads to bad calls
- Burnout from endless pings and manual follow-ups
- Tracker-as-performance-tool undermines morale
- You stop building a product; you start managing spreadsheets
How to Reclaim Product Ownership
- Clarify ownership: Who updates what, and when?
- Create rhythm: Make the tracker follow your syncs—not the other way around
- Reframe the sheet: It’s a mirror, not a compass
- Push leadership for structure: Demand real cadence, not just visibility
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If you feel like the product is buried under version control issues, Slack messages, and a million Google Sheets, you’re not alone. But unless you call it out, the team will keep serving the tool instead of the mission. And no one ships from a spreadsheet.
