Simple isn’t fewer features. It’s fewer kinds of things.
Most work tools start out clean and end up as a pile of to-do lists, events, chats and deals that barely talk to each other. Since 2011, Planfix has been built on the opposite idea: a few universal elements that combine into whatever system your company needs.
01 The trouble with “simple”
“Simple” is the favorite word of everyone who builds CRM, BPM and project tools. We used it too — until we noticed it means different things to different people.
“Simple system,” “simple interface,” “simple features” — the word appeared on our own homepage at least twice. Here’s how products like ours usually evolve.
02 The usual story
How a simple tool becomes a sand castle.
It’s impressive at first
A clean data model — project → task → comment, or lead → contact → deal — and a calm interface with plenty of white space. The creators use it themselves, then open it up to everyone.
Some time goes by
“Why tasks and not to-do lists? Add to-dos and I’ll never need another app — I’ll even invite my friends.”
Fair enough — to-do lists matter. A new section appears.
And then…
“You don’t have events! We need a calendar for client meetings and debriefs.”
Also reasonable. Another element, another section.
And another…
“We need discussions!” “Forums!” “Blogs!” “Make a chat!” “We need news!”
Then come the requests to glue it all together: files on to-dos, chat messages linked to tasks, to-dos that turn into tasks, events on deals.
Each new element adds another turret to the sand castle we call “integration.”
03 Two dead ends
There are only two ways to react. Both lead nowhere.
Stay a single cell
Guard your sacred simplicity and refuse new features. The product stays clean — and too small for real work.
Grow into a dinosaur
Say yes to every request. You get a megasystem of loosely connected blocks — a dinosaur that doesn’t notice another dinosaur biting off its tail.
The tools we reviewed ranged from too few features to crushing complexity, and most were drifting toward complexity. That’s neither good nor bad — it’s the standard evolution, from single-cell organisms to dinosaurs. Stopping at the single-cell stage while everything around you grows takes rare willpower.
So most tools end up with an arbitrary collection of parts — that have more in common than not.
Group work: blogs, discussions, chats, email. Sales: contacts, leads, deals, a funnel. Tasks: projects, milestones, comments, events. Personal planning: to-do lists, meetings, schedules.
04 Look closer
It’s the same thing under different names.
To-do. An object you assign to yourself.
Reminders, files and comments come built in.
Event. An object with a date and time.
A meeting is one too, with a place and participants.
Comment. Still just a comment.
Whether it’s left on a blog, in a chat or in an email.
So why build a separate element for each — and then struggle to connect them?
Our philosophy, in one sentence
We give you the ability to build a management system for your whole company — using a limited set of elements.
05 Four elements
Four elements. One of them is the core.
Object. Takes any shape, like clay.
Shape it into a task, a meeting, a deal or a news post. Each one gets its own fields, statuses, automations and buttons — you set them up yourself.
Project. What people gather around.
Brings tasks, deals, meetings and other objects together around one goal.
Data tag. Flows through the work — and adds up.
What you track as the work goes on: revenue, expenses, time spent. Each entry stays with its object, and reports add it all up.
Action. You don’t see the wind — you see what it moves.
“Information atoms” that record every change to an object: a comment, a file, a new due date or assignee, a data tag. You always see who did what, and when.
To-do lists, events, deals, news aren’t new elements. They’re these four, mixed in different proportions.
06 In practice
Asked for a new element, we ask: why can’t this be an object?
A new element?
Comments · Files · Reminders — built in
How do we price the new plan?
Comments · Files · Reminders — built in
The office is closed on Friday
Comments · Files · Reminders — built in
Acme Corp — annual plan
Comments · Files · Reminders — built in
The idea takes some getting used to. Most systems don’t work this way, so at first it’s hard to accept that objects replace the usual building blocks.
On naming
The word “task” was too narrow. Since July 2023, a task is just one kind of object.
Deals, meetings, contracts — you add your own.
Simple inside isn’t yet simple on screen
We’re still cutting clicks and small distractions — building on the same clear structure.
Four elements.
Your whole company.
Build the system your team needs — not the one a feature list forces on you.
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