Thanks to Notion (all-in-one workspace app), we’ve gotten rid of around a dozen different collaboration tools that, in retrospect, were just creating clutter. As a remote-first company, the most important task for us is to keep our various departments aligned and organized. Additionally, the fact that we’re a startup means we’re growing rapidly with cross-departmental roles and it can be tough for everyone to keep up. This is where Notion came in as the secret sauce and has since, kept us together ?‍?

The main question people have when they find out we’re using Notion is how it’s different from any other productivity/collaboration tools like Google Docs, Trello, DropBox etc. The simple answer is that Notion is a combination of all these apps in one, and to take it a step further, you have the option to embed files from other apps into Notion too. It erases the need to wrangle and connect millions of scattered tools. Here are some of the reasons why Notion has become our go-to productivity tool and examples of how we’ve been using it at SadaPay.

‍

Organization

Notion’s sidebar allows you to create separate tabs or channels called ‘Wiki’s. Although this feature may remind you of other popular apps, the difference here is that within a Wiki, the choices for how you choose to organise your information (known as ‘commands’) are practically unlimited.

At SadaPay, we’ve created separate Wiki’s for each department. Within those, we have the option to create pages, lists, calendars, tables, databases and much more. For example, we have a Marketing content calendar, a page for our meeting notes, a table for content inspiration and a list of people to potentially collaborate with all under one Marketing Wiki. This pretty much eliminates the need for any other app and keeps the entire Marketing function of our company aligned. Not to mention, with everything in one place, it’s much easier for new joiners to learn the ropes about their departments quickly.

‍

‍

Another important aspect of being a remote startup means making sure your colleagues can find general information on the company and that your documentation is in one accessible place. Creating a ‘Home’ Wiki as your landing page is the best option for this.

‍

‍

Under our SadaPay Home Wiki, we have a Team Directory where (using one of the many commands that Notion provides) we have a gallery of each Sadanaut including their title, line manager, email address, phone number, the city where they’re based and their favourite dessert ? (obviously the most important information). In addition to this, our Home page contains all the details of our Medical Insurance, company policies, and details of recurring company-wide meetings under separate pages. This way, our remote colleagues can reach all important information quickly and easily.

‍

‍

Customisation

Unlike other productivity tools, Notion’s ability to be extremely customisable makes using it super fun. The design freedom you have on Notion is unprecedented. Within each Wiki, you have the option to add a cover photo, either from Notion’s gallery or from your desktop, as well as an icon from the emoji keyboard within the tool.

‍

‍

Along with this, Notion also provides you with various options for text editing. Similar to Microsoft Word or Google Docs, within Notion, you can choose various sizes, fonts, colors and highlight colors for your text, which makes for a delightful experience (a trait it shares with the SadaPay app ?)

Another great feature you have access to is the ability to make a ‘Private’ Wiki, which only you can access. This is especially useful for tracking your own deliverables or maintaining your own calendar. Notion also gives you the option of a ‘Favourites’ bar under which you can add your most commonly used pages so that you don’t have to search for them every time.

‍

‍

Collaboration

Perhaps one of the most stand-out features that this all-in-one tool has is the ability to collaborate among teams. You can do this in various ways; you have the option to share Wiki’s with different people and move pages, lists, databases and pretty much anything to other Wiki’s. Along with this, you can also tag any other team member in your work and add a comment for them, they will be automatically notified within Notion (as well as sent an email about this and any other changes within their Wiki’s, but you obviously have the choice to opt-out of those). You can even tag entire pages and set reminders for different tasks and team members.

‍

‍

As we already mentioned, another great feature of Notion that makes it one of the most collaborative apps is the ability to add information from other apps onto Notion. You can embed sheets, documents, PDF’s, audios, tweets and much more onto your page. This way, even while using other tools, Notion keeps you organized.

Final thoughts; Notion is as good as what you make it. The sheer amount of flexibility and freedom that Notion gives you makes it one of the most powerful tools out there. Mastering Notion can be tricky in the beginning; the seemingly endless options that it provides can make the tool overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it (which is luckily easy to do) you will enter a new world of organisation and productivity. We strongly recommend Notion as a tool to keep your startup (or any organization) aligned and we think that it is the future of collaborative and intuitive digital work

‍