Since its release in 2016, Notion has become a hugely popular tool thanks to its flexibility and intuitive functionality. For many companies (especially while navigating the transition to remote work), it has become the go-to all-in-one productivity solution covering a wide range of tasks.
At GANDT, we use it as a writing repository, task management system, calendar, and database—among other things. So, it’s no big surprise that we were excited when they released their new ‘synched blocks’ feature earlier this month.
“Synched blocks” on Notion
The idea behind synched blocks is simple—to allow information to exist in multiple places simultaneously. Notion provides the following example:
“If your company’s process for requesting time off changes, you’d probably have to find all the pages that mention the policy and manually update each of them.
Synced Blocks changes that. Instead of going through and updating the process to request time off in every page it’s referenced, turning it into a Synced Block allows you to update it once and have those changes reflected everywhere. Even though it’s a simple idea, it opens up many possibilities for how information can be structured and shared.”
Essentially, a Synced block created a window from one Notion page back to the original Notion page where it was created. And as our lead project manager Christopher Smid summarizes, “the possibilities for using synched blocks are extensive. It can be used for everything from embedding notes and research to synching checking and process documents and streamlining navigation and link lists.” And of course, these are just a few ideas – the uses for Synced Blocks are likely to grow over time.
Notion for working out loud and knowledge sharing
Like many companies, Notion plays a vital role in our collaborative practice and is a big part of what allows us to work out loud. As our performance marketing manager Dario Stock puts it, “we use Notion for projects so we can document as much information as possible and try to keep everyone in the loop. This also allows everyone to comment and share their experience and feedback on specific topics (which brings the output to the next level).
Indirectly, Notion serves as a knowledge hub that we can always fall back to when taking on a new project. For example, if we are planning something for client A and already did it for Client B, we can research inside Notion and figure out how we did it before, what the challenges were, and which insights we generated.”
An evolving tool
Before fully integrating Notion into our process earlier this year, we had been experimenting with it as an alternative to Evernote for quite some time. Our CEO Remco Livain initially took to it for its ability to create databases out of any table. It has come a long way in the last year or so, though, and since adopting it as a central team tool, we’ve enjoyed discovering new hacks, tools, and ways to customize it according to our needs as an organization. As a result, we have now used Notion to manage projects, brainstorm new ideas, organize meetings, journal, and create quick websites.
As Notion continues to evolve and introduce new features, we’ll keep you posted on how you can best leverage them for success within your organization. Here you can find a breakdown of how to get the most out of the new synched blocks feature.
Also, stay tuned for an upcoming post featuring advanced tips for getting the most out of this dynamic and growing tool. Likewise, if you’d like to stay up to date on current social media trends and growth marketing hacks, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for the latest digital marketing news.
