Notion is where a company writes things down, in documents, wikis, meeting notes, and databases. Headwater is where the company keeps its plan: the vision, the pillars and initiatives under it, and the few climbs each team has to finish this quarter. They are for different jobs, and a company can use both.
- Sign off the York floor plan2 Oct
- Choose the shopfitter9 Oct
- Strip out the unit23 Oct
- Hire the York manager6 Nov
- Fit the counter13 Nov
- Pass the fire safety check11 Dec
The counter is in. The electrician needs another day before the fire safety check, and Freya is still waiting for the bin store key.
Halden Coffee writes things down in Notion. The York café opening plan, the notes from each site visit, and the barista training manual are all Notion pages.
The plan for the year is in Headwater. Fit out the York café is the Cafés team’s climb for October to December. It has one owner, a few dated milestones, and a status Dan sets each Monday. Its progress counts towards the initiative Open café five in York, the pillar Brilliant cafés, and the whole plan.
Choose a question to see where Halden finds the answer.
- In Notion
- Halden handbook
- Cafés
- Barista training manual
- Opening and closing
- Cleaning rota
- Roastery
- Wholesale
- Halden handbook
- Cafés
- Barista training manual
- Opening and closing
- Cleaning rota
- Roastery
- Wholesale
Pages in Notion are written and edited whenever they are needed. The plan in Headwater has a weekly and a quarterly rhythm, the same for every team.
On Monday, each owner checks in on their climbs in about five minutes. Later in the week, each team meets for an hour in its huddle to go through its climbs and solve its issues. At the end of the quarter, each team closes its climbs and plans the next quarter’s.
Choose a row to see each part.
Every Monday, each person with a climb checks in on it. They tick the milestones they have finished, say whether the climb is on track, and raise any issues. It takes about five minutes.
Dan Whitfield is Halden’s Head of Cafés, and he owns Fit out the York café. On Monday he checks in on the climb in Headwater, and on Thursday he leads the Cafés huddle.
On Tuesday, Freya raises an issue in Headwater because the landlord has still not handed over the bin store key, and the team solves it in Thursday’s huddle. Dan writes up the week’s site visits and keeps the opening plan up to date in Notion.
A Notion database can list climbs, their owners, and their due dates.
Headwater works out each climb’s progress from its milestones and adds it up to the whole plan, and shows which climbs are behind pace. It also keeps each team’s issues ranked, runs the weekly huddle, and keeps what the team decided in the rulebook.
Details about Notion are from notion.com in September 2026. Notion is a trademark of Notion Labs, Inc. Headwater is not affiliated with Notion.
Book a demo and we’ll show you how Headwater would run your week, from the vision down to Monday morning.