Map your tools: department, job, tool

See every tool you pay for on one page, where two tools do the same job, and where AI is not allowed. Steps, prompts and a FAQ.

By Corey Leon · · 15 min read

Short answer

How do I map all the tools my team uses?

A tool map shows you every tool you pay for on one page, where two tools do the same job, and where AI is not allowed. Make one row for each department, job and tool, then mark the overlaps, the gaps and the AI rule for each one.

That one page is also the first thing every AI chat needs to know about your team.

Why should I map my tools before I add more AI?

Each time you open a new AI chat, you tell it the same things again. What you sell. Who does what. Which tools hold which data. That's the context layer, and most teams never write it down.

So people keep using their own AI accounts and the old tools. Nobody showed them a clear win. A tool map is a clear win you can see in ten minutes. You spot the job you pay for twice. You spot the job nobody owns. And you spot the tool AI should never touch.

Then you give the map to your AI once, as part of a project or a saved skill. It stops asking you the same questions.

Steps

  1. 1

    Pick your departments.

    Start with the ones you have. Most small teams have sales, marketing, ops, finance and support.

  2. 2

    List the jobs, not the tools.

    Write each job with a verb, like "Send invoices" or "Book meetings". A job is the work that has to get done.

  3. 3

    Write the tool next to each job.

    Get the template or use a blank sheet. One row for each department, job and tool. If two tools do one job, that's two rows.

  4. 4

    Use the same words for the same job.

    If sales says "Bill clients" and finance says "Send invoices", pick one. Now the overlap shows up.

  5. 5

    Name who owns it.

    Use the role, like "Bookkeeper". If nobody owns it, write that down. It matters.

  6. 6

    Mark the overlaps.

    Any job with two or more tools is an overlap. Keep one, or write down why you need both.

  7. 7

    Mark the gaps.

    Any job with no tool is a gap. Write None in the tool column so you can see it.

  8. 8

    Set the AI rule.

    Write Yes, No or Ask for each tool. Only write Yes or No if you have a real rule. If you don't, write Ask.

  9. 9

    Say what data it holds.

    Write the kind of data, like "customer emails" or "staff pay". Never paste real data or passwords.

  10. 10

    Add the cost if you know it.

    Take it from your receipts, not from memory. Then pick one overlap or gap to fix each week.

What does a business book say about this?

Michael Gerber wrote The E-Myth Revisited about small business owners who do all the work themselves. His point is to work on the business, not just in it. He wrote that "most companies organize around personalities rather than around functions."

Tools pile up the same way. The person who needed a tool bought it, so the tool follows the person, not the job. A map by job fixes that. Gerber puts it like this: "The system runs the business. The people run the system."

Your tool map is part of that system. When a person leaves, the job and its tool stay on the page.

What counts as an overlap?

An overlap is one job done in two or more tools. Deals in a CRM and in a sheet is an overlap. Invoices sent from a payment app by sales and from the books by finance is an overlap too, even across two departments.

Not every overlap is bad. Sometimes you need both. But you should know why, and it should be written down.

What counts as a gap?

A gap is a job your team does with no tool at all. Someone keeps it in their head, or in a pile of notes. Chasing missing paperwork from memory is a gap. So is a meeting where a choice gets made and nobody writes it down.

Gaps are where work gets lost when someone is sick or quits. They are often the best place to start with AI.

Who decides if AI is allowed with a tool?

The owner of the business, or whoever owns your data rules. If you have a written AI rule, use it. If you don't, mark the tool Ask and get an answer before anyone connects it to an AI.

Be most careful with tools that hold bank, card, health or pay data. Mark those Ask or No until someone says yes in writing.

How does a tool map help my AI chats?

Most AI chats can read files you add or tools you connect. When your AI can open the map, it knows which tool holds which data, who owns it, and what it may touch. You stop typing the same context into every new chat.

The next step is your process docs. Your team makes choices in meetings every week. If those choices land in your guides, your AI reads them too. The second prompt below does that from your meeting notes. For more, see write a job down once and our connect page.

Prompts you can copy

Two prompts. The first fills your map. The second keeps your how-to guides up to date from your meetings. Both show you a draft and wait for your yes. For more team prompts, try write a job down once. Or try turn any meeting into a recap.

Map my tools and find the overlaps

PromptPaste into any AI
You are my operations lead, a senior ops pro with 20 years of sorting out the software small teams pay for.

Goal: map every tool my team uses by department, then the job it does, then the tool, so I can see where 2 tools do the same job, where a job has no tool and where AI isn't allowed. Done is a filled table I can paste into my "Map your tools" sheet.
Context: I run [your business]. Our tools got bought one at a time by whoever needed them. Nobody has the full list, so we pay twice for some jobs, and every new AI chat has to be told again what we use. One map fixes both, because people and AI can read it.

First, check what you can open:
- My Google Drive: look for a tool list, a "Map your tools" sheet and any AI or data policy doc. Tell me what you found.
- My Gmail: search the last 90 days for software receipts and invoices (words like receipt, invoice, subscription, renewal). Tell me how many tools you found that way.
- If you can't open one, tell me: open https://www.simpleai.community/connect/, pick your AI, then that tool, and follow the steps. If you can't open either, ask me the 3 questions below and work from my answers only.

Ask me these, then run. Skip any I already answered or that my files answer.
1. Which departments do we have? (Default: Sales, Marketing, Ops, Finance and Support.)
2. Which tools does each department use, and who owns each one? (Default: the tools you found, with the owner as [check: owner].)
3. Do we have rules on AI? (Default: no rules found, so AI allowed is Ask for every tool.)

Do this:
1. List every tool from my files, my receipts and my answers. Count each tool once, even if it shows up in many places.
2. For each tool, write the jobs it does for us in plain words that start with a verb, like "Send invoices" or "Track deals". Write the job, not the feature. One row per department, job and tool. If no file or answer says which department uses a tool, add [check: department].
3. Use the same words for the same job in every department, so overlaps line up. "Bill customers" and "Send invoices" are one job.
4. Overlap: write "Yes, also [other tool]" when 2 or more tools do the same job. Check every job, across departments too.
5. Gap: add a row for a job that has no tool, only if my files or answers name that job. Write "Yes" and leave the tool, AI allowed and cost blank. Don't guess at jobs.
6. AI allowed: Yes, No or Ask. Only write Yes or No if a policy doc or I said so, and name the source. Otherwise write Ask. If a tool holds card, bank, health or pay data, add [check: sensitive data].
7. Data it holds: the kind of data only, like "customer emails". Never copy the data itself.
8. Monthly cost: only from a receipt, with its date. If there's no receipt, leave it blank. If a receipt is yearly, write the monthly amount and the real bill, like "$10 a month (billed $120 a year)". If a receipt is older than 90 days, keep the tool in its own row with [check: older receipt, still paying?] and leave it out of the tools found count.

Example of one row, match this shape only: "Finance | Send invoices | QuickBooks | Bookkeeper | Yes, also Stripe | No | Ask | Customer billing info | from receipt, Oct 3"

Give me:
- Counts first: tools found, rows, overlaps, gaps, and AI Yes, No and Ask counted per tool.
- The table with these columns in this order: Department, Function, Tool used now, Who owns it, Overlap, Gap, AI allowed, Data it holds, Monthly cost.
- A short list under 150 words: each overlap with its tools, each gap, and each tool where AI is No or Ask.
Then ask: "Want me to put this in a new Google Sheet?" Only after my yes, make a new sheet. Never write over an old one.

Before you show me, check your work:
- Every tool from my receipts, files and answers is in the table. Recount, don't guess.
- Every "Yes, also" names a tool that is in the table for the same job.
- No AI allowed says Yes or No without a source.
- No cost is shown without a receipt and date.
- No password, card number or login is in the table.

Rules:
- Drafts only. Don't cancel, buy, change or delete anything, and don't make a file until I say yes. Saving this skill is fine.
- Don't make up a tool, owner, cost or rule. Use only my files, my email and what I tell you.
- If something is missing, write [check: what is missing] and keep going.
- Plain words. Short sentences. No em dashes, no semicolons.

Last, save these steps as a skill called "Map My Tools" so you do it this way each time I ask. To run it again each quarter or when we add a tool, I just say: run Map My Tools.

Turn your meeting notes into SOPs

PromptPaste into any AI
You are my operations lead, a senior ops pro with 20 years of turning what a team decides in meetings into written guides people follow.

Goal: pull every new process and decision from my last 30 days of meetings into my knowledge base, so I end with one clean page per job and no copies. My team reads the page instead of asking me.
Context: I run [your business]. We decide how to do things in meetings, then nobody writes it down. So I explain it again, and every new AI chat needs the same context again. Written pages fix both, because people and AI can read them. A copy of a page is worse than no page, because people follow the old one.

First, check that you can open my meeting notes and my knowledge base:
- Meeting notes: my notetaker (Circleback, Fathom or Zoom AI notes) or the folder where my notes land. Tell me how many meetings you found, with the oldest and newest date.
- Knowledge base: my Notion or Google Drive. Tell me how many pages or docs you can see.
- If you can't open one, stop and tell me: open https://www.simpleai.community/connect/, pick your AI, then that tool, and follow the steps. Then run this again. Or I will paste the notes in instead.

Ask me these, then run. Skip any I already answered.
1. How far back? (Default: the last 30 days.)
2. Where do my guides live? (Default: the Notion page or Drive folder with the most how-to pages. Tell me which one you picked.)
3. Which meetings count? (Default: team and internal meetings. Skip calls with customers and anything marked private.)

Do this:
1. Read each meeting's notes or transcript, oldest first. Pull out only processes (how we do a job, step by step) and decisions (a rule we set). Only count a decision if someone said yes out loud or the notes mark it as decided. Keep ideas and maybes in a separate Ideas list, out of the pages. For each item, keep the meeting name, date and who said it.
2. Group items about the same job, even when meetings used different words for it.
3. Find conflicts. If two meetings say different things about the same job, don't pick one, even if one is newer. Put both in a Conflicts list with the date and who said each. If the newer meeting says it replaces the old rule, say so, but still let me choose. Keep the page's current line as is and put [check: conflict, see list] next to it, so no live rule is lost.
4. Search my knowledge base before you plan any page. For each job, search its name plus 2 or 3 other words people use for it, like "refund", "money back" and "returns". Read every page that comes up, then mark the job:
- UPDATE: a page covers this job. Change only the lines the meetings changed. Keep the rest word for word.
- NEW: no page covers it. Plan one new page.
- NO CHANGE: the page already says it.
- If 2 pages cover the same job, don't merge either. Flag them as possible copies and ask me which one to update.
5. Write each new or changed page in the style of my other pages: why it matters (one line), who does it, the steps (each starts with a verb, does one thing, under 20 words), what done looks like, and "Source: [meeting name, date]".
6. Stop and show me the change list. Wait for my yes.

Example of one change list line, match this shape only: "UPDATE | Refunds (Notion, last edited Sep 12) | Step 3: 'Manager okays refunds over $100' becomes 'Manager okays refunds over $250' | Ops weekly, Oct 14, Dana"

Give me, in this order:
- Counts: meetings read, items found, UPDATE, NEW, NO CHANGE, conflicts, possible copies, ideas.
- The change list, one line per page with all of that page's changes on it: UPDATE, NEW or NO CHANGE, the page name and where it lives, the old line and new line for each change, and the source.
- Conflicts: the job, what each meeting said, the date and who. End each with one question that names the options side by side, like "20% or 25%?". Don't say which one sounds right.
- The full text of each NEW page, under 300 words each.
- The Ideas list, one line each.
Then ask: "Write these to my knowledge base now? Say yes, or tell me which lines to drop."
After my yes, write only the lines I okayed. Update pages in place. Then give me a link to each page you changed.

Before you show me, check your work:
- You searched my knowledge base before you marked anything NEW. List the words you searched for each NEW page.
- No NEW page covers the same job as a page that already exists.
- Every line in the change list has a meeting name and date. Recount the counts, don't guess.
- You settled no conflict yourself. Each one is in the Conflicts list.
- No password, login, one customer's price or private detail about a person goes into a page. When you tell me what you left out, name the kind only, like "one customer's discount", never the value.

Rules:
- Drafts only until I say yes. Nothing gets written, moved or shared before that. Saving this skill is fine.
- Never delete, archive or merge a page. If a page looks out of date or like a copy, flag it.
- Don't make up a step, rule, number or name. Use only my meeting notes, my pages and what I tell you.
- If something is missing, write [check: what is missing] and keep going.
- Plain words. Short sentences. No em dashes, no semicolons.

Last, save these steps as a skill called "Notes to SOPs" so you do it this way each time I ask. To run it again next month, I just say: run Notes to SOPs.

FAQ

Do I need a paid tool to make a tool map?

No. A plain Google Sheet works. Add the columns from the steps above and fill one row for each department, job and tool.

How often should I update the map?

Each time you add or cancel a tool, and once a quarter to check. Your receipts will show you any tool you forgot.

What if my team uses tools I don't know about?

Ask each department what they use to get each job done. Then check your software receipts. The first prompt above reads both, if you connect your files and email.

Can someone build this for me?

Yes. If you want the map, your AI rules and your guides set up for you, start with Build it for me.

Rather have it done for you? We build the system that handles your outreach, one time, and you own it. See how it works.

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First posted . Last updated . Free to copy and use, CC BY 4.0.

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