Why I Ditched Six Apps for One Productivity Stack

Bleeding tasks across six apps got old — so I tried a different take on the productivity stack

After months of hopping between a to‑do list, a notes app, a daily planner, and two different journaling tools, my productivity stack felt more like a job than a system. Every app had a slightly different way of handling dates, priorities, and context. I’d copy a meeting note from one place, paste it into another, then forget why I’d saved it in the first place. That’s when I stumbled onto zaso.ai — a bundle of six focused little tools that claims to do one thing each, rather than trying to be everything. I decided to test it out as my daily driver for a week, using a single concrete scenario: planning and reviewing a small freelance project from start to finish.

Starting with Daily Planning and Tasks

I kicked off Monday morning using the Daily Planning tool. It asked for the top three things I wanted to accomplish, and I typed in “outline client brief,” “draft timeline,” and “research references.” Straightforward enough. The AI then suggested a rough order and a couple of time estimates. It also quietly offered to turn each item into a subtask — which is where the Tasks assistant stepped in. I clicked “break this down” on the timeline draft, and it split it into stages: initial draft, review with client, revisions. Not revolutionary, but practical.

The mild friction came when I tried to reassign a task to the next day. The UI treated every day as a fresh planning block, so shifting an incomplete item required copying text manually. The AI Assistant could help if I asked, but it wasn’t automatic. That was a little annoying — I’m used to tasks that gracefully roll over. But I also liked that it forced me to reconsider whether the task was still relevant.

Weaving in Workflow Management and Life Management

By midday, I was juggling three different streams: client work, a quick grocery run, and a reminder to call a friend. That’s where the distinction between Workflow Management and Life Management actually made sense. Zaso has a small “context” toggle that lets you switch between professional and personal views. In the work view, I saw the client brief and timeline. In personal view, the grocery list and the phone call appeared. The separation felt clean — no mixed signals, no accidental crossing of contexts. I don’t think I’d ever used a tool that treated those two layers as genuinely separate rather than just folders.

The tradeoff is that the Personal Knowledge tool, which is supposed to hold reference notes and bookmarks, felt a bit shallow by comparison. It captures text and links, but I couldn’t tag or link them easily. If you rely on a solid Productivity System that requires cross‑referencing, this might feel limiting. For my week‑long project, it was enough to dump a few URLs and quick thoughts, but I wouldn’t trust it as the only source for a long‑term research project.

Ending the day with a Digital Journal and a careful look

Each evening, I used the Digital Journal tool to note what went well and what dragged. The AI Assistant prompted me with a couple of questions: “What took longer than expected?” and “Did your priorities shift?” I appreciated that it didn’t try to generate a summary automatically — it just asked, then let me type freely. The journal entries were searchable later, which helped when I looked back at Wednesday’s frustration with the timeline draft.

But I’m still not fully sold. The six tools are independent enough that you can use only a few, but they don’t push data between each other in a smart way. The Tasks list doesn’t appear inside the Daily Planning view unless you manually copy it. The Workflow Management tool has its own set of boards that don’t automatically reflect what you entered in Life Management. So while the philosophy of “each doing one thing well” is refreshing, the lack of integration means you still spend time shuffling information around.

Would I replace my existing productivity stack with this? For a short project or a single‑purpose week, yes. For a complex role where tasks, notes, and plans need to talk to each other continuously, I’d be cautious. It’s a focused alternative, not a full replacement. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by bloated all‑in‑ones and want to pare down to the essentials, it’s worth trying. Just don’t expect it to magically connect everything for you.