Google Drive is one of the primary file systems behind how I organize shared work. We use it for almost all files, especially in environments where teams, ventures, and external collaborators need consistent access to documents over time.
Role In The System
The main role of Google Drive is to hold working files in a structure that is durable, shared, and easy to reason about. In practice, that means using shared drives organized by venture and by team, each with its own access model.
Structure And Access
The access pattern is intentionally similar to Confluence. The same ventures and teams that have their own knowledge spaces usually have their own file spaces too. That consistency matters because it makes it easier to understand where something belongs and who should be able to see it.
Why It Works
Google Drive works well for this role because it:
- syncs across all my computers
- supports both Google Workspace documents and generic files
- is easy to share with most people who already use Google accounts
- provides a practical default for collaborative file storage
What Lives Elsewhere
Dropbox mainly holds screenshots. We moved away from using it for broader file storage because the access model was less clear and less consistent.
Anything too large or otherwise impractical for Google Drive goes directly into AWS S3.