A personal task management system built with Notion

I have always been very disorganized. That is why I have had to create systems that helps me to be more organized. Today I want to share with you more about the system I use to put in order my daily work and to keep an eye on all the projects I am involved in.

Hi! 👋🏻 I’m Luis and I recently took the role of tech lead in the project in which I am assigned. This has meant that in addition to keeping track of my tasks, I also have to follow up on projects and missions that we are attacking as a team.

Examples of team missions.

In the past, I have used tools like Microsoft To-Do, Google Keep, Evernote, Notable but so far my favorite is Notion. Notion is the All-in-One Workspace, just as they define themselves, and it’s true. If you want to know more about this magical tool you can read its about page here.

By using Notion I have been able to capture the system I designed to keep track of our tasks as a team. I believe that the benefits of task management are quite obvious:

• It drastically reduces the chances of missing something important by having a place to write updates on our projects and to see this information at a glance.
• Reduce the impact of context switch by having a to-do list to which we can always return.
• Improve external communication, avoiding any potential communication issues since we can create a complete summary in a matter of minutes by interpreting our system and its current information.

A quick look at my system

This system has evolved over the years, the current version is focused on having visibility on our present and future. I know this may sound very broad but stick with me.

The structure of the system.

I believe that our work is divided into the present and future work and that actions which allow us to complete our current work and look to the future. With this in mind, we should tame that “something” as follows:

• Having a quick way to start a workday.
• Having a highly visible list of projects, initiatives, and objectives.
• Having a quick access place to write future tasks and new blockers.
• Looking to gradually automate our work to minimize the amount of time invested in manual processes.
• Finally, being able to make quick decisions by looking at the main sections of our system.

Here’s how to look at my system👇🏻

Initial page on my Notion dashboard. A daily control station.

It is 9:00 a.m. and it is time to start working. Notion is one of the first apps I open and the first thing I do is check my system:

All sections at my daily control station.

1. I look at the present

What tasks did I complete yesterday? What tasks do I have for today?

We prepared this list the day before.

2. Look at urgent or blocked missions

This helps me decide if I need to focus on the first part of my day on solving these critical tasks.

Notion allows filtering and sorting, here’s how.

3. Look at the next tasks/projects/objectives section

This helps me get an idea of ​​the time remaining to include them in the day’s earrings. With all this information I can make decisions and focus on the day’s work.

Keep an eye on the underlined and colored texts.

4. During the day…

• If I complete any task, I mark it as “checked” in the “Today’s plan” section.
• If any project changes its status, I update it.
• If any blocker arises, I write it down.
• If we talk about future tasks or missions, I write them down.

5. At the end of the day

It is 5:45 p.m. and it is time to end the day. I take a couple of minutes to organize tomorrow’s tasks. If something is pending, I move it to the next day.

This process begins by creating a new section for tomorrow. I have a reusable component prepared for this by using the Notion Template Button feature, which allows you to group reusable blocks and isolate them inside a custom button. Find more information on Template Buttons here.

Then if there are any pending tasks, I move them to the “Today” section of tomorrow’s standup.

The next thing is to generate a duplicate of the tasks that I completed today and then move them to the “Yesterday” section of tomorrow’s standup.

After completing the End of Day ritual, we drag our today’s report and drop it over the “standup archive”.

This is how, without realizing it, we are generating a complete history of all our workdays 🤯.

You can take a look at the past.

Finally, I check to see if there is anything I need to add for tomorrow’s plan in the section of future tasks. Sometimes I do a quick review of current missions to identify new tasks or update their properties in the Notion table.

That’s it! Now we repeat this daily 🙈

See it at GIPHY.

So how has this system helped me?

Since I have been using this, I have noticed that finding information, understanding past decisions, and delegating tasks have been very easy and quick.

🎯 🎯 🎯 🎯

It even helps me be very punctual with my update during the daily standup, and we can all agree that meetings that are not straightforward are very hated, including daily standups.

🏁 🏁 🏁

I have also managed to establish checkpoints from where my workday begins and ends. Verifying the list of tasks in the morning at the beginning of the day and creating a list of tasks for the next day at the end of a workday, have increased the amount of time I spend “actually” working during the day.

Where to go from here?

So if you are an organization freak, or you are in an administrative position or is up to you having control of the tasks within your team, consider adopting the system we discussed today by duplicating this template that I prepared for you using Notion. Just follow the template instructions and have fun.

Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it! Follow me on Twitter for future articles on productivity systems and task management. I also want to thank César Gómez for designing such a beautiful cover! Gracias compa!