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One library for every process doc, synced to the shared Drive.

As Director of Business Operations at Doodle Pirates Foundation, I built one place in the Internal Dashboard to find, start and edit every process doc. Each page is a real Google Doc in the shared Drive.

Org
Doodle Pirates Foundation
Role
Director of Business Operations
Stack
React + Vite, Hono, Cloudflare Worker, Airtable, Google Docs and Drive
Status
Beta, under the Learn menu
The Documentation library for the Operations department, with a Beta label beside the title: a search box, an Intern access button, and page groups for Grants, Community Fundraising, Systems & Automation and General, each listing its pages with a New Page link.
Oct 14First version shipped, 2026
BetaWhere it stands today
~26Merged PRs touching it
79Documentation tests

Counts come from the private code repository: merged pull requests that touch documentation, and documentation test cases.

The problem

Process docs were saved in different drives and folders, often not on the shared drive.

Each workflow had several versions of its doc, and nobody knew which one was official.

My DriveIntake processIntake process 2Another driveIntake process (old)Intake stepsSome folderIntake draft?Which one is official?

The approach

Every page is a real Google Doc in the shared drive. Each department has one Process Documentation folder, with a subfolder per business line.

The dashboard is the single front door. Staff find, start or edit a page without leaving it.

Dashboardthe single front doorfind · start · editShared driveOperations Process DocumentationGrantsCommunity FundraisingSystems & AutomationGeneralManufacturing Process DocumentationOne Process Documentation folder per departmentSubfolders: one per business line, plus General

How it works

Start a page from scratch, or paste an anyone-with-link Google Doc link. It is copied in and tidied, and the original is never touched.

Edit live in the dashboard. Changes save to Google Docs about 3 seconds after typing stops.

Design decisions

  1. Edits never overwrite each other

    Dashboard and Google Docs edits are reconciled by revision checks, and the app looks for outside edits about every 60 seconds. If both sides changed, a banner offers See what changed, Load their version or Keep mine.

  2. A wipe is refused

    A save that would shrink or wipe a page by more than 80% is refused.

  3. Folders are only ever added

    A nightly job creates any missing folders and never deletes anything.

  4. A fenced service account

    One service account does all the reading and writing, and the app refuses anything outside the doc folders.

  5. Interns see only what they are granted

    Interns and contractors see only the pages granted to them: a business line, a single page, or a department’s General folder. They never see Google links or file names. Airtable stores only these grants.

  6. File names keep the Drive searchable

    Names follow a standard so the Drive stays searchable outside the app. The dashboard shows only the title.

Who can do what

Directors and managers
Read, add, edit, delete
Leads and individual contributors
Read, add, edit
Interns and contractors
Read only the pages granted to them

Screens

The editor open on the page “How we apply for a grant”: a Google Doc label with its Operations Process Documentation folder path, an Open in Google Docs link, a Delete page button, a formatting toolbar, and the start of the page text with a Purpose heading and numbered steps.
The editorA formatting toolbar and a link to open the same page in Google Docs. Images go into the doc, and videos are links that play inline.
A new page in the Grants group: a box to paste a Google Doc link with a Bring it in button and a note that the original is not changed, an Untitled title field, and a Start writing button.
New pageStart writing, or paste an anyone-with-link Google Doc to bring it in.
The page “Reordering shop supplies” right after creation: a Google Doc line showing the folder path and a file name that begins DPF, the page title, a formatting toolbar and one line of text.
A new page, named by the standardThe Drive file name carries the DPF standard. The page title is just the title.
The Intern access panel: four intern tabs and, for the selected intern, checkboxes for the Grants business line with its three pages, Community Fundraising, Systems & Automation and the General folder.
Intern accessGrant a whole business line, a single page, or a department’s General folder.
The Documentation library as an intern sees it: a shorter menu and one group, Grants, listing the three pages that were shared.
What an intern seesOnly the granted pages, with no Google links and no file names.
On a phoneThe library and the editor on a small screen.
Phone view of the Documentation library: a search box, an Intern access button, and the Grants group with its pages above Community Fundraising.
The library
Phone view of the editor on the page “How we apply for a grant”, with the Google Doc label, a wrapped formatting toolbar and the start of the text.
The editor

Outcomes

  1. Oct 14, 2026First version shipped.
  2. Oct 15Safety fixes followed.
  3. Oct 20 to 22More safety fixes.

Limits and what is next

  • BetaIt sits under the Learn menu with a Beta label.
  • No template systemEvery page starts blank or from a pasted Google Doc.
  • No approval stepGoogle version history is the audit trail.
  • No task-to-doc links yetTasks and process docs are not connected in the dashboard.

Keep reading

The Internal Dashboard →All projectsAsk me about it