Inspiration We were inspired by the chaotic, high-stakes environment of fast-scaling startups, where brilliant ideas often get lost in translation between vision and execution. We repeatedly witnessed the same pattern: product specs in Notion, architecture in Miro, and tasks in Linear—all disconnected. Teams wasted precious cycles in alignment meetings and chasing status updates, while context evaporated at every handoff. This friction sparked a core question: What if project management wasn't about tracking tasks, but about orchestrating accountable, proof-based handoffs? We envisioned a system that acted as a team's central nervous system—an Internal Startup OS built for the war room.
What It Does SpeedOps is a high-signal operational command center for scaling teams. It bridges strategy and execution in two key ways:
AI-Driven Project Inception: It uses the Google Gemini API to transform vague project requirements into high-fidelity, technical briefs—complete with a developer-readable roadmap, feature breakdowns, and role-assigned tasks.
Gated Task Orchestration: It replaces simple drag-and-drop with an accountable handoff protocol. Moving a task forward (e.g., from Development to QA) requires submitting proof (like a GitHub PR link) and explicitly assigning the next owner. This is combined with a role-aware Intelligence Feed for contextual communication and a real-time Operational Grid for live, wall-display visibility into team bandwidth and project health.
How We Built It We built SpeedOps with a "high-signal, high-contrast" philosophy applied to both UI and architecture:
Frontend: React 19 with a custom Tailwind CSS theme for maximum scanability and a dense, Kanban-inspired Operational Grid.
AI & Intelligence: Google Gemini API (gemini-3-pro-preview) for neural ingestion and structured brief generation.
Real-Time Sync & Backend: Firebase Firestore for sub-second synchronization across all users, creating a live, collaborative command center feel. Firebase handles authentication, database, and analytics.
Core Logic: A custom-built Handover Protocol (like a state machine with gates) enforces the proof-based workflow. The UI uses Lucide-React for icons, and the entire app is deployed as a static site on Vercel/Netlify.
Challenges We Ran Into Protocol vs. Flexibility: Designing the gated handoff system to feel empowering rather than restrictive was tough. Early users disliked being "blocked." We solved this by reframing it as a "handoff ceremony" and allowing flexible proof (PR, deploy URL, Figma link).
Complex State Management: Ensuring data integrity during complex relational updates (e.g., moving a task updates both old and new owner bandwidth, project timeline) with Firestore's real-time sync required careful use of batched writes and security rules.
Taming AI for Precision: Getting consistent, structured, and technically astute outputs from Gemini required extensive prompt engineering to steer it away from vague fluff and toward actionable technical directives.
Information Density: Displaying the rich Intelligence Feed (comments, roles, severity tags) alongside the task matrix without visual chaos demanded a ruthless UI hierarchy using color, typography, and collapsible sections.
Accomplishments That We're Proud Of Creating a New Metaphor: Successfully designing and building the core Handover Protocol, which transforms a simple status change into an accountable, proof-driven transaction.
Seamless AI Integration: Building an AI ingestion system that acts as a practical "translator" from business intent to technical plan, dramatically reducing project kickoff friction.
Real-Time "Alive" Feel: Achieving a truly live, sub-second sync that makes the Operational Grid feel like a living nervous system for the project, perfect for wall displays.
Cohesive System: Combining four complex modules—AI Planning, Gated Orchestration, Intelligence Feed, and Live Grid—into a single, coherent, and fast application.
What We Learned Human Systems Are Key: The best tools mirror and enhance healthy human rituals. Our protocol digitally codifies the natural "sign-off" that already exists in high-performing teams.
AI is a Translator, Not an Autopilot: AI's greatest operational value is in bridging communication gaps and creating first drafts, not making final decisions.
Real-Time Changes Behavior: When updates are instantaneous, a tool shifts from being a reporting ledger to a shared source of truth that teams actively gather around.
Constraint Enables Clarity: Enforcing rules (like requiring proof) doesn't slow great teams down—it eliminates ambiguity and creates velocity by preventing rework and confusion.
What's Next for SpeedOps Integrations & API: Deep, bidirectional integrations with GitHub, GitLab, Vercel, and Linear to make the proof-of-work handoff even more seamless.
Advanced AI Agents: Evolving from project inception to in-flight assistance—AI agents that can suggest task breakdowns, detect blockers, or auto-generate release notes.
Predictive Analytics: Leveraging project data to forecast timelines, identify capacity bottlenecks, and provide "operational strength" forecasts.
Template Library & Scaling: Creating shareable, industry-specific project templates and scaling the OS to manage interconnected portfolios of projects across a growing organization.
The ultimate goal remains: to be the indispensable command layer where every scaling startup aligns, executes, and accelerates.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.