When to Use Notion vs. Google Docs

Since Sourcegraph leverages both Notion and Google Docs for documentation and collaboration, it’s important to understand the optimal use cases for each tool. This guide aims to outline clear scenarios and use cases for when to use Notion and when to use Google Docs, ensuring efficiency and clarity in our documentation processes.

Notion: Sourcegraph Handbook and team knowledge bases

When to use Notion:

• Company Handbook/wiki: Utilize Notion for all permanent company information. This includes HR policies, company culture, onboarding documents, and any evergreen content that provides a foundational understanding of our company.
• Team knowledge base and documentation: Use Notion for storing and sharing knowledge among a team and standard operating procedures that give cross-functional partners clarity into how you and your team work. Its hierarchical structure and flexibility in creating interconnected databases makes it ideal for these purposes.
• Group meeting notes: Centralize meeting notes within Notion to ensure that discussions are documented and accessible for future reference. We’ve created a shared database for teammates to add meeting notes and tag them with relevant filters (like department or topic).

Benefits of using Notion:

• Hierarchical structure for easy navigation.
• Customizable templates for various needs.
• Ability to link between documents and databases for interconnected information.

Google Docs: For dynamic collaboration and external sharing

When to use Google Docs:

• Collaborative drafting and editing: Google Docs shines in real-time collaboration. Use it for documents that require input and simultaneous editing by multiple team members, such as drafting proposals or collaborative reports.
• External sharing and collaboration: When working on documents that need to be shared with or edited by external partners, clients, or stakeholders, Google Docs is often more universally accessible and easier to use.
  • Documents like signed vendor agreements, customer MSAs/NDAs, etc. should stay in Google docs.
• Short-term projects and quick collaboration: For projects that are temporary or require a quick turnaround, Google Docs can be a more straightforward choice due to its simplicity and ease of sharing.
• Feedback and commenting: Leverage Google Docs for documents that require extensive feedback cycles. The commenting and suggestion features are robust and intuitive for these purposes.

Benefits of using Google Docs:

• Real-time collaboration and editing capabilities.
• Wide accessibility and familiarity for most users.