Hoe Notion de alles-in-één-werkplek van je dromen bouwde
Iconische producten aflevering 013
If “product crushes” were a thing like celebrity crushes, mine would be Notion.
It’s one of the best products in the SaaS world right now – and there’s a chance you’ve never even heard of it. 🤷♀️
In elk geval werd het met reden de app om in de gaten te houden in 2018 genoemd.
The company isn’t even a few years old and has already started to reshape how we work, collaborate and store information.
Even The Wall Street Journal referred to Notion as, “the only app you need for work-life productivity.”
And, well, I couldn’t agree more. 😍
When I discovered Notion completely by accident on (in?) the App Store about a year or so ago, I was blown away. I hadn’t been this excited for a product since my first iPhone.
Now, I’m thrilled to bring you a Notion-filled episode of Iconic Products! 🎉
Something to note: no, I’m not getting paid to write about Notion and I have zero affiliation with them whatsoever. I just genuinely love this product so much – and I think you will, too.
Alright, let’s get to it. 👊
Rustig aan, Speed Racer. Wat is Notion eigenlijk?
Alright, let’s back up for a sec. Notion is an all-in-one workspace that is designed to, well, store just about anything you can think of. 🤯
Create wikis, to-do lists, reading lists, project plans, budgets, photo galleries, blogs – yes, really anything.
Plus, it’s available on desktop, iOS and, most recently, Android.
Think about it this way: your digital life is probably strewn about in your Google Drive, Evernote account, email inbox, Trello boards…you get the idea.
Well, in the form of pages and links, you can take all of that information and put it into one cohesive, pretty and fun database. 🗃
Some people might like to create editorial calendars and blog posts in Notion, others might prefer to just store banana bread recipes and YouTube videos they want to watch later. Basically, you can make your Notion workspace as complicated or as simple as you’d like.
You can include your personal content as well as professional content in the same space, but still keep them separated – such as the screenshot below.
As you can see, the product is clean, crisp and easy to navigate – but still has everything you could possibly need in your digital life.
Each of those lines of text open up to pages that contain all of the information you want – whether it’s a spreadsheet, calendar, blog post or even a kanban board.
Verbazingwekkend, toch?
Maybe you’re starting to see why I nerd out so hard over this product – it’s so simple and so brilliant at the same time. 🤓
But let’s go a bit deeper.
Sure, I’ve briefly explained what the product is at its surface, but let’s dig into what you can do with it.
Eenvoudig, mooi, krachtig
As Notion puts it, “Solve your problems your way, bounded only by your imagination.”
And it’s true: there are plenty of amazing examples of people using Notion in incredible ways.
Vergelijkbaar met Airtable Universe, hoewel veel lichter, is Notion Pages.
Here, you can submit examples of your own Notion pages and get inspiration from others. 🤘
Van een curriculumvoorbeeld tot een virtuele boekenplank, zie hieronder, er zijn ongelooflijke manieren waarop mensen dit product gebruiken.
Persoonlijk gebruik ik Notion als een lopende to-do lijst, een ideeënbord, een ruimte voor reisplanning en als een manier om links te organiseren die ik later wil lezen/bekijken.
That’s what makes this product so iconic: much like Airtable and Trello, there’s no right or wrong way to use it. 🙌
In principe is Notion opgebouwd rond drie kernfuncties:
- Wiki's: Vergelijkbaar met een website, waar je je eigen lay-out kunt maken, bewerken en ontwerpen.
- Documenten: Open je documenten en werk volledig offline.
- Taken: Maak taken aan op nieuwe borden of ontwerp je eigen takenlijst.
By separating the core features in an easy and flexible way, it means that users can still use documents for tasks, for example, or add documents to tasks. It’s all completely modular and customizable. 🛠
Want to create a task and link it back to a blog post you’re writing within Notion (or even elsewhere)? You can do that.
Want to build a product roadmap and link it back to a kanban board? Spoiler alert: you can do that, too. 😉
Hulpmiddelen vervangen, processen vereenvoudigen
Om het kort te zeggen, geef ik je een citaat uit het eerder genoemde WSJ-artikel dat de kern raakt van wat ik hiermee bedoel:
“Notion fuses the best of [Evernote, Google Docs, Keep, Trello, Asana]—and others—into a rare renaissance app, proficient in countless methods of creation and organization. I can’t put a price on the peace of mind that comes from an unfragmented life. Wait, yes I can: It’s eight bucks a month.”
(Ik moet hierbij opmerken dat er in feite een gratis versie van Notion is, maar de betaalde versie kost tussen de $4-$16 per maand, afhankelijk van je abonnement, vandaar de vermelding van de kosten van $8).
Yep – Notion replaces, and sometimes even surpasses, many of the products you’re probably using on a regular basis (thankfully, it doesn’t replace your favorite CRM!). 😳
Zoals we in de vorige sectie hebben besproken, kan Notion vrijwel alles doen wat je maar wilt.
Het is dus logisch dat dit product kan worden gebruikt op een manier die vergelijkbare functies heeft als Trello, Google Docs en meer.
And unsurprisingly, this is exactly what Notion is aiming for. 🚀
As they explain on their website, “Google Docs made typewriters multiplayer. Dropbox brought file cabinets to the cloud. But conceptually, they evolved little beyond their Industrial Revolution ancestors. We duct-tape everything together with emails, copy/paste and countless open tabs.”
So that’s where they stepped in and created a space that combines all of these elements into one product.
Je kunt het zelfs als een wiki gebruiken om met mensen te delen als een portfoliowebsite.
By removing the need for toggling from tool to tool, Notion has created a workflow that is seamless and, most importantly, in one place. 👍
Maar wat als je Notion als team wilt gebruiken?
Samenwerking op volgend niveau
Notion allows you to collaborate across workspaces – which means you can keep your own workspace private if you’d like, and then invite users to work-related spaces. 👫
Dit creëert nog meer niveaus van geweldige mogelijkheden.
Als je samenwerken met collega's aan een project, kun je dat doen door stappenplannen, kanban-borden met deliverables, lijsten met resources en zelfs prototypes of concepten die feedback nodig hebben te uploaden.
From there, you can receive comments inline from collaborators and make edits accordingly. ✍
Geen Google Doc-links meer heen en weer delen, geen gescheiden Trello-bord meer van je werkruimte.
And that’s certainly a breath of fresh air. 💆♀️
While there are some people out there who aren’t fully convinced that Notion is there…yet, it’s just a matter of trying it out for yourself and seeing how it fits into your workflow.
Er zijn genoeg bronnen om je op weg te helpen, van deze tot deze, plus een aantal unieke ideeën voor andere dingen die je kunt bouwen in Notion.
It’s really, really exciting to see where Notion is headed next. 💪
And as they continue to grow and find new ways to completely transform the way we work, I know I’ll be there cheering them on. 😄
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