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Notion for everyone

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Re: Notion for everyone

#391

Post by tablet »

tablet wrote: post #182
pcx wrote: post #49

I love using Notion, but I think the general discussion about it does not talk enough about how it's flexibility is also a problem many times. 1. Flexibility of blocks is a cognitive overhead for most folks in my team. They would rather prefer more constrained and opinionated approaches like Trello 2. Notion is currently a jack of all trades and master of none. We have tried to use it as a wiki, project tracker, issu…

Good points. It seems you might enjoy Fibery[1], it addresses most of these problems (and has internal whiteboard as draw.io replacement as well). But I’m biased as a Fibery founder. [1] https://fibery.io

BTW, Here is the detailed review Fibery vs. Notion (longread) [1].

[1] https://medium.com/fibery/fibery-vs-notion-66019dd91846

Re: Notion for everyone

#392

Post by b0tch7 »

bradgessler wrote: post #347
pcx wrote: post #49

I love using Notion, but I think the general discussion about it does not talk enough about how it's flexibility is also a problem many times. 1. Flexibility of blocks is a cognitive overhead for most folks in my team. They would rather prefer more constrained and opinionated approaches like Trello 2. Notion is currently a jack of all trades and master of none. We have tried to use it as a wiki, project tracker, issu…

I feel like Dropbox Paper strikes a great balance. If you drop certain links in a Paper doc, like a Figma or Google Docs Spreadsheet, it will show either an iframe or screenshot read-only representation of the current content with a link to it. My only beef with Dropbox Paper is their iOS apps are buggy as hell and have been for a few years. I really wish they’d invest more in their native apps.

+1 for Dropbox Paper. I am weirdly addicted to it for all my internal documentation and writeups. When you get used to (and expect) the guardrails, it's so fast to quick create a doc with multi-media.

My only pain point is the damn file system

Re: Notion for everyone

#393

Post by ijustwannatosay »

tablet wrote: post #182
pcx wrote: post #49

I love using Notion, but I think the general discussion about it does not talk enough about how it's flexibility is also a problem many times. 1. Flexibility of blocks is a cognitive overhead for most folks in my team. They would rather prefer more constrained and opinionated approaches like Trello 2. Notion is currently a jack of all trades and master of none. We have tried to use it as a wiki, project tracker, issu…

Good points. It seems you might enjoy Fibery[1], it addresses most of these problems (and has internal whiteboard as draw.io replacement as well). But I’m biased as a Fibery founder. [1] https://fibery.io

This is amazing. I really am sold on your self-depreciating humor.

https://fibery.io/anxiety

Re: Notion for everyone

#395

Post by blacklight »

API, please. Using a jack of all trades like Notion doesn't make any sense to me unless it comes with a decent way to integrate it with 3rd parties. Its features are surely impressive, but without a proper API Notion will be like a fancy metropolis without any connection with the outside world. People have been asking Notion to provide a usable API for a long time now: it's a shame that the company doesn't even bother to provide an ETA.

Re: Notion for everyone

#397

Post by qwerty456127 »

Cool but please also add some basic API to the free personal version so I could export my notes and add items programmatically using a Python script (and also to let me author a GitHub Pages Markdown blog from Notion).

Re: Notion for everyone

#398

Post by aheckler »

b0tch7 wrote: post #392
bradgessler wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like Dropbox Paper strikes a great balance. If you drop certain links in a Paper doc, like a Figma or Google Docs Spreadsheet, it will show either an iframe or screenshot read-only representation of the current content with a link to it. My only beef with Dropbox Paper is their iOS apps are buggy as hell and have been for a few years. I really wish they’d invest more in their native apps.

+1 for Dropbox Paper. I am weirdly addicted to it for all my internal documentation and writeups. When you get used to (and expect) the guardrails, it's so fast to quick create a doc with multi-media. My only pain point is the damn file system

Agreed. It seems especially weird that, after moving files into a folder, they still appear in the main list.

That, and the fact that new files are world-readable by default. (With unguessable URLs, but still...)

Re: Notion for everyone

#399

Post by slightwinder »

pcx wrote: post #49

I love using Notion, but I think the general discussion about it does not talk enough about how it's flexibility is also a problem many times. 1. Flexibility of blocks is a cognitive overhead for most folks in my team. They would rather prefer more constrained and opinionated approaches like Trello 2. Notion is currently a jack of all trades and master of none. We have tried to use it as a wiki, project tracker, issu…

> how it's flexibility is also a problem many times.

Flexibility is always a challenge, but in case of Notion IMHO the bigger challange is getting over it's aweful userexperience and interface. And flexibility is not always a problem. Excel proofs that flexibel solution can succeed with the laymen.

> 1. Flexibility of blocks is a cognitive overhead for most folks in my team. They would rather prefer more constrained and opinionated approaches like Trello

Is this not solved with their Template-Library? Those deliver a guided opinionated experience. Though it's not as constrained and powerful as a specialized app like Trello.

> 2. Notion is currently a jack of all trades and master of none.

It's a canvas-tool. You get a set of brushs and pencils and it's up on you to paint what you need. This has naturally advantage for some and disadvantages for some others.

> 3. Convention over configuration creates problems for other team members to follow because conventions are not documented properly

Is Notion a team-tool? Do they advertise it as such?

> But I see a lot of potential of it becoming a platform. If they can incentivize 3rd parties to build over their platform and build trust, I think it's gonna be the next big thing. "One platform for all my data" with specialized tools to deal with different kinds of data.

There are far better soltions around for this. I doubt this is a sane endgoal for notion.

Re: Notion for everyone

#400

Post by slightwinder »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #61
pcx wrote: post #49

I love using Notion, but I think the general discussion about it does not talk enough about how it's flexibility is also a problem many times. 1. Flexibility of blocks is a cognitive overhead for most folks in my team. They would rather prefer more constrained and opinionated approaches like Trello 2. Notion is currently a jack of all trades and master of none. We have tried to use it as a wiki, project tracker, issu…

I've tried to use Notion, but my experience mirrors yours: There's just enough flexibility to slow you down, but not enough flexibility to make it down exactly what I need without jumping through a lot of hoops. My favorite productivity tools blend into the background. I can get down to doing the work without mental overhead of managing the tool. Notion, on the other hand, feels like I'm spending half of my energy fi…

> There's just enough flexibility to slow you down, but not enough flexibility to make it down exactly what I need without jumping through a lot of hoops.

This reads as if you except Notion to give you meaningful work to do, a workflow you can follow? Or do you just don't know how to implement the workflows you envision yourself?

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