Recent improvements to Notion's search and filter functionality hasn't solved my biggest frustration. I still struggle to find information in a shared workspace. It seems myself and the people I share a workspace with don't need better tools to find information. But better tools to organise information.
The problem is the nature of a shared workspace, it's shared. Shared with people from different cultures with different life experiences. Our minds have different ways of making sense of the world. And although our workspace is shared, our mental model for organising information isn't.
How I name and structure information makes sense to me. To my mental model for organising information in a shared workspace. How other people name and structure information makes sense to them.
When the people sharing a workspace don't share the same mental model. The same piece of information will organised in different ways. Named Portugal Visas 2022, Portuguese Immigration Eligibility or European Working Visas. Added to the sidebar, inside a table, or a page inside a page inside a page.
The lack of guardrails in Notion makes the problem worse. Guardrails help people make decisions by limiting the possible outcomes. They nudge people towards outcomes aligned with the objectives of the group.
Guardrails are everywhere. Compare text formatting guardrails in Google Docs and Notion. Google allows people to choose from hundreds of fonts and sizes. Notion limits the outcomes to plain text and three heading sizes.
People make quicker decisions when there are fewer possible outcomes. With more autonomy to make decisions without sacrificing the objectives of the group.
But Notion earned it's cult-like following on the lack of guardrails. No other product empowers people to build software to suit their exact needs. This freedom and flexibility is why I love my private workspace, but not my shared workspace. I know how to find information in my private workspace. Because the mental model for organising information is shared with no one else. The lack of guardrails is favourable.
The next time I struggle to find information in a shared workspace. Is it a tooling problem or a process problem? Should Notion build more guardrails for organising information? Or should I work harder to create a shared mental model with the people I share a workspace with?
Notion could build tools for workspace admins to define their own guardrails. Or use AI to suggest ways to organise information which aligns with the objectives of the group.
But it's the responsibility of the group to choose the right tool for their needs. No tool can be everything for everyone, Notion is no exception. Although Notion gives people the tools to build software to suit their needs. Sometimes what we need is more guardrails.
I'm sure a framework for thinking about guardrails exists, but I haven't found it. Until then I'll keep thinking about guardrails. The intentional and unintentional ones. The outcomes their limiting and their second order effects.