30 Jul 2020
Nick Post and Mike Long have a chat about iteration at GitLab and how we cross the valley from local optimum to the global optimum. Watch Nick's related video where he poses the question about iteration and crossing the valley: https://youtu.be/M56CeleqpDI
- 2 participants
- 14 minutes
28 Apr 2020
Discuss adding a high priority merge request process (to primarily give us a process to meet a critical customer need)
- 3 participants
- 27 minutes
3 Nov 2019
In this GitLab Unfiltered video, GitLab co-founder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij verbalizes how he discovered the value of iteration.
Referencing GitLab's time at Y Combinator, Sid shares that by iterating quickly, you're able to achieve more without working longer hours, thereby creating a more sustainable approach to work.
"There were people in the company, even at the time, who suggested that we should slow down. The response from GitLab has always been, 'No, we'll get the most we can get done. The smaller we split things up, the smaller the steps we take, the faster we can go.'
We still believe that's true today. We want everyone comfortable with taking small steps without a lot of coordination, without a lot of predicting, and without a lot of explaining."
An embraced spirit of iteration helps maintain an all-remote culture. By encouraging small steps and empowering individuals to propose minimum viable change, all-remote teams are less burdened by the need for coordination.
Particularly as organizations scale, the friction of coordinating people and teams can lead to dysfunction and frustration. Coordinating large groups across an array of time zones is impractical, which forces an all-remote team to not lean on the coordination crutch.
This empowers all-remote teams to make small changes and reduce cycle times. This leads to changes which are easier to provide feedback on (and roll back if needed).
Valuing iteration creates a climate where there is a low level of shame. This is extraordinarily difficult to replicate in large colocated settings, where perception is often reality and decisions are swayed by physical appearances. In all-remote companies, this reinforces that a person is not their work.
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GitLab's Iteration value: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/values/#iteration
How a collection of values at GitLab contribute to an all-remote environment: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/values/
Referencing GitLab's time at Y Combinator, Sid shares that by iterating quickly, you're able to achieve more without working longer hours, thereby creating a more sustainable approach to work.
"There were people in the company, even at the time, who suggested that we should slow down. The response from GitLab has always been, 'No, we'll get the most we can get done. The smaller we split things up, the smaller the steps we take, the faster we can go.'
We still believe that's true today. We want everyone comfortable with taking small steps without a lot of coordination, without a lot of predicting, and without a lot of explaining."
An embraced spirit of iteration helps maintain an all-remote culture. By encouraging small steps and empowering individuals to propose minimum viable change, all-remote teams are less burdened by the need for coordination.
Particularly as organizations scale, the friction of coordinating people and teams can lead to dysfunction and frustration. Coordinating large groups across an array of time zones is impractical, which forces an all-remote team to not lean on the coordination crutch.
This empowers all-remote teams to make small changes and reduce cycle times. This leads to changes which are easier to provide feedback on (and roll back if needed).
Valuing iteration creates a climate where there is a low level of shame. This is extraordinarily difficult to replicate in large colocated settings, where perception is often reality and decisions are swayed by physical appearances. In all-remote companies, this reinforces that a person is not their work.
###
GitLab's Iteration value: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/values/#iteration
How a collection of values at GitLab contribute to an all-remote environment: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/values/
- 2 participants
- 4 minutes
