At the end of the day, whatever keeps you moving fastest under pressure is probably the right answer—even if it’s just a glorified Excel doc with some sticky notes taped to your monitor.
That line about sticky notes hits home. I’ve tried to get fancy with project management apps, but honestly, half the time I’m just scribbling reminders on the back of a paint swatch or whatever scrap is closest. Spreadsheets aren’t pretty, but at least they don’t crash when you’re in a hurry.
I do wish there was a better way to handle photos, though. Linking to Google Drive works, but it’s clunky—especially when you’re trying to show an inspector exactly where you hid that vent behind a custom cabinet. Last month, I had to dig through three different folders because someone renamed everything “final_final2.” Not my finest hour.
The cheat sheet idea is gold. I keep a running list of “things that tripped me up last time” in my notes app, but having it right in the spreadsheet would probably save me from repeating mistakes. Inspectors always seem to have their own pet peeves... and they never forget.
