John Haber’s 12-Month Outlook: Clarity Will Beat Tool Sprawl

• Jonathan Haber, based in Montreal, Quebec, shares a personal outlook on what will matter most for individuals working in early-stage software, collaboration, and product operations in the next year.

Quebec, Canada, 22nd January 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Jonathan Haber, a Montreal-based technology entrepreneur and business strategist, released his personal outlook for the next 12 months in the world of early-stage SaaS, collaboration tools, onboarding, and team operating systems.

The headline, in his view, is not a single new platform or trend. It is the accumulation of friction. John Haber points to a work environment where people are interrupted more often, asked to use more tools, and expected to move faster while staying aligned.

Microsoft reports that employees are interrupted every two minutes during core work hours, translating to 275 interruptions a day from meetings, email, or chat. Microsoft also reports the average employee spends 57% of time communicating and 43% creating, and 62% of survey respondents say they spend too much time searching for information. 

At the same time, Jonathan notes that tool stacks keep expanding. Okta reports the average number of apps per company reached 101 in its Businesses at Work 2025 report.

This combination, he argues, is changing what “good” looks like for individuals and teams.

 

What changed recently

John sees three shifts accelerating over the last year.

First, the workday is stretching and fragmenting. Microsoft highlights the rise of the “infinite workday,” including more interruptions and more always-on coordination.

Second, the tool layer is heavier. Jonathan points to app sprawl as a daily reality, not an IT concern, as the average company crosses the 100-app mark. 

Third, the cost of miscommunication is harder to ignore. Grammarly estimates poor communication costs U.S. businesses $1.2 trillion annually, or $12,506 per employee per year. 

Jonathan Haber said, “The last year made one thing obvious: speed is easy to fake, but clarity is hard to build.”

 

What people are getting wrong

John’s view is that many individuals respond to overload by adding more communication instead of improving coordination. That usually looks like extra meetings, longer threads, and more check-ins that do not resolve ownership.

Asana reports that 60% of a person’s time at work is spent on “work about work,” and it estimates the average knowledge worker spends 103 hours a year in unnecessary meetings and 352 hours talking about work. Atlassian reports leaders and teams waste 25% of their time just searching for answers.

John Haber said, “If you are drowning in updates, the answer is usually not another update.”

Jonathan also flags a second mistake: treating onboarding and handoffs as secondary. He ties this to what he saw early in customer success and product operations, where churn and rework followed confusing setup, unclear first value, and messy internal handoffs.

Jonathan Haber said, “The fastest teams I see are not the ones that talk the most. They are the ones that leave a clean trail.”

 

What is likely to get harder

John expects focus to become scarcer. Interruptions are already frequent, and the amount of time spent communicating remains high.

He also expects tool complexity to become more personal. With more apps in the average stack, individuals will increasingly manage their own workflows across systems, even when they do not choose the systems.

Finally, Jonathan expects the penalty for unclear communication to keep rising, because the baseline cost is already enormous at a business level and is felt daily at a human level through rework, delays, and missed context.

John Haber said, “Next year will reward people who can protect attention and make decisions stick.”

 

What will work

Jonathan’s outlook emphasizes “decision hygiene” and “first value discipline.”

Decision hygiene means fewer floating decisions and more written decisions with an owner, a reason, and a next step. This is the same logic behind decision logs and operating cadence templates, which he has used across his work in product operations and enablement.

First value discipline means designing work so a user, teammate, or stakeholder can get to a clear win quickly. He frames it as the best defense against both churn and internal chaos.

Jonathan Haber said, “When the stack is noisy, your job is to make your work quiet and repeatable.”

He also points to collaboration costs as a reason to simplify. Atlassian has reported 25 billion work hours are lost annually due to ineffective collaboration.

 

3 scenarios for the next year

Optimistic scenario: focus becomes a competitive advantage

In this scenario, individuals carve out protected time and teams reduce noise. The upside is real because interruptions and searching costs are already so high. 

Best individual actions:

1. Block one weekly deep-work session for synthesis and documentation.

2. Keep a decision log for any meaningful choice (decision, why, owner, next step, date).

3. Reduce “search time” by keeping one source of truth for current work.

 

Realistic scenario: the workday stays fragmented, but you can control your lane

In this scenario, the average person still spends a large share of time coordinating, and the number of apps stays high. 

Best individual actions:

1. Set a daily “first win” target (one outcome delivered before noon).

2. Convert meetings into artifacts: notes, owners, and next steps within 24 hours.

3. Use lightweight weekly metrics for your role (one output metric, one quality metric).

 

Cautious scenario: overload increases and miscommunication gets more expensive

In this scenario, miscommunication and rework climb because the underlying cost drivers remain: interruptions, tool sprawl, and unclear handoffs.

Best individual actions:

1. Shrink your surface area: fewer active projects, clearer priorities, fewer open loops.

2. Use “one owner” rules for decisions and deliverables.

3. Create a personal operating cadence: daily review, weekly plan, monthly reset.

 

Call to action

Jonathan is encouraging readers to choose one scenario that feels closest to their reality, then follow the matching actions for 30 days. John’s recommendation is to track two measures: how often you revisit the same decision without new information, and how quickly you can move from decision to first executed step.

 

About Jonathan Haber

Jonathan Haber is a technology entrepreneur and business strategist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. John is the founder and CEO of Haber Strategies Inc. and has held roles in customer success, product operations, product enablement, and startup leadership, including co-founding LatticeDesk.