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Productivity

Notion

The Swiss army knife of modern productivity for documentation and team wikis. Beware of the infinite customization trap that can waste hours of your time. Generous free plan and elegant interface.

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Review by a Growth Engineer

My verdict: the Swiss army knife of productivity, with a warning.

Notion is excellent for centralizing knowledge, but it's also a 'productivity vacuum' if you get carried away with customization. The Swiss army knife of modern productivity, but beware of the trap.

It's a 'productivity vacuum' if you get dragged into infinite customization. Ideal for centralizing knowledge, but don't spend hours tuning your dashboard. The free plan is generous at first, but per-user pricing can quickly explode.

What I like less: the infinite customization trap. You can spend hours building the "perfect system" instead of working. Notion can be slow on large databases. The mobile app is less polished. And for pure note-taking, Obsidian is more powerful.

My advice: use Notion for documentation and team wikis. Keep it simple, don't fall into the trap of ultra-complex templates. If you want advanced personal note-taking, look at Obsidian. And for task management, a dedicated tool (Things, Todoist) is often more effective.

Why add it to your stack?

For centralizing documentation and knowledge, it's the standard. But I'm wary of the customization trap. You can spend hours there instead of working.

What you can do with it

  • 1Centralize all your team or company documentation
  • 2Build your personal knowledge base (wiki)
  • 3Track your projects with kanban, calendar, timeline views
  • 4Manage your contacts and deals with relational databases (lightweight CRM)

What it does

  • Notes and documentation
  • Flexible databases
  • Team wikis
  • Project management
  • Templates and customization

How much?

Starting at 0

Generous free plan, Plus at $8/user/month, Business at $15/user/month.

The detailed verdict

Do I really need this?

It's an excellent tool for documentation, but not indispensable. For personal note-taking, Obsidian is more powerful. For task management, dedicated tools do better.

Does it play nice with my stack?

Integration ecosystem that's growing but remains limited compared to leaders. The API is available but requires work for advanced use cases.

Is it easy to pick up?

Easy to start, but the flexibility quickly becomes paralyzing. You can spend hours customizing instead of working. The learning curve to master relational databases is real.

Is the UX any good?

The interface is beautiful and fluid, but can become slow on large databases. Drag and drop works well, but loading times are sometimes frustrating. The mobile app remains inferior to the desktop version.

Is it worth it?

The free plan is generous to start. Paid plans quickly become expensive for growing teams. Beware of the per-user pricing trap that explodes.

What I like

  • Documentation and wikis to centralize your team's knowledge
  • Teams who want flexibility and relational databases
  • Generous free plan to get started without investment

What I like less

  • Real productivity if you spend your time customizing instead of working
  • Sometimes slow and unresponsive on large databases
  • Those who want a rigid structure will prefer simpler tools

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