Everyone knows that Notion is a powerful note-taking and knowledge-management app. Nonetheless, fewer people know that it can be used as a powerful project management tool. Unlike application suites such as Google Workspace or Microsoft Office, Notion is a single, but highly adaptable app. Depending on how you manage it, it can serve various functions and even replace many of the tools you use, including your current project manager.
Notion comes with a wide range of project management tools that let you assign and track tasks, create calendars and charts, and roadmap projects across disciplines and organization sizes.
It goes without saying that one of Notion’s best features is its capability for versatility. It is not a collection of different apps like Google’s G Suite or Microsoft’s Office 365. Instead, it is a single highly modifiable app that can replace many of the tools we are currently used to using and integrating, from a simple-but-functional CRM to a web clipper and note-taking tool that takes first place
The Basics of Notion Project Management
For those who have little knowledge about Notion, it may seem like a complex landscape. Nevertheless, in reality, the app is extremely intuitive and non-restrictive. It has lots of templates, integrations, and shortcuts to take that pressure off of you. Once you get the basics right, you can become a Notion know-it-all in no time.
1. Blocks
Blocks are the starting point of anything you do in Notion. Everything on the platform is a block, whether that is a line of text, an image, a video, a table, a to-do list, or a heading. They come in various shapes and sizes, and you can transform, arrange, and rearrange them to create whatever tool you need.
2. Pages
Pages are the basis of organization in Notion, and each one is a fresh canvas that can contain whatever content type you need. You can also create subpages, which are pages within pages to create a logical structure and keep better track of where everything is. Plus, as you will learn more, every item in your Notion database also has its own dedicated page where you can include more detailed data.
3. Templates
When creating a page in Notion, you can either start fresh or work with an existing template. These templates are optimized for specific tasks and even come with instructions on how to use them. The app has a wide template gallery, populated by both the Notion team and its community. So, whatever you need, whether it is a roadmap or task manager, you can be sure that a template for it surely already exists.
4. Databases
Databases are where the Notion project management heavy lifting happens. They are advanced pages that organize other pages into a single structure, thus allowing you to make sense of a lot of data all at once. They make pages easier to find and help you understand and make relationships between them. Each database item is actually its own page. That way, you can open it up to view more detailed information about it. Plus, you can assign properties to each item, and then filter and sort through them based on your values. Since the database itself is also a page, you can move and nest it as you would with a regular page.
Nonetheless, the best thing by far about Notion databases is the different ways you can visualize information. It has six different view options: table, list, board, calendar, gallery, and timeline view. With a click, you can easily switch between the different views.
The Features of Notion Project Management
Notion provides you with the tools you need to carry out project management of any size and complexity, regardless of the goal. The project management tools you are used to using are all available with a single click within the platform.
However, while Notion is not rigorously speaking a bundle of apps, it does bundle functionality that you are likely to desire for certain purposes. For example, the project management tools can be found in the block and page menus wherever you are in Notion. But you can also access readymade templates in the app for project management elements.
Notion allows you to do the following things.
1. Customize views
You are able to select which view of your data is most useful to you, going between calendar, table, kanban, and more for the same data. That is because Notion creates a true database of the data you input and upload, not just a surface-level representation of one.
2. Bundle and expand
You can both bundle your work and expand it, depending on the situation. Each item in your database is its own page, any block can become a page, and you can nest links to pages inside any document. Your taxonomy is what you want it to be, with no internal system to learn or abide by.
3. Build roadmaps
You will find roadmapping templates in the Design, Engineering, and Product Management sections of the Page menu.
4. Track tasks
To-do lists and kanbans can be included inside anything, including each other, to track tasks as granularly as you might need.
5. Collaborate
The platform lets you work together on the same page, communicate, set reminders, and message each other.
Collaborating in Notion Project Management
Notion’s collaboration tools allow you to effortlessly share pages with your teammates and collaborate with them in real time. These are some features of the collaboration.
1. Sharing and permissions
In the process of executing your project, you need to share content with people inside and outside of your workspace. Notion makes this incredibly easy. Its sharing tools let you control what content is shared, to whom, and what level of access they have to it.
2. Create team spaces
You can streamline information dissemination in your Notion project management system by creating team spaces, one for each department of your company. For instance, you can create a team space for your sales, product development, and administrative teams.
3. Comments, mentions, notifications, and reminders
You can easily make contributions or suggest edits by leaving comments. These comments may be page-level or tied to specific page elements. You can take comments a step further by mentioning specific team members, or even other pages.
