The State of Organizations 2023 - Flipbook - Page 46
CHAPTER 2: LESSONS FROM LEADERS
All remote from
day one: How
GitLab thrives
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
64
operating model and culture work as he
shared links to support his comments
throughout the conversation.
One of the things that differentiates
GitLab is that it’s fully remote. How
have you maintained connectivity and
built culture in this environment?
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,
they can almost always find the answer
documented in our handbook, without
having to tap someone on the shoulder.
The State of Organizations 2023
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.
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.
In-person events are also a fantastic
way to build this culture, but only if you’re
intentional about how you use them. A