Guide | Notion

Managing a project comes down to three things: knowing what has to be done, who does it and by when — and reviewing it every week. This page explains the method and how each part of the hub supports it.

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The three areas you manage

Area	Question it answers	Where it lives	Healthy signal
Tasks & priorities	What needs doing, and what comes first?	Tasks → Board	Max. 3 tasks “In progress” per person; nothing overdue without a plan
Time	When does each thing happen — will we hit the date?	Tasks → Timeline, Weekly Planner, Dashboard	% of tasks done keeps pace with % of time elapsed
Team	Who does what, and how do we coordinate?	Team, Phases (RACI), Communication Plan	Every task has one owner; every message has one channel

Money sits alongside all three in Budget. And one principle over everything: control the basics — dates, money, owners — and leave room for the creative work. Over-controlling is its own risk.

The method in 8 steps

Do steps 1–5 once at the start. Steps 6–8 repeat every week until you close.

Define the project — Brief. Write a SMART objective (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). State clearly what is in scope and what is not: that line protects you from scope creep.
Split it into phases — Phases. Four to eight phases, each closed by a milestone you can verify (“Website approved”, not “work on website”).
Anticipate risks — Risks. List three or four things that could go wrong, with probability, impact and your plan. The Score (1–9) sorts them automatically.
Assign responsibilities — Team + Phases. Add everyone, even if it is just you and a few vendors. In each phase, mark who does the work (R), who approves (A — one person only), who is consulted (C) and who is informed (I).
List the tasks — Tasks. Concrete verbs, one owner each, a phase, a priority, start and due dates. Rule of thumb: if a task takes more than two weeks, split it. Use Blocked by for dependencies.
Visualize the plan — Board, Timeline, Calendar. They fill themselves from Tasks. If the timeline shows too many bars in the same week, move dates.
Track the money — Budget. Log each cost when you commit to it. Keep ~10% as contingency. Anything more than 10% over plan is flagged automatically.
Review, communicate, adjust — Weekly Review + Dashboard. Update statuses, check what is overdue, pick the week’s three priorities and send a short status update. When the project ends, fill in the Retrospective.

Your weekly rhythm

When	Time	What you do
Every morning	10 min	Open the Board, choose 1–3 tasks for today, handle messages in your fixed block
Once a week (same day)	30 min	Run the Weekly Review checklist and send the status update
At each milestone	45 min	Compare plan vs. actual (dates and money), refresh risks, get approvals in writing