Custom Notion Development
Bespoke and customizable databases and systems to easily run your business, team, or project.
Contents
- Background: A Career in Development
- A Holistic Development Philosophy
- Why Notion?
- Recent Notion Projects
- FAQ
Background: A Career in Systems Development
I have been working with different systems, reporting tools, website builders, and databases since 1996. (Yikes.) I began by building bespoke systems, databases, and automation tools with Microsoft Access. Some of my solutions addressed simple business problems; others, quite frankly, hurt my head and took months to complete. Even today, some of my decades-old creations remain alive and well.
If It Ain't Broke, Why Fix It?
I have often built systems that addressed my clients' ephemeral needs. In those cases, no one expected one of my creations to last beyond a few months or maybe a year—least of all me.
A few times during my career, though, I returned years later to a client to find that my database, solution, or temporary system remained firmly in place. I'd smile and ask my clients why they hadn't retired a stopgap that was supposed to last six months or a year. “Your system still works,” they'd tell me. “No need to upset the applecart.”
As Craig Bruce once famously said, “Temporary solutions often become permanent problems.”
I haven’t touched Access in a decade, but I reflect on the fifteen years in which I used it almost every day. Its general concepts translate well to more contemporary applications, such as the ones I describe in my book Low-Code/No-Code.
A Holistic Development Philosophy
A tech-centric approach to system development and change management rarely bears successful outcomes. In other words, people matter. Involving them early and often in the process helps avoid the human-driven issues that plague these types of projects. Specifically, to make the most out of any system, it's imperative to need to do each of the following:
- Carefully define and structure your data.
- Resist the temptation to dump every field into a single massive table.
- Understand how database development frequently resembles tattoos.
- Train people on how to use the new system properly.
- Hold people accountable when they don’t.
Why Notion?
These days, I develop systems and tools in my favorite magnet app: Notion. Anyone who read Low-Code/No-Code knows how much I dig it. (Yeah, I've been to the company's annual conference.)
Notion is a powerful tool for organizing all types of information—even if you're unfamiliar with the rudiments of building databases. Never heard of a relational database, database schemas, entity relationship diagrams, primary and surrogate keys, or one-to-many relationships? No worries. In the hands of experienced developers like me, you never have to know any of these concepts.
Phil Simon
Recent Notion Projects
Some of my recent projects include:
- Building a bespoke event management system for a nonprofit.
- Creating systems for PR firms and VC firms.
- Building a tool that automatically pulled near-real-time book sales into a Notion database.
- A soup-to-nuts book-management system that helps authors, book coaches, publishers, and ghostwriters efficiently churn out a quality nonfiction text.
Phil Simon
“Phil quickly built a custom Notion solution to meet our needs. He also showed us how to use it, maintain it, and tweak it when necessary.”
—Former Client
Need someone to quickly build a powerful, extensible, affordable, and customizable Notion system?
FAQ
How do you price projects?
I work on a retainer basis and bill hourly. There’s just no reliable, effective way to quote flat rates for Notion development.
Does the type of Notion plan I'm on affect your development?
Yes. Notion restricts certain features to certain plans. For example, if you're looking for sophisticated automations, the Free plan won't cut it.
I bought one of your templates. Can I hire you to tweak it?
Sure. Just let me know which one.
Beyond development, what other costs can I expect to incur?
It depends on the answers to the following questions:
- Do you need a premium Notion plan or will the Free one suffice?
- If the former, then how many proper members will your Notion workspace contain?
- Do you need routine access to Notion AI?
- Do we need to purchase any third-party subscriptions that augment Notion's core functionality? Examples include Zapier and Relay.app?
Do I get to see the product as you're developing it?
Yes. We’ll use Scrum, so you won’t have to wait until the end to see the final result as you would with the Waterfall method. You’ll be able to generate and see the user stories on the docket for each sprint. Your team lead will view and approve each iteration before the next sprint begins.
What tool will we use to manage the project?
Notion makes the most sense, but we can chat about Asana or something else if you like.
Can I modify the product after the project concludes?
Yes, it’s yours. Still, it’s best to take backups before making major changes to formulas, databases, and the like. As I’ve seen throughout my software development career, even a small error can cause major downstream ripples.
Can Notion do everything I want out of the box?
Notion is über-powerful, but I can’t say for sure. No tool can do everything for everybody.
Depending on what you want to accomplish, we may need to use a third-party automation tool like Zapier. It’s also possible that Notion lacks key features that you require.
Is this service for all types of organizations?
For a bevy of reasons, I prefer to work with the following folks:
- Individuals.
- Small teams.
- Startups.
- Small businesses.
I work quickly and suffer allergic reactions from big, bureaucratic organizations that require multistep approvals to do the simplest of things. The idea of a two-year sales cycle makes me queasy. #selfawareness
Is Notion secure for storing sensitive information?
Yes.
Working With Me
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