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Description
This videos shares some tips and takeaways from my CEO shadow experience.
A
A
A
I
also
had
a
coffee
chat
with
the
current
ceo
shadow
at
the
time
who
was
going
to
be
my
buddy,
and
my
case,
that
was
neil
mccarson
and
neil
had
shared
a
great
idea
to
create
a
personal
project
and
get
lab
to
track
ideas
and
set
personal
goals
for
the
experience
I
decided
to
give
that
a
try
and
included
several
personal
goals
for
the
program.
I
thought
it'd
be
a
great
way
to
start
this
chat
with
covering
some
of
those.
A
I
also
wanted
to
gain
some
exposure
to
different
leadership,
styles
and
perspectives.
I
wanted
to
get
better
at
advocating
and
negotiating,
and
I
wanted
to
practice
assuming
positive
intent
with
these
goals
in
mind.
I
jumped
right
in
it
was
a
super
exciting.
Two
weeks
my
shadow
rotation
was
split
into
judah,
said
calendar
and
a
few
other
factors.
So
I
was
one
week
on
one
week
off
and
then
one
week
on
again,
I'm
going
to
start
by
covering
some
of
the
key
logistical
takeaways
that
I
learned
through
the
program.
A
So
the
first
thing
that
I
did
was
I
created
a
bookmark
folder
on
the
browser
with
everything
right
there
that
I
would
need
in
terms
of
links.
So
I
had
the
ceo
shadow
handbook,
ceo
shadow
issue,
tracker
on
my
own
personal
note,
stack
and
a
few
other
things
that
I
just
wanted
to
have
right
there
easily
accessible
and
that
that
was
super
helpful.
A
I
also
created
a
ceo
shadow
group
in
slack
and
put
all
the
relevant
channels
right
there,
so
the
ceo
shadow
channel,
private,
ceo
shadow
channel,
my
ceo
shadowbuddy
and
then
the
ceo
channel,
and
that
allowed
me
to
see
those
notifications
at
the
top
of
my
slack
channel
and
channels
and
be
able
to
respond
to
those
and
focus
on
those
quickly.
A
I
also
prepared
my
family
and
my
home
life
ahead
of
time.
I
knew
it
would
be
a
long
day
and
I
would
not
really
be
available
to
my
family
during
the
program,
so
I'm
in
eastern
the
eastern
time
zone
in
citizen
pacific,
so
that
made
for
a
really
long
day
for
me,
11
to
9.
If
I
followed
today
says
day
and
generally,
I
tried
to
squeeze
in
a
few
things
before
11.
A
So
before
I
entered
the
program,
I
discussed
the
schedule
with
my
kids
and
had
great
support
from
my
husband.
We
picked
two
weeks
that
would
where
there
weren't
a
lot
of
sports
duty,
so
it
was
easier
on
my
husband
in
terms
of
driving
the
kids
around.
A
A
A
I
also
got
to
know
my
ceo
buddy
for
both
weeks.
Neil
and
sarah
bailey,
we
talked
frequently
we
iterated
and
we
got
better
over
time
at
note-taking.
So
some
of
the
things
that
really
helped
were
rotating
speakers.
So
if
sid
was
talking,
I
was
recording
sid
and
then
sarah
was
ready
for
the
next
line
of
whoever
was
going
to
answer
sid's
question,
and
then
we
would
just
kind
of
leap
frog
like
that.
A
Also,
when
sid
would
make
a
suggestion
and
say
shadows,
what
do
you
think
about
about
adding
this
to
the
handbook?
One
of
us
would
cl
claim
the
dri
for
that
ask
so
that
we
could
create
the
issue
or
the
merge
requests
and
then
collaborate
from
there.
That
way,
we
avoided
duplication
of
work
and
we
leaped
frog
with
that
as
well.
A
So
then
the
next
request
would
be
sarah's
and
the
one
after
that
would
be
mine,
and
that
was
really
helpful
also
remember
to
take
a
break
when
sid
takes
a
break
or
when
he's
talking
with
his
family
members.
So
he
has
those
meetings
scattered
throughout
the
day
and
that's
a
really
good
chance
to
get
up,
walk
away,
have
a
meal
take
care
of
things
on
the
home
front.
So
those
tips
collectively
really
really
helped.
A
Next,
I
want
to
share
some
takeaways
about
gitlab
in
general.
Gitlab's
values
are
essential
to
our
success
as
a
company.
I
know
we
hear
that
all
the
time,
but
to
see
it
in
action
is
really
an
amazing
experience.
Our
values
were
invoked
in
nearly
every
internal
meeting.
I
attended,
ranging
from
large
to
small,
to
one-on-ones
to
big
e-group
meetings
or
meetings
with
external
teams.
A
Our
e
group
has
to
make
really
tough
decisions
all
the
time
and
some
of
these
impact,
our
our
team
members
and
some
impact,
our
customers
and
when
these
decisions
are
being
made,
get
labs
leadership,
considers
our
values
and
uses
them
regularly
to
help
guide
them
through
a
decision.
Transparency
is
a
really
super
great
example
of
that.
A
The
next
key
takeaway
is
that
our
leadership
really
cares
about
get
lab
team
members,
our
community,
our
customers
and
generally
other
human
beings.
There
were
a
few
really
touching
moments
throughout
the
week.
One
example
was
sid
was
generally
concerned
about
a
team
member
and
a
personal
struggle.
A
He
expressed
empathy
and
was
really
wanted
to
help
help
that
person.
Another
good
example
were
sometimes
eager
members
would
and
one-on-ones
or
otherwise
would
share.
You
know
challenging
moments
they
had
in
a
meeting
or
throughout
the
week,
and
leaders
have
tough
days
too,
and
it
was
really
great
to
see
our
e-group
share
these
moments
and
then
talk
through
them
and
support
each
other.
A
A
A
Another
great
example
is
a
blog
post
that
we
wrote
on
how
we
use
gitlab
to
incorporate
private
customer
needs
into
a
public
product
roadmap.
We
were
in
an
external
meeting
with
another
ceo
and
the
ceo
asked
a
really
insightful
question.
Sid
started
walking
through
the
answer
and
by
the
end
he
said,
hey
shadows.
This
is
a
really
cool
topic.
We
should
write
a
blog
post
on
it.
A
I
encourage
you
if
you,
if
you
take
part
in
the
program
to
take
advantage
of
those
opportunities
to
contribute
the
next
piece
that
was
really
an
interesting
takeaway
from
me,
was
learning
about
the
organ
organizational
structure
of
gitlab
and
its
operating
model.
This
this
topic
was
really
fascinating.
To
me,
gitlab
is
organized
by
function
and
is
not
a
matrix
organization.
A
A
You
can
really
focus
in
on
your
okrs
and
your
kpis,
but
again
as
we
scale
and
more
cross-functional
things
bubble
up,
more
and
more
challenges
arise
as
a
result
of
working
in
functions,
so
it
was
really
fascinating
to
see
these
challenges
arise
during
the
week
and
then
see
how
the
chief
of
staff
helped
to
bring
these
to
his
attention
and
then
and
start
to
resolve
them,
and
our
values
played
a
crucial
role
here.
I
think
specifically
having
as
many
discussions
asynchronously
as
possible
in
issues
and
in
docs
and
in
slack.
A
I
was
able
to
witness
this
over
the
weeks
and
then
put
it
into
practice
during
the
shadow
program,
and
it
was
a
super
valuable
experience
to
see
how
our
leadership
works
this
way
and
why
and
how
it
allows
us
to
resolve
some
of
these
challenges
in
reflecting
back
on
some
of
my
personal
goals,
a
few
things
stand
out,
so
one
of
the
goals
was
to
think
about
more
about
the
wider
company
and
connect
the
dots,
and
this
one
was
a
really
natural
one
for
throughout
the
week,
several
projects
that
I
had
been
working
on
came
up,
and
it
was
really
great
to
see
how
my
work
and
then
the
work
of
the
community
relations
team
impacted
the
wider
company.
A
I
tend
to
be
a
very
heads-down
worker
and
and
very
outcome
focused,
and
so
I
can
end
up
staying
in
my
tunnel
and
seeing
the
connections
at
the
e-group
level
was
really
a
great
inspiration
to
be
more
vocal
about
the
work
that
we're
doing,
but
also
be
more
proactive
about
working
cross-functionally
across
the
company.
A
The
next
takeaway
of
my
personal
goals
was
being
a
better
listener.
Communicator
and
negotiator
kind
of
all
went
hand
in
hand
and
picking
up
on
the
nuances,
for
me,
is
still
a
bit
of
a
work
in
progress.
So
I'm
a
big
picture
thinker
and
attention
to
detail
and
iteration
is
definitely
a
struggle
for
me.
A
So
several
times
during
the
shadow
rotation,
I
was
reminded
how
important
it
is
to
assume
low
context
and
provide
the
full
context
when
you're
working
with
other
people,
especially
in
asynchronous
so
taking
your
time
following
through
closing
the
loop
checking
for
accuracy
and
asking
questions
when
you
aren't
clear,
are
really
really
important
and
then
it
was
great
practice
to
stay
present
during
during
the
week.
This
was
a
really
good
thing
to
work
on.
A
The
ceo
shadow
is
an
unbelievable
opportunity.
I
cannot
stress
this
enough.
Take
the
opportunity
your
work
can
wait.
It's
a
it's
really
an
amazing
opportunity
and
if
you're,
if
you
want
to
learn
more,
feel
free
to
reach
out
and
schedule
a
coffee
chat,
I
am
happy
to
talk
about
the
program
and
answer
any
questions
you
have
thanks
for
listening.