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Sad to know that instead of a proper API or offline support the notion team has decided to spent their time on AI. Notion turned 8 this year and it still doesn

Sad to know that instead of a proper API or offline support the notion team has decided to spent their time on AI. Notion turned 8 this year and it still doesn't have the aforementioned offline support, no repeating dates and events and no plugin support. Why companies prioritise a product nobody asked for instead of features which a large majority of users are vocal in support of is beyond me. I can only hope a competitor will force them to shift their focus.

bongobingo1 4y ago
Notion is a VC backed company. Less snidely, it's probably a lot more interesting to poke at AI integration than building another REST API. I bet there are more programmers putting their hand up to "explore that area" at the stand ups.
- amelius 4y ago
  Since when do programmers get to work on stuff they want to work on?
  - wittycardio 4y ago
    Since forever , every place I've worked has had insane amounts of autonomy for programmers
    - amelius 4y ago
      Well, looks like that is about to change: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33620662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33620662
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - wittycardio 4y ago
        Yeah we've lived in a good job market. Can't assume it'll last forever but giving programmers some autonomy is likely the best way to move a software company forward so I wouldn't be surprised if that continues
  - ketzo 4y ago
    I doubt they walk into work every morning and pick from a big board on the wall, but if you don’t have some influence over the kind of projects you’re working on, you should get a new job.
- selfmodruntime 4y ago
  > Less snidely, it's probably a lot more interesting to poke at AI integration than building another REST API People love to work for developer focused companies with a lot of freedom, but in all honesty most paying users do not care in the slightest what you are interested to put your hand up for.
Veen 4y ago
Because AI generates attention and therefore new users/subscribers. Stuff existing subscribers want is a lower priority. Also, the developers probably think AI is cool to work on and offline support isn't.
- selfmodruntime 4y ago
  This will be a problem until user retention grows more important than gaining new subscribers, even if they only stay for a month.
elmomle 4y ago
Agreed, their search (literal string matching only) was outdated long before they were ever a company, but they do this instead of sticking one mid to senior level DS on that? This is also almost certain to lead to more documents, not better ones, making the abysmal search experience worse.
Eumenes 4y ago
Seriously, they're ignoring the thing that they do well.
revskill 4y ago
Because Notion AI is not built for developers ?
- selfmodruntime 4y ago
  Then who is it built for, exactly?
time_to_smile 4y ago
Unfortunately every product focused AI/ML/DS team out there is currently churning out these thin wrappers over GPT3, I know because my PM can't stop pushing this nonsense. The issue is that because a lot of non-technical people haven't played with GPT3 too much, there is huge initial engagement with these "features" so the stats around usage look great, even though anyone with a few brain cells can identify that the root cause of this is the novelty effect. PMs also get the mistaken belief that, because writing is hard for most people, it must be a big blocker for these marketers. But for a marketer writing copy is like writing code for a seasoned dev. Similarly copilot is fun to play with, but I don't know any developers out there who seriously use it (save your replies I know some enthusiasts must exist). Additionally, unlike copilot, these GPT3 copy outputs always only look decent at first glance, but contains enough oddities that they are rarely if ever useful in their displayed form. Expect floundering "AI" teams to churn this for out en mass at any remotely content related SaaS company for a while.
jitl 4y ago
(I work on Notion) As of November 8, Notion supports recurring events in databases: https://www.notion.so/releases/2022-11-08 https://www.notion.so/releases/2022-11-08 Curious what you think is missing from the API? https://developers.notion.com/reference/intro https://developers.notion.com/reference/intro

bongobingo1 4y ago

Notion is a VC backed company. Less snidely, it's probably a lot more interesting to poke at AI integration than building another REST API. I bet there are more programmers putting their hand up to "explore that area" at the stand ups.

amelius 4y ago
Since when do programmers get to work on stuff they want to work on?
- wittycardio 4y ago
  Since forever , every place I've worked has had insane amounts of autonomy for programmers
  - amelius 4y ago
    Well, looks like that is about to change: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33620662 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33620662
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - wittycardio 4y ago
      Yeah we've lived in a good job market. Can't assume it'll last forever but giving programmers some autonomy is likely the best way to move a software company forward so I wouldn't be surprised if that continues
- ketzo 4y ago
  I doubt they walk into work every morning and pick from a big board on the wall, but if you don’t have some influence over the kind of projects you’re working on, you should get a new job.
selfmodruntime 4y ago
> Less snidely, it's probably a lot more interesting to poke at AI integration than building another REST API People love to work for developer focused companies with a lot of freedom, but in all honesty most paying users do not care in the slightest what you are interested to put your hand up for.

Veen 4y ago

Because AI generates attention and therefore new users/subscribers. Stuff existing subscribers want is a lower priority. Also, the developers probably think AI is cool to work on and offline support isn't.

selfmodruntime 4y ago
This will be a problem until user retention grows more important than gaining new subscribers, even if they only stay for a month.

elmomle 4y ago

Agreed, their search (literal string matching only) was outdated long before they were ever a company, but they do this instead of sticking one mid to senior level DS on that? This is also almost certain to lead to more documents, not better ones, making the abysmal search experience worse.

Eumenes 4y ago

Seriously, they're ignoring the thing that they do well.

revskill 4y ago

Because Notion AI is not built for developers ?

selfmodruntime 4y ago
Then who is it built for, exactly?

time_to_smile 4y ago

Unfortunately every product focused AI/ML/DS team out there is currently churning out these thin wrappers over GPT3, I know because my PM can't stop pushing this nonsense. The issue is that because a lot of non-technical people haven't played with GPT3 too much, there is huge initial engagement with these "features" so the stats around usage look great, even though anyone with a few brain cells can identify that the root cause of this is the novelty effect. PMs also get the mistaken belief that, because writing is hard for most people, it must be a big blocker for these marketers. But for a marketer writing copy is like writing code for a seasoned dev. Similarly copilot is fun to play with, but I don't know any developers out there who seriously use it (save your replies I know some enthusiasts must exist). Additionally, unlike copilot, these GPT3 copy outputs always only look decent at first glance, but contains enough oddities that they are rarely if ever useful in their displayed form. Expect floundering "AI" teams to churn this for out en mass at any remotely content related SaaS company for a while.

jitl 4y ago

(I work on Notion) As of November 8, Notion supports recurring events in databases: https://www.notion.so/releases/2022-11-08 https://www.notion.so/releases/2022-11-08 Curious what you think is missing from the API? https://developers.notion.com/reference/intro https://developers.notion.com/reference/intro