Streamlining Notion for Art of Accomplishment

TL;DR

Our client needed a Notion setup that could keep up with their frequent pivots, making it easy to create, store, and find information quickly.

Focusing on speed, simplicity, and structure, we built a system that not only met their needs but also allowed them to operate more efficiently and effectively, delivering a Notion system that enhanced their ability to stay organized and efficient.

Discover how our custom Notion setup helped a fast-paced team of online educators streamline their workflows, enhancing organization and efficiency. With an agile, intuitive system, they can now quickly create, store, and retrieve essential information, keeping up with constant pivots and rapid changes.

Ready to bring clarity and speed to your team’s information management? Let us craft a solution tailored to your unique needs.

The setup allows for quick information creation, easy access to important documents, and a structure that keeps everything in its place, helping the team maintain their momentum.

Positive Outcomes

• Efficient Information Storage: The team now has a streamlined process for creating and storing information, ensuring it can be easily retrieved.
• Accessible Meeting Notes: Meeting notes are organized and easily accessible, linked to relevant projects or work areas for quick reference.
• Easy Access to SOPs: SOPs are stored in a dedicated resource database, making them simple to find and connect to ongoing projects.
• Rapid Note Creation: New notes can be created with a single click from the home screen, reducing delays and keeping the team agile.
• Organized System: The entire setup follows the PARA structure, keeping everything organized and in its place.

Client’s Challenge

The client, a team of online educators, was struggling to stay organized amidst constant changes and rapid movement. They needed a system that could:

• Make it fast and simple to create and store information so that it could be easily found later.
• Ensure meeting notes were accessible to all relevant team members.
• Provide easy access to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

💡 Is your team in need of a more organized and efficient system? Let us help you create a solution that keeps up with your pace. Contact us today to learn more.

Our Approach

As the Designer and Lead Implementor, I was tasked with creating a Notion system that catered to the unique needs of a rapidly moving team. Here’s how we approached the project, using a blend of skills and deliverables:

• Building a Second Brain: as a grad and 2x mentor of BASB, we applied Tiago Forte’s PARA structure (expanded from GTD) , creating spaces for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives, making it easier to know where any new item should be stored.
• Agile Project Management: We applied Agile principles to ensure the system could adapt to the team’s fast-paced environment.
• Organizational Design & Effectiveness: The system was designed to be both functional and effective, with a focus on ease of use.
• Process Design: We structured the process to allow quick creation and storage of information, minimizing friction in the workflow.
• Design Thinking: Creative problem-solving was at the heart of our approach, ensuring the system was both intuitive and powerful.
• System Deployment: The Notion setup was deployed with careful attention to detail, ensuring everything worked seamlessly from day one.

Implementation Process

We implemented the Notion system in a series of steps:

1. Meeting Notes Database: We created a dedicated database for meeting notes, allowing them to be connected to related projects or work areas. This ensured that notes were always easy to find and reference.
2. Resource Database for SOPs: SOPs were stored in a separate database, easily linked to relevant projects or work areas, making them accessible whenever needed.
3. One-Click Note Creation: We streamlined the process for creating new notes by enabling one-click creation from the home screen and navigation bar, reducing delays and keeping the team agile.
4. Organized Collections: Notes and SOPs were organized in collections, making them easy to find by date, project, or area.
5. PARA Structure: The entire system was designed to follow Tiago Forte’s PARA structure, ensuring that everything was neatly organized and easy to navigate.

Client Testimonial

I hired Mitch to build out infrastructure for the Art of Accomplishment website and online courses. This included a range of maturity levels. Some systems (e.g., payments) needed to be bulletproof, fully tested and mature. Other systems (e.g., experience prototypes and experimental scheduling systems) needed the bare minimum of reliability in order to demonstrate and test a user experience.

What I appreciate most about Mitch are his abilities to assess and adjust to the importance levels of all the dimensions of a project. He takes the time to understand EXACTLY what’s important to me and what isn’t, so that we can right-size every solution.

In this way he’s a great consultant and trusted advisor, whose advice I always sought when evaluating how much to spend on a project.

 — Mark A., Product Manager, Online Education Infrastructure