How I Plan Million-Dollar Software with Notion: Parker Rex’s Workflow Revealed

Welcome to a behind-the-scenes look at how I, Parker Rex, use Notion to plan and manage software projects that process millions of dollars in sales. In this guide, I will walk you through my Notion setup, how I keep my globally distributed team aligned, and the key pages I rely on daily to run seamless product operations. Whether you’re a developer, product manager, designer, or just curious about effective product planning, this page offers practical insights to get you started.

Introduction

Managing a diverse team across South Africa, South America, America, and beyond requires a central hub for communication and planning. For us, that hub is Notion. Forget building a custom website for internal collaboration; Notion is our home base for meetings, guides, processes, directories, and more. In this blog post, I share how I organize our product team’s work—from high-level planning to day-to-day operations—to build apps and websites that truly perform.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to set up a product team homepage in Notion
• The role of the build cycle page for tracking software projects
• How pitches and bets fuel your product roadmap
• Using weekly sync pages to stay in step with remote teams

Estimated read time: 5 minutes

1. The Product Team Homepage: Your Home Base

The journey starts at our product team homepage—a central reference point for everything our team needs. This page houses:

• Meeting Notes: Stores agendas, minutes, and a message board for impromptu ideas.
• Guides & Processes: Documents our methods and workflows.
• Directories: Lists team members, roles, and contact information.
• Competitive Analysis: Houses comps and research to keep an eye on the market.
• Analytics Links: Quick access to tools like Amplitude, Firebase, and Google Analytics.

Notion offers an all-in-one solution where everyone—engineers, designers, analysts—can access the same live information without the need for a separate website or clunky spreadsheets.

2. The Build Cycle: Tracking Every Piece of Work

One of my favorite parts of our Notion setup is the Build Cycle page. This page breaks down every project into bite-sized pieces that the entire team can review. Every entry in this table acts as a pitch or a product requirements document. Here you can see:

• The Problem: What issue are we solving?
• The Solution: How will the product or feature work?
• Timelines: Build dates, launch dates, and estimated hours to complete.
• Ownership: Assigned technical leads and status updates.
• Impact: How the solution will look for both customers and business partners.

With a six-week batch visible to everyone, this page acts as both a roadmap and a live progress tracker. It’s a clear way to see what’s in the pipeline and how our efforts align with overall business goals.

3. Pitches and Bets: Fueling the Roadmap

Another key element is the Pitches and Bets page. This section is dedicated to:

• Identifying Issues: Documenting problems and challenges faced by the company.
• Research and Analysis: Linking to research papers and insights (some trade secrets may be blurred out) to size up key issues.
• Idea Submissions: Allowing anyone in the company to create a pitch using our pitch template. (I’ll share that template in the video description for easy access.)

This page helps everyone understand the rationale behind our roadmap. It encourages team members to contribute ideas and ensures that every project aligns with real, market-tested challenges.

4. Weekly Sync: Keeping the Team Aligned

With a distributed team, maintaining clear communication is paramount. Our Weekly Sync page is where we:

1. Review Progress: Look back at the previous week’s output and link relevant pitches or completed work.
2. Plan Ahead: Define what needs to be tackled in the coming week and update build files.
3. Track Issues: Integrate a bug tracker within Notion, assigning statuses from "No Status" to "Completed" or "Up Next."

This central page replaces clunky tools like Google Sheets or outdated methods and serves as a living wiki that everyone can refer to at any time.

5. Why Notion Works for Us

I’ve used various tools in the past—ha, Google Sheets, and even a tool called Sauna—but none have matched the versatility of Notion for product management. With Notion, everything is in one place. You have instant access to:

• Live updates on project statuses
• A single source of truth for meetings and processes
• Easy access for engineers, designers, and analysts alike

Tip: Copy or adapt this Notion format to suit your team’s needs and streamline your planning process!

Conclusion

Using Notion as your product management hub can revolutionize the way you plan and execute software projects. From the product team homepage to build cycles, pitches and bets, and weekly syncs, Notion offers a clear structure for managing work and keeping a global team on the same page.

This system has powered the development of apps and websites that process millions in sales. It’s a proven workflow that can help you tackle projects methodically, keep your team aligned, and ultimately build better products.

Was this guide helpful? Let me know in the comments below. Don’t forget to like the video and subscribe for more insights on building and scaling software that makes a difference. Stay tuned for more videos as we dive deeper into apps, software, and all the nerdy stuff that helps you make money!