The State of Organizations 2023 - Flipbook - Page 25
CHAPTER 2: LESSONS FROM LEADERS
All remote from
day one: How
GitLab thrives
In-person events are also a fantastic
way to build this culture, but only if you’re
intentional about how you use them. A
lot of companies bring people together,
then lock them in a conference room to
sit through PowerPoint presentations for
a couple of days. That’s a waste of time
and money. They could have watched
those presentations asynchronously.
Sid Sijbrandij, CEO and cofounder of GitLab
Inc., discusses how his organization builds a
cohesive culture and helps its team members
thrive in a fully remote workplace.
G
itLab’s roughly 2,000 team
members span more than 60
countries—and every single
one of them works remotely. Unlike many
companies that were abruptly forced to
close their offices during the COVID-19
pandemic, GitLab has embraced a remotework environment from its inception in 2011.
It is now one of the largest fully remote
organizations in the world.
Under CEO and cofounder Sid
Sijbrandij, the company has evolved
from an open-source collaboration
tool for programmers to an end-to-end
development, security, and operations
(DevSecOps) platform used by an
estimated more than 30 million users.
Its rapid growth is underpinned by a set
of norms, systems, and processes that
enable its global workforce to collaborate
across time zones and schedules.
We spoke with Sid about how GitLab
team members stay connected, sustain
a healthy culture, and manage their
time within a remote and asynchronous
workplace. During the interview, we
experienced Sid’s personal commitment
to the transparency that makes GitLab’s
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At GitLab, we spend most of our in-person
time going on excursions, sharing
meals, or holding an “un-conference,”
where small groups discuss topics one
after another. We use our valuable time
together to build connections through the
kind of face-to-face interactions that can
take place only outside of our screens.
operating model and culture work as he
shared links to support his comments
throughout the conversation.
they can almost always find the answer
documented in our handbook, without
having to tap someone on the shoulder.
One of the things that differentiates
GitLab is that it’s fully remote. How
have you maintained connectivity and
built culture in this environment?
The “handbook first” system is
embedded in the way we work. Every
change must first be documented in the
handbook, and all communications about
the change include a link back to the
handbook. We work together to make
sure it is always up to date. For example,
our CMSO [chief marketing and strategy
officer] is responsible for maintaining the
marketing section, though anyone can
propose edits as needed.
Working remotely is easy. The
challenge is working asynchronously.
Working remotely is easy. The
challenge is working asynchronously.
Organizations must create a system
where everyone can consume
information and contribute regardless
of their level, function, or location. We
invest in working practices that enable
asynchronous communication, and
we’ve committed to educating and
supporting other companies through
the global transition to remote work
that started during COVID-19 and
continues today.
Within GitLab, our handbook, which
is more than 2,000 web pages and
available to the public, is a big part of
what enables us to work asynchronously.
When an employee has a question,
The State of Organizations 2023
Intentional internal communication
is crucial in fast-paced organizations
like GitLab. How has that manifested
at GitLab?
We rely on informal communication to
develop closeness and camaraderie. Our
onboarding process trains people in
how—and how often—we communicate
with each other: every new hire initiates
five virtual coffee chats so they learn that
it’s normal to schedule meetings with a
colleague just to connect, whether it’s
work related or not.
What’s one secret of GitLab’s
success?
We’re very thoughtful about how we
use our time. For example, meetings
shouldn’t just be gatherings of people for
a conversation. Unless it’s a coffee chat,
every meeting must have an agenda, and
people are expected to read the agenda
before the meeting. Our meetings end at
the 25- or 50-minute mark to give people
time to prepare for their next meeting. We
also try to make it acceptable for people to
look away during meetings—they manage
their own attention and participation—and
to interrupt politely to ask questions or
share context, just like you would during
in-person conversations. We take notes
during every meeting and, when possible,
record them so people who can’t attend
can still hear the conversation, and we aim
to resolve discussion with clear next steps,
owners, and delivery dates.
How would you describe the culture
at GitLab?
Most important, we maintain a bias for
action. Everyone at GitLab is empowered
to be proactive, creative, and effective.
We all must make decisions with
imperfect information; this mindset helps
us make the small ones more efficiently.
We document them and maintain the
ability to change them if necessary, but
there’s cultural support for everyone
to do what they feel is best, instead of
calling meetings to debate every choice
or action. We have a higher tolerance for
mistakes and an appreciation for which
decisions need discussion. Overall, this
approach helps us to be more effective.
Tell us more about how you’ve developed
and fostered GitLab’s culture.
Culture isn’t preserved. It evolves. You have
to measure what you want to reinforce.
There’s still a lot of presenteeism out there—
where team members are rewarded for
just showing up, responding quickly, and
looking like they are working day and night.
If that’s what you reward, that’s what you’re
going to get. It’s much better to reward
the results. At GitLab, we evaluate team
members using metrics that are relevant
to their roles. For example, in R&D, we
measure how many pieces of code land
in production. What matters is not the
number of hours you work—it’s the work
that gets done.
More about
Sid
Sijbrandij
CEO and co-founder
of GitLab
Before GitLab, Sytse “Sid” Sijbrandij
built recreational submarines
for U-Boat Worx, developed
web applications for the Ministry
of Justice and Security of the
Netherlands, and discovered his
passion for open source. He is
described as the anchor of allremote working and GitLab’s
product visionary. Under Sijbrandij
leadership, GitLab has grown from
seven people in 2011 to more than
2,000 employees across more than
60 countries today, without owning
or leasing dedicated office space
anywhere in the world.
‘Working remotely is easy.
The challenge is working
asynchronously.’
March 2023
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