How to Use Notion for Project Management

Notion Project Management Featured

When you need to manage a project, you want something that provides the features you need to track the project and its tasks from start to finish. If you’re a Notion user and looking to manage your projects, you’re in luck. Notion offers a project management collection to get you started, along with the optional templates you may need for additional project pieces.

Tip: Notion is also a great place to host a wiki.

Use Notion Projects

Notion users were recently introduced to the “new Notion Projects” via email or blog, which explains enhancements to features, templates, and workflows and the use of AI for project management. Notion Projects is set and ready to go with the basics you need to manage your project. This tutorial walks you through how to use this boxed setup to manage your projects.

Get Notion Projects

Head to your Notion workspace, and follow these steps to get the Notion template for Notion Projects, with Projects and Tasks pages.

  1. Select “Templates” at the bottom of the sidebar.
Templates in the Notion sidebar
  1. Open the drop-down menu on the top left and choose “Projects -> Projects & tasks” under “Suggested.” Alternatively, choose “Projects, tasks & sprints” to use sprints with agile project management.
Projects and Tasks template
  1. Click “Get template” on the bottom right.
Projects and Tasks Get Template button
  1. Expand the “Projects” and “Tasks” pages in your sidebar to see the various views, along with sample projects and tasks.
Tasks and Projects in the Notion sidebar

Add and Customize Your Project

Open the “Projects” page from the sidebar. Find “Active” projects, as well as the “Timeline,” “Board” view, and “All” projects.

Projects views in Notion

To create your project in any view, follow the steps below:

  1. Click the arrow next to “New” on the top right and select “New Project.”
New Project on the Projects page
  1. Enter all the details for your project.
Project details in Notion
  1. To try the AI tool, use it to insert a project summary by selecting “Empty” next to “Summary.”
Project Summary Empty field
  1. Click “Update” in the top right of the field for an AI-generated summary. Press Enter or Return to keep it, and just delete the text to remove it.
Project Summary AI generated

Add, Rearrange, or Remove Project Properties

Customize your project page any way you would like.

  1. Select “Add a property” and choose to add other properties to your project, such as files and media, an email or phone, or the edit dates and times.
Project Add Property options in Notion
  1. To rearrange the order on your project page, hover over an element to display the grid icon on the left, then drag and drop the property.
Drag a Property in Notion
  1. Hover over a property to display the grid icon and click it, then choose “Delete property” in the pop-up menu to remove it.
Delete a Property in Notion
  1. Hover over any property, click the grid icon, and choose “Customize page” to customize all pages.
Customize Page in the menu
  1. Use the drop-down boxes to determine which items to show, hide, turn on, turn off, or size.
Customize All Page options

Add and Connect Your Tasks

When you’re ready to add tasks to your project, open the “Tasks” page from the sidebar. You can see tasks “By Project,” “Board view,” or “All Tasks.”

Tasks views in Notion
  1. Click the arrow next to “New” on the top right, and select “Task” to create a task in any view.
New Task in Notion
  1. Like the Project page, add the details for your task.
Task detail page in Notion
  1. Next to “Project,” click “Empty,” and select your project’s name from the drop-down list to connect it.
Connect a Project to a Task

Like your new project, use AI to generate a summary, add, remove, and rearrange properties, and customize all Task pages.

Key Project Management Features

After you set up and customize your projects and tasks in Notion, there are additional project management workflow features.

Assign Tasks

Rarely does a project require only one person. You can assign tasks in Notion to someone you’ve shared your Notion page with, a person in your workspace, or a member of your Teamspace.

  1. Select “Empty” next to “Assignee” on the Task page, and choose the person from the drop-down list.
Assignee on a Task page
  1. Alternatively, click inside the “Assignee” field in one of the other views, and choose the person.
Assign in a Task table
  1. It’s possible to have multiple Assignees. Remove an Assignee by clicking the “X” next to their name.
Multiple Assignees for a Task

Create Subtasks

Further manage your project in Notion by adding subtasks. Turn a task into a subtask by adding a parent task to it or adding a subtask to the parent task.

  1. To add a parent to a subtask, open the subtask page, select “Empty” next to “Parent-task,” and choose the task name from the drop-down list.
Parent Task field dropdown
  1. To add a subtask to a parent, open the parent task page, select “Add Sub-tasks,” and choose the task name from the drop-down list.
Add Subtasks dropdown
  1. Once you add a subtask, you’ll see it in the “Tasks By Project” view, as well as the task page.
Tasks By Project showing Subtasks

Add and View Dependencies

Dependencies are other parts of projects you must track. When one project is blocking another, stay on top of it with Dependencies.

  1. Click “Empty” next to “Blocked By,” and choose the project from the drop-down list to open the project being blocked.
Project Blocked By dropdown
  1. Alternatively, click “Empty” next to “Is Blocking,” and choose the project from the drop-down list to open the project that is blocking others.
Is Blocking dropdown
  1. See your dependencies (“Blocked By”) at a glance in the “Active,” “Timeline,” and “All” views.
Active view Blocked By field

See Project Progress

Another handy feature is the ability to see the percent completed for each project you’re managing in Notion.

  1. You can see the Completion property in each of the Project views and individual project pages.
Active view Completion field
  1. Our sample project’s “Completion” is at zero percent. The tasks for both projects show statuses of “Not Started.”
Project Completion at zero
  1. Once one of those tasks is marked “Done,” the “Completion” percentage moves to 50, as half of the project is complete.
Project Completion at 50 percent

Import From Trello or Asana

If you’ve started a project or list of tasks in an application like Trello or Asana, you can easily import your items into Notion to track them.

  1. Select “Import” at the bottom of your workspace sidebar, then choose “Trello” or “Asana.”
Notion Import options
  1. Sign in to your account, then follow the prompts specific to the application you choose.
  2. Review the status of your import at the bottom of the same screen. Head to the Import Data Into Notion help page for further help.

Tip: Notion also has templates for students.

Additional Project Templates in Notion

If you would like additional tools to manage your project beyond those in the Notion Projects set, there are several free templates, including these:

Project Schedule

Keep track of milestones, deliverables, and other important dates as your project progresses with this Project Schedule template. From signing the contract with your client to performing that final check in, easily see or share this schedule.

Project Schedule template in Notion

Highlights:

  • Quickly create pages for milestones, deliverables, meetings, billing, or legal activities.
  • Switch between a Timeline, List, and Calendar view of events.
  • Hide the table in Timeline view to see a full view of the timeline.
  • Use the arrows on the timeline to move across the schedule.

Task Triage

Task Triage template will review tasks before they make it to your project plan or track issues during the project. You can add a priority to each item, change the status as it moves through the process, and see items assigned to you in a clean board view.

Task Triage template in Notion

Highlights:

  • Select views for all tasks, tasks by status, for a specific team, or tasks assigned to you.
  • Use the Acceptance Criteria section with checkboxes for a successful completion or solution.
  • Open the board view for tasks to drag them from New to Completed.
  • Quickly assign tasks to yourself via the main Task Triage page.

Kanban Board

If what you really need for your project is a fully detailed board view, this Kanban Board template is worth a look. The board is divided into sections by team, making it easy to assign and view items. You can also delve into the detailed view for dates and statuses of each item.

Kanban Board template in Notion

Highlights:

  • Drag and drop to move cards through.
  • Use the task management technique for To-Do, In Progress, and Complete.
  • Switch between basic, detailed, and table views.
  • Select preset statuses for both tasks and issues.

Note: if you can’t find what you need on Notion, have a look at the project management templates available from Microsoft and Google.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I share pages in Notion?

Notion offers several different ways to share pages. You can share with everybody in your workspace, those in a Teamspace, with certain people, with groups, with others outside your team, and on the Web. You can also adjust the permission levels.

Which tools are good for project management with remote teams?

Because Notion is a Web-based tool and accessible with a web browser or mobile device, it’s a solid choice for managing your project. There are, however, many similar tools that focus on remote team management, like Trello, Asana, and Monday.com. Take a look at our full list of these types of project management tools, as well as our review of Teamly for remote teams.

What other Notion templates should I check out?

Notion’s gallery is packed with options for everything from personal to business templates. Check out free Notion templates for productivity and managing your money.

Image credit: Canva and Notion. All screenshots by Sandy Writtenhouse.

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Sandy Writtenhouse
Sandy Writtenhouse - Staff Writer

With her BS in Information Technology, Sandy worked for many years in the IT industry as a Project Manager, Department Manager, and PMO Lead. She wanted to help others learn how technology can enrich business and personal lives and has shared her suggestions and how-tos across thousands of articles.