When it comes to project management very few platforms have proven to be so disruptive as Notion: a fully customizable all-in-one workspace with an immense potential for agile teams that want an omnicomprehensive environment where projects live alongside the company’s wiki and the CRM, for a seamless linking with “the other side of the moon” (i.e.. customers). All this power comes at a cost though: it might be daunting to develop an Agile project management system from the ground up, that’s where us, the Notion Certified Consultants, step in, follow along.
Project management is a crucial aspect of any business, whether it be a small startup or a large corporation. In a nutshell, project management consists of the process of organizing, planning, and executing a project from start to finish (and the tools you use to handle it). With the increasing popularity of Agile methodology, project managers are looking for tools that can help them streamline their work and increase their efficiency. One such tool is Notion which, as you all probably know, is a highly customizable platform that can replace many of the tools we’re used to using and integrating for project management. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing how to use Notion for Agile project management, and why it’s a great option for teams of any size. Let’s start by discussing the basics of Agile methodology.
Agile methodology: the basics
Agile is a project management approach that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and rapid iteration. It is often used in software development, but can be applied to any project. The Agile process is broken down into small, manageable pieces called sprints, during which specific tasks are completed and progress is reviewed. The goal is to deliver a working product as soon as possible and then continuously improve it based on feedback from stakeholders. This approach allows for a more flexible and efficient workflow, as well as increased collaboration between team members.
It’s not a surprise Notion has become the n.1 choice for agile teams as it comes equipped with a wide range of project management tools that let you assign and track tasks, create calendars and Kanban charts, and roadmap projects across disciplines and organization sizes. It’s not a collection of different apps the way Google Workspace or Microsoft’s Office 365 are. Instead, it’s a single highly modifiable application that can replace many of the tools we’re used to using and integrating, from a simple-but-functional CRM to a web clipper and note-taking tool that takes first place, ahead of Evernote.
The advantages of Notion as an Agile Project Management platform
One of the main advantages of Notion is its versatility. 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 Notion for project management elements and implement on them (given the fact that most templates won’t fit your needs 100% and it kind of defeats the purpose when you have a 100% customizable platform). These templates provide a great starting point for your project and can be easily customized to fit your needs.
Top tips to set up your Agile project management workspace on Notion
Use these to streamline your Agile project management workflow and implement a robust and highly effective approach:
- Build roadmaps based on Notion task dependencies: thanks also to Notion’s recent updates, you can really bring your roadmapping ability to the next level leveraging database sub-items and dependencies. You can also rely on the templates you can find in the Design, Engineering, and Product Management sections of the Page menu. They provide a great starting point for your project and can be easily customized to fit your needs, which is fundamental as the very point about Notion is its flexibility (if anything you might wonder whether using templates as a source of inspiration and starting your workspace from scratch might be a quicker option).
- From timeline to kanban you can leverage Notion database views at will: You can select which view of your data is most useful to you, cycling between calendar, table, kanban, and more for the same data. That’s because Notion creates a true database of the data you input and upload, not just a surface-level representation of one. In particular, given the mentioned database sub-items update we’ve found the timeline view works very well to highlight dependencies, this makes Agile Project Management in Notion particularly effective.
- 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 link to pages inside any document. Your taxonomy is whatever you want it to be, with no internal system to learn or abide by.
- Track tasks: To-do lists and Kanbans can be nested inside anything, including each other, to track tasks as granularly as you need.
- Permissioned access: You can manage who has access to what or add individuals to cards, pages, events, to-do lists and anything else.
- Collaborate: Notion lets you work together on the same page, communicate, set reminders, and message each other.
- Security: Including quarterly independent security audits and SAML SSO.
- Rich content: Notion lets you add or create rich content including embedded content, code
To learn more how you can leverage Notion as your tool of choice for Agile project management get in touch with us, one of our Notion Certified consultants will be happy assist you.