The State of Organizations 2023 - Flipbook - Page 73
“un-conference,” where small groups
discuss topics one after another. We
use our valuable time together to build
connections through the kind of face-toface interactions that can take place only
outside of our screens.
What processes are in place to help
employees manage their time in a
remote and asynchronous working
environment?
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 does the culture at GitLab
contribute to its success?
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.
How do you build and strengthen the
culture over time?
Culture isn’t preserved. It evolves.
You have to measure what you want to
reinforce. At other companies, there
is 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
Cofounder and CEO
of GitLab Inc.
Before GitLab, 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 all-remote working and
GitLab’s product visionary. Under
Sid’s leadership, GitLab has grown
from seven people in 2011 to more
than 2,100 employees across more
than 60 countries today, without
owning or leasing dedicated office
space anywhere in the world
‘Culture isn’t preserved. It evolves. You have to
measure what you want to reinforce.’
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