My quest for a soup-to-nuts SDLC tool ends at Google Docs + Linear

My long quest for a software project management tool that elegantly supports the soup-to-nuts software development lifecycle with clarity and traceability: Business analysis → Design → Build → Test → Release.

... And I seem to be coming up empty-handed, again.

I lean Agile but not dogmatic — Kanban has proven best for bespoke software projects, but I’d reconsider Scrum for product work.

Though I'll never agree with the name. Scrum? Really? Tech nomenclature leans so masculine.

I’ve tried:

🟠 Jira: Designed for DevOps, but lacks UX polish and built-in support for tracing business requirements to Epics or Stories. I've highly customized my team's Jira flow to align with corporate goal tracking, but what a frustrating project that was, and I still constantly need refreshers for every basic workflow customization.

🟠 Notion: Sorry Notion fans, but I despise this tool. It may work for smaller projects, or folks who only manage projects occasionally, but not enterprise software development. Often feels like wandering through a chaotically expanding & collapsing brain-dump maze, offering more insight into the author’s psychology than the actual project.

🟠 Custom Salesforce Solution: I customized my partner Salesforce instance to help manage projects and may revisit this DIY path — next time with AI assistance for all UI and integration bells & whistles that will make a tool that fits me like a glove.

🟠 In olden times (00s), I used Gantt-based tools like MS Project, but those old Waterfall dogs can't learn new Agile tricks.

In discussing options with ChatGPT, Aha!, Fibery, and Craft dot io have been suggested, but each seems either too rigid, too pricey, or too steep a learning curve to invest time or money in, especially for tools I need to collaborate on with clients.

I'm certain our consultancy tooling will evolve drastically as AI disrupts the entire tech landscape in the coming years (I love a good disruption), but here’s what I’m landing on for when I put my consulting cap back on next year:

🔹 Business Requirements & Project Docs → Managed in Google Docs, leveraging the new "Smart Canvas" features Google is clearly positioning as a Notion alternative, but less clunky to use and with better AI support baked in. Selectively curating AI meeting notes into requirements is a welcome game-changer.

🔹 Development & DevOps → Managed in Linear. Devs actually like using it, and it’s fast, clean, and flexible. Traceability through links in the upstream Google docs. And if I find myself missing Jira (hard to picture), I'll shift this plan back there.

Not the all-in-one solution I wistfully dreamed of as a little girl… but maybe that’s a dream I’ll have to make come true myself one day. We'll test it out and see how it goes.

Curious to hear how others are wrangling this challenge. What does your soup-to-nuts SDLC stack look like?

#AgileDevelopment #DevTools #ProductivityTools