The best tracker fields support a decision, a conversation or a next action. Everything else should earn its place before it becomes maintenance.
A practical workflow
Use the following as a working sequence, then adapt it to the companies and conversations in front of you.
- Separate stable details from changing process state
- Use dates for milestones rather than hiding them in free text
- Add a field only after you have felt the cost of not having it
Keep the system workable
Keep one clear record for the opportunity, its current stage, the people involved and the next action. That gives you enough structure to return to the search without adding ceremony.
Candidate keeps this context together so a useful update after an application, conversation or exercise does not need to be copied across several tools.