Using Notion for Better Notes and Project Management

About 6 months ago, I decided to get rid of my notebook for daily notes and to-do lists.  I LOVE notebooks!  When a client calls, I just flip to the last page where I had interaction with the client or their project, and I'm off and running.  I've done this since college, where I had a single notebook for every subject.  In my career, I moved to a single notebook, switching to a new page each day.

After moving and doing more traveling for my business, I decided it's time to go paperless, so I can keep my tasks, journal entries, project notes and project management in the cloud, so I can stay tapped in from anywhere.  After using Trello for a few projects, I quickly found that the main weakness for me, was determining what specific tasks are required to complete a project, or portion of it, without digging and clicking around too much.

Some of the products I've tried are Evernote, OneNote, Trello, Slack, Keep, and some tablet notetaking apps, but the one that shines for me is Notion.  Note, that of all items named, Notion has the largest learning curve, but with any note-taking system, you should allow plenty of time getting comfortable with the features.  With that, let's jump in and take a look at some of the features Notion offers:

Database Driven

Notion is essentially a big database.  As such, it's easy to create new databases and tables, not only within your pages, but also as a full page.   This also allows you to manage your information, from sorting, to adding new fields and layout changes on the fly!  Views allow filters and layout changes, and also show up in your left menu, for easy navigation.  Also, within each database table, you can include full pages of information, so if you need a sortable table that also includes lots of text, such as meeting notes other lists, Kanbans, etc., it's easy with Notion!

Kanban

Kanban allows you to more easily manage project and tasks.  Its layout is one of the base features of Trello.  Kanban makes it convenient to manage timelines or workflows, and provide an easy way to visually see your project progress in action.

Templates

Another strength of Notion is the ability to completely change the layout of any page for specific use.  For example, you can use the meeting templates to easily summarize meeting and produce notes.  Notion features an extensive library of templates, and Notion uses are able to contribute, creating an ever-diverse and growing set of options.  Take time to browse the templates for new ideas on organizing your work.

Nested Pages

Notion does a fairly good job with nested pages.  Although I wish you could turn items from a list or table into left menu items, the pages templates allow you to do this.  Notion's left-menu navigation is very flexible, but definitely takes some time to learn.

Searching

Notion has excellent searching, and can amazingly search within your databases, so everything you store can easily be found.

Views

One of the strengths of Notion is the ability to change how you view your information.  Notion is very powerful, with views including lists, Kanban boards, timelines, calendars or tables, keeping you more organized, with instant view changes!  Since each of these views are available not only as full pages, but within pages, you can easily organize lots of information in one single place.

Mobile App

The Notion mobile app keeps getting better.  When I started using it, I found it clunky, especially when working with lists.  They've since improved the interface, and at the speed they are making updates, I expect that within another 6-12 months, it will be much easier to use, with even more features!

Windows App

The Notion app for Windows is my primary place to use Notion.  One of my favorite features is the ability to open separate windows.  This allows you to view two Notion windows at a time, for example, you can have a to-do list open, while also viewing different tasks.

Conclusion:

Notion seems to have the largest learning curve of all the note-taking softwares I've used, however it has the most extensive set of features.  Although some apps here are better for different needs, Notion seems to overlap with features from all apps, so it essentially does everything, but not necessarily well at everything.  The good news is, they are rapidly updating, and enjoy a massive user base who contribute to the Notion ecosystem.

If you want just a simple task/home project resource, I recommend Keep.

For more extensive note taking, or writing, Evernote seems to shine for me.

Other cool features of Notion:

• Ability to import from Evernote, Trello, Google Docs and many others.
• Embed photos, videos and other content into your notes.

Example Inline Views:

For additional resources, visit Notion.so