Modern work has a naming problem. Specifically, we’ve put a straitjacket on our creativity, collaboration, and momentum by choosing the wrong words to describe what we do. Take the word issue, the so-called "atomic unit" of project management tools. It’s a word that seems innocuous at first glance, but if you look closer, you’ll see how much damage it’s doing.

Let’s break it down. An “issue” isn’t a neutral term. It doesn’t invite curiosity, exploration, or collaboration. It’s not expansive. It’s restrictive. It presupposes a problem. It asks: “What’s broken? What needs fixing?” And once you frame something as a problem, you limit the kinds of conversations you can have about it.

But here’s the kicker: an issue is nothing more than a row in a spreadsheet. A line item. A blank space waiting to be filled. Yet by calling it an issue, we load it with unnecessary baggage and filter out anything that doesn’t fit into a narrow, tactical definition of work.

A world that worships tasks

The result? Work tools that encourage nothing but tiny, bite-sized tasks. They don’t leave room for ideas bigger than a to-do list or a sprint backlog. Strategies, campaigns, long-term visions—these things can’t squeeze into the little box labeled “issue.” So they end up floating somewhere else: in emails, in Slack threads, on sticky notes, or worst of all, nowhere at all.

This isn’t just a technical problem; it’s a cultural one. Most people know how to write a task—“Fix the button on the homepage” or “Schedule the client meeting.” Tasks are familiar. They’re easy to manage. But ask someone to write down a strategy, an idea for a campaign, or a proposal for a new direction, and you’ll see hesitation. Why? Because they don’t know what it should look like. They don’t have a template for it. And the tools we use aren’t helping.

The invisible disconnect

Here’s where it gets worse: leaders feel this pain acutely. They have ideas—lots of them. Big ones, bold ones, ideas that could shape the company. But when they look at how those ideas make their way through the organization, they see a murky, slow-moving process. They see a gap between the spark of inspiration and the reality of action. And in that gap, frustration festers.

From a leader’s perspective, this gap feels like wasted time. They don’t see the refinement of their idea. They don’t understand where it’s stuck or why it’s not moving forward. Worse, by the time it does move, it’s often unrecognizable—executed in a way they never intended or abandoned altogether.

For the people on the ground, the pain is different but no less real. They’re handed tasks to execute without any sense of the bigger picture. They’re disconnected from the “why” behind their work, so they focus only on the “what.” And the more disconnected they feel, the less motivated they are.

What’s the alternative?

The good news is this: we don’t have to settle for this broken system. We can reimagine the way we define and track work by starting with a simple idea: stop calling everything an issue.

Instead, let’s embrace the diversity of what work actually is. Work isn’t just tasks. It’s strategies, experiments, hypotheses, and collaborations. So why not create tools that reflect that complexity?

Here’s what that could look like:

1. Define Idea Types: Companies should create clear definitions for the different kinds of contributions they value. What’s a strategy? What’s a campaign brief? What’s a retrospective? These aren’t tasks—they’re deliverables with unique structures and purposes.

2. Provide Templates: Don’t make people invent the wheel every time they share an idea. Provide easy-to-use templates for these different types of work. Let them focus on the content, not the form.

3. Track Work Transparently: Make the refinement process visible. Show leaders where their ideas are in the pipeline, who’s working on them, and how they’re evolving. Give them confidence that their vision is being taken seriously—even if it changes along the way.

The real goal

At its heart, this isn’t about tools. It’s about respecting the full spectrum of work that happens in an organization. Tasks are important, yes. But they’re not the whole story. By expanding our vocabulary and rethinking the way we structure work, we can create systems that foster creativity, collaboration, and connection.

And maybe, just maybe, we can start calling things what they really are.