Ask HN: Using Git for all internal company documents

1 pointscwbuilds2y ago3 comments

Hi guys,

I came across a video called 'The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Plain Text' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgV6M1LyfNY) and found it pretty compelling.

I'd been thinking about how to manage internal company files and was considering Google Drive or Notion, but I'm now considering trying to store everything in plain text using Git.

I like that using plain text gives information a feeling of permanence.

There are some obvious drawbacks such as a learning curve for non-technical employees and plain text not being adequate for all tasks. Sometimes you need images and charts.

I was wondering whether anyone has implemented this in their startup and, if so, how you are finding it?

Thanks!

3 comments

mytailorisrich2y ago

> and that ensuring everyone has read/write access to everything makes it inclusive.

You don't want everyone to have read/write access to all company documents.

cwbuildsOP2y ago

Good point

spicykraken2y ago

You can use separate repos for sensitive documents instead of one big repo.

The biggest challenges will be:

- Teaching git to non-technical folks, the HR lady doesn't know how to resolve a merge conflict and probably doesn't want to

- They also don't want to learn markdown or latex

With a small enough company though, this could work.

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