Notion AI as a Project Manager: It's All About Automation
Notion is one of the tools that assist project managers to do what they do best. Make task lists, share them with everyone, and fix all the issues that appeared because nobody actually read those damn task lists.
In many offices, project management is reduced to a list of tasks and a fragmented workflow. That adds unnecessary time to the project timeline and makes achieving goals much harder.
Notion does a fair job of eliminating whatever feels repetitive. It also has an overwhelming number of features and subfeatures to the point where your project manager might need to hire a Notion manager. It’s both powerful and overpowering. This being said Notion has a unique capability that is worth exploring. It introduces AI features that are strongly dedicated to project managers.
This tool is overwhelmingly rich in features and complexity but has a strong fan base out there who will infinitely geek over it.
Notion has some power to handle most if not all the needs and wants of PMs (assuming they don’t have any outside-of-office needs and wants). All aspects of a project, from planning to management to actual implementation, are handled inside Notion.
Each phase of a project’s lifecycle is automated by AI with Notion. Any meetings you are conducting with your team will be available through connected meeting minutes. Project plans can be found in related strategy documents. Updates, action items, summaries, they are all much more efficiently created and stored through AI.
Notion Projects at First Glance
Notion adds to its roster of features Notion Projects. An AI-powered project management tool meant to streamline workflows through automation and efficiency. There are a number of things that jump to your attention when first opening it.
First and foremost, when opening Notion, you are greeted with an invitation to demo Notion Projects. Take your time with it, it lasts less than an injection and you will get an overview of the main AI features. Or hey, you can do what I always do. Fumble around for 30 minutes, decide you hate it, discover features 6 months later by mistake and eventually say – oh, that’s actually cool. And yes, AI is like lemon, you can add it to everything and it will enhance the taste.
What Notion’s AI Brings to the Table
If there’s one thing an AI tool can do well, that is to save the user time. What better place to put that to good use than when managing a project? Automating tedious tasks and keeping a streamlined workflow are game-changers.
AI Autofill is a brand-new feature that adds to the already extensive set of capabilities that Notion AI has. This is a time-saver when it comes to keeping your project information up-to-date throughout its progress.
Sometimes, you want to ask your AI helper to generate your project plan based on your prompts. Other times, it’s better to put the first draft “on paper” yourself and rely on AI to refine it. Either way, the time AI spends writing and editing is time you can dedicate to other parts of the project.
Writing a plan isn’t all there is to project management though, is it? Once you know what you have to do, you have to start actually executing. That only happens if tasks are properly assigned and progress is diligently monitored. Each project deliverable has its own set of user stories, desired outcomes, and updates. These can all be added to the plan automatically thanks to AI Autofill's customization.
As a project manager, it’s easy to fall into the trap of micro-management and controlling behavior, After all, it’s your goal to make sure everything goes according to plan. By integrating AI into the mix, you can give some of your tasks to a trusty “team member”. This takes some of the worries off your mind, and quite frankly, helps you learn to delegate.
Organization and Overview of Your Tasks
One thing Notion does right is keeping things neat and organized for your projects. There are 3 main viewing options that pop up when you open Notion Projects. You can view each of your projects separately, as a board, or by tasks. This further branches out into more filters to help you better organize. For example, your Board view can be filtered ascending or descending depending on priority, assignee, due date, and much more.
If these three viewpoints aren’t enough, then you can add a couple more:
- By people;
- Timeline;
- Mine;
- Calendar.
If you are working on a large-scale project with a lot of members, switch to “Mine” and work on your tasks. If you are working with fewer people, just view your projects in one of the other 6 ways. The number of options can feel overwhelming at first glance. However, once you get the hang of it, this thorough filtering will feel like a blessing.
There is a major drawback, however. If you were planning on slacking on your tasks, then your manager’s bird’s eye view of the entire project might become a threat. Progress, due dates, and assignees are in plain view at all times – so it’s better to get to work!
A Look Through the Integrations
Notion is great, but it’s not the only tool you’ll use to run your projects. The 59 integrations that come alongside Notion make it much easier to keep all work in one place. We won’t list all of them (for obvious reasons) but let’s exemplify why integrations matter.
You’re working on assigning tasks to your team in Notion (manually, for now, but that will change soon), and your phone dings. It’s a Slack notification! It details what the designs should look like (we’re imagining here, so it’s up to you what the designs are for). You paste the link to the Slack message in Notion to keep it in view, and paste the link to the Figma designs – you guessed it – also in Notion! A quick crosscheck later, you can mark the task as “Done” and move on to more important work.
There would’ve been a lot of switches between Figma, Notion, and Slack to get this job done if it weren't for the seamless integration. This was only with 2 tools – imagine what you can do with 59!
What’s Still in the Works at Notion AI?
It’s established (at least in our books) that Notion AI is a very skilled project manager. However, there is always room for improvements and updates. Notion already has 2 impressive ones cooking.
In the near future, Notion aims to make it possible for users to automate team workflows to the next level. What that means is that small tasks, such as assignations, won’t need to be handled manually. As your project progresses, assignations will seamlessly move around the team. All you and the other members will need to do is keep the ball rolling until you can finally set the project status to “Done”.
Automated sprints are also in the books. In fact, there is already a beta version available for those curious to test it out. It provides your engineering and product teams with everything they need to manage your backlog, plan your sprints, and keep track of problems/bugs. Each task has its PRD (Product Requirements Document) detailing everything needed to bring the project from idea to final product.
Final Thoughts on Notion Projects
Browsing through Notion’s features, it’s easy to see why it has become the go-to project management tool for many. It’s easy to use, reliable, and integrates well with numerous apps. On top of that, it also brings AI into the mix to make your experience even more automated and seamless.
The downside of the way Notion implemented AI into its features is that it’s easy to overlook. Notion’s AI is something that you randomly discover 6 months into playing with the tool. Once you do, it does bring a valuable contribution to your project planning.