The Notion database property nobody needs (and why it keeps showing up)
Most templates ship with a Status property that duplicates three others. Here's how to cut it and what to keep instead.
Open almost any project template and you'll find a Status property sitting next to Done, Stage, and Progress. Four fields describing the same thing. That's not flexibility — it's a decision you keep deferring.
I ran a studio database with exactly one status field for a year. Select options: Idea, Drafting, Ready, Shipped. Nothing else. When I needed to know whether something was blocked, I used a checkbox called Waiting On. Two fields, zero ambiguity, and my weekly review dropped from forty minutes to twelve.
The temptation is to model every possible state before you start. Resist it. A status field earns its place only if you act on its values differently — if Drafting means you open a doc and Ready means you send an email. If two values trigger the same next action, merge them.
Before you duplicate another template, count the properties you'd actually filter by. If it's more than six, you're building a dashboard for a job you don't have yet.