Compass and Notion
Compass or Notion?
Notion holds what your team writes down. Compass works out how your business actually runs, including the parts nobody has written down yet, and keeps it current.
Claims process (2024)
Last edited 14 months ago
When a claim comes in, check the purchase date and approve the repair if it's covered.
For anything unusual, ask Marcus.
TODO: add the refund exceptions
Warranty claim, intake to resolution
- Check the purchase dateWaits 2 days
- Approve repairs over $500Ask Dana
- Refund exceptionsFrom an email thread
- Check eligibility automaticallyProposed
Each step cites where it came from
Where the two part ways.
- 1
Compass goes after what isn't written down
It interviews the people who do the work by link, reads the email threads you copy it on, and asks about the steps nobody has explained. A Notion page has only what someone typed into it.
- 2
The map has structure
Workflows, steps, people and systems link to each other, so Compass knows who owns a step, what it waits on and what it costs in time. A page holds the same facts as prose.
- 3
It tells you what's missing
Compass lists the questions nobody has answered, the workflows with no owner and the people nobody has talked to, and drafts the invite to fill each gap. Every answer arrives as a draft, and nothing joins the map until someone keeps it.
- 4
It proposes what to change
Changes sit on the steps they'd fix, scored on value, feasibility and risk, with the hours they'd free. Your team tracks the ones it tries from the same place.
- 5
Write and link it all in one place
Anyone on your team can write and edit any Compass page, and link Napkin docs, sketches and decks to a page or a single step.
- 6
Your other tools feed the map
Connect any tool with an MCP server, and Zero uses it to fill gaps and keep the map current, with what it learns arriving as drafts for your team to keep.
- 7
Trackers built around the map
Napkin builds tables with grid, board and form views, and pages people can click, right next to the Compass pages they track.
When Compass is the right choice
- The way the work really runs lives in people's heads.
- You want to know where time goes before you change anything.
- You want a list of what to change, weighed and tracked.
- You want your agents working from a map your team trusts.
Job by job
Getting knowledge in
Notion: People write pages, and meeting notes capture what's said in meetings.
Compass: Your team writes pages, and Compass reads documents, email threads you copy it on, research reports and interviews by link.
Shape of what's kept
Notion: Pages and databases you design yourself.
Compass: A map of workflows, steps, people and systems, each linked to the others.
Keeping it current
Notion: Someone edits or archives a page when they notice it's out of date.
Compass: New answers arrive as drafts, and open questions stay listed until someone answers them.
Finding what's missing
Notion: Left to whoever keeps the pages.
Compass: Lists unanswered questions, workflows with no owner and people nobody has talked to.
Deciding what to change
Notion: A doc or a database your team sets up.
Compass: Proposed changes on real steps, scored, with the hours each would free.
Other tools
Notion: Connectors, and agents that reach other apps over MCP.
Compass: Connect any MCP server, and Zero uses it to update the map, with changes arriving as drafts.
Trackers
Notion: Databases you design yourself.
Compass: Napkin tables with grid, board and form views, linked to the map.
Agents reading it
Notion: An official MCP server and a REST API.
Compass: MCP tools for the whole map, with writes approved by a person.
Already in Notion? Bring what describes the work.
Compass reads the pages that say how work gets done and turns them into the map, and your team keeps writing from there.
- Export a Notion page as a PDF or Markdown, drop it into Compass, and keep what it drafts.
- Copy Compass on the email threads where exceptions get decided.
- Link Napkin docs, sketches and decks to the pages and steps they're about.
Questions
- Can my team write in Compass?
- Yes. Anyone on the team can write and edit any page, with search, comments and history, and link Napkin docs, sketches and decks to a page or a step.
- Can Notion's agents read the Compass map?
- Any agent that speaks MCP can read the map, with writes approved by a person.
- Do the people we interview need Notion or a Compass account?
- The people you interview open a link and chat in their browser.
Try Compass with your domain.
Start with one process and the documents you already have.
No website? Describe what you do
If you'd like help with the first changes, talk to us.