►
Description
Sid (co-founder and CEO) and Josh (Learning & Development) discuss GitLab's sub-value, a bias for asynchronous communication, which is part of our Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging value.
Learn more about Embracing Asynchronous Communication: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/asynchronous/
Learn more about GitLab's Bias towards Async Communication: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/values/#bias-towards-asynchronous-communication
A list of Topics Covered:
1. Why Async Communication
2. Importance of Documentation
3. Recording Meetings
4. When to Decline a Meeting
5. Managers Tips to Enable Async Work
6. Reinforcing our Bias Towards Async
A
Hi
everyone,
I'm
josh
from
get
lab
learning
development
and
I'm
here
with
sid,
get
lab
ceo
and
co-founder,
and
today
we're
going
to
be
talking
about
a
bias
for
asynchronous
communication,
which
is
the
sub
value
of
our
diversity,
inclusion
and
belonging
value,
and
this
is
a
topic.
We've
been
hearing
a
lot
throughout
the
organization
from
team
members,
whether
it's
around
you
know,
meeting
loads,
increasing
documentation
recordings,
creating
the
issue
or
merge
requests.
A
B
B
I
think
time
zones.
I
think
time
zones
is
the
biggest
thing
like
we,
we
haven't
been
able
to
solve
it's
the
end
of
distance
distance,
doesn't
matter
but
sleep
patterns
matter,
and
you
don't
want
to
be
asleep
when
the
world
is
noisy,
you
expect
you,
your
family
is
up
and-
and
it's
super
bright
so
time
zones
really
matter.
You
have
to
be
in
sync
with
your
local
community,
and
that
means
you're
not
in
sync,
with
team
members
in
different
time
zones,
so
that
that
is
the
hardest
thing
to
make.
A
That's
great
yeah
time
zones
seems
very
critical,
especially
for
a
global
organization
that
operates
in
65.
You
know,
plus
countries,
there's
a
lot
of
time
zones
in
there
that
you
need
to
account
for
in
asynchronous
communication.
Is
it's
really
pivotal
to
enabling
a
strong,
remote
organization
yeah?
A
B
B
B
Every
time
you
have
a
meeting
like
there's
a
chance
of
overlap
and
having
to
make
having
to
make
a
trade-off
between
what
you're
gonna
do
and
so
the
more
we
can
prevent
that,
the
more
we
kind
of
allow
everyone
to
be
at
the
table
because
the
table
like
you,
don't
have
to
be
at
the
table
at
a
certain
time.
It's
async.
B
Now
the
the
end
of
distance
helps,
but
I
I
think
what
we
also
want
is
overcome
time
zones
and
and
allow
people
from
other
time
zones
and
overcome
kind
of
scheduling
and
other
priorities
in
life,
all
the
work
meetings
but,
more
importantly,
the
responsibilities
we
have
outside
of
work.
So
that's
why
it's
a
new
inclusion.
A
A
You
know,
and
I-
and
I
also
think
too
just
you
know
on
this
similar
thread.
You
know,
I
think
one
thing
I
learned
at
gitlab
really
fast
was
that
you
have
to
make
sure
every
meeting
is
recorded
and
either
posted
in
the
handbook
or
on
our
gitlab.
You
know
youtube
unfiltered
page
and
I'm
curious.
You
know.
When
did
you
learn
that
this
was
the
right
approach
to
enabling
async
work
as
we
grew,
and
why.
B
Yeah
and
the
best
thing
is
to
not
have
the
meeting:
that's
the
most
async,
but
if
you
have
the
meeting,
there's
there's
gonna
be
people
who
can't
attend,
and
even
if
everyone
who
you
invite,
is
able
to
join
the
meeting
during
the
meeting,
you
might
discuss
something
that
might
be
interesting
for
someone
who's
not
here
and
it's
it's
it's
near
impossible
to
determine
that
up
front.
So
the
the
best
thing
to
do
is
just
record.
It
publish
it,
and
people
can
figure
out
what
they
pay.
A
Yeah,
I
think
it's
really
amazing
that
we
record
everything
I
remember
we
can
anybody
could
watch
any
recording
about
any
meeting
happening
at
get
lab
and
it's
almost
there's
there's
so
much
out
there
that
you
could
do
a
case
study
on
just
how
all
remote
company
works
and
operates
just
by
looking
at
our
youtube
page-
and
you
know
dissecting
every
meeting
that's
been
on
there.
It's
very.
B
A
Yeah
yeah
there's,
there's
probably
a
few
out
there
that
are
pretty
pretty
tiring.
So
you
know
I'm
curious
to
I.
You
know.
I
remember
I
remember
at
my
previous
company
and
I
keep
talking
about
life
before
get
lab,
because
it's
so
different
than
what
I've
done
before
and
I'm
sure.
Like
a
lot
of
team
members,
there
was
a
culture
that
the
lowest
person
on
the
totem
pole
would
take
notes
during
meetings,
and
there
was
this
sort
of
feeling
of.
I
don't
know
I
I
guess
entitlement
with
those
that
didn't
like.
A
B
I
think
what
people
sometimes
forget
is
the
person
who
writes
down
what
the
notes
has
the
most
control
like
if
you're
you're,
if
you're,
if
you're
like,
for
example
in
in
in
other
meetings
like
if
you
take
the
notes
of
what
happened
and
what
the
follow-ups
are.
You
have
a
lot
of
ability
to
shape
the
outcome
of
things
and
then
the
final
reason
of
like
everyone
having
a
cursor
and
everyone
participating
is
that
is
the
handover.
What
is
very
hard
in
video
calls
is
like
who
speaks
next.
B
We
humans
are
really
good,
but
like
the
300,
millisecond
500
millisecond,
delay
of
zoom
messes.
All
of
that
up
and
with
that
we
can
just
have
the
question
and
we
go
by
the
order
of
people
putting
points
in,
and
I
think
that's
working
amazingly
well,
but
also,
I
think
it's
an
inclusive
thing.
The
the
loudest
voice
doesn't
necessarily
get
the
next
word.
Everyone
has
a
chance
to
kind
of
think
about
what
they're
going
to
say,
put
it
in
there
and
get
get
the
ability
to
verbalize
it.
A
A
Time
to
see
what
was
covered,
so
you
know
I
I'd.
Imagine
too,
like
as
as
ceo
you,
you
probably
have
more
meetings
than
anybody
else
in
the
in
the
company,
and
I
I
think
one
thing
we've
heard
throughout
the
organization
is
that
meeting
loads
have
increased,
and
you
know
this
could
be
a
result
of
previous
organizational
cultures
where
meetings
were
in
favor
of
documentation
or
maybe
some
other
factors,
maybe
covet
19
is
playing
a
role
or
some
business
stresses
that
we
have
internally.
A
B
That
also
has
to
happen,
and
it's
absolutely
okay,
if
you
ask
someone
who
mentions
your
name
to
repeat
the
question
of
what
they
were
saying
schedule
the
meeting
only
if
like
async
didn't
work
like
you,
have
back
and
forth
and
you're
going
so
much
back
and
forth
that
it's
just
more
efficient
to
be
in
a
meeting,
but
don't
like
don't
go
to
the
don't,
don't
have
the
meeting
as
a
first
measure.
Don't
schedule,
meetings
to
brainstorm.
B
A
Yeah,
those
are,
those
are
great
tips.
I
think
I
think
zoom
fatigue
is
a
very
real
thing,
but
I
think
every
team
member
has
a
responsibility
to
you
know
attend
the
meetings
that
they
need
to
attend
to
because
they're
all
optional-
and
you
know
it's
okay
to
multitask.
That's
the
culture
that
we
want
here
at
gitlab,
it's
okay,
not
to
pay
attention,
it's
okay,
to
be
working
on
something
else,
and
it's
okay
to
ask
questions.
If
you
need
follow-up
during
a
meeting,
that's
that's
what
we
really
want
to
reinforce
for
sure.
A
So
I'm
curious,
you
know,
loss
of
the
values
that
bind
us
is
one
of
our
biggest
risks,
and
you
know
I
I
see
losing
our
bias
for
async
asynchronous
communication
as
a
potential
contributor
to
the
loss
of
values
that
bind
us,
especially
if
managers
do
not
reinforce
the
practice
with
their
people.
You
know,
managers
are
our
role
models
within
gitlab.
A
A
A
B
Yeah
speak
up
refer
to
our
page,
about
being
a
working
async
and
the
time
to
speak
up
is
when
someone
proposes
a
meeting
when
someone
sends
an
invite
for
a
meeting
at
the
beginning
of
the
meeting
question
whether
it
should
be
a
meeting
in
the
meeting.
At
the
end
of
the
meeting
conclude
that
this
didn't
have
to
be
a
meeting
and
then
the
next,
the
next
one
can
be
cancelled
and
we're
also
starting
to
we'll
institute
meeting
deletion
days.
A
Yeah,
no,
that's,
that's
that's.
I
think
I
think
it
goes
back
to
the
role
model
police.
I
think
with
the
bias
for
async,
asynchronous
communication
and
all
of
our
other
values.
It's
really
about
each
team
member
has
a
responsibility
to
live
them
in
their
day-to-day
role,
and
you
know,
have
you
thought
about
any
new
ways
to
reinforce
our
bias
for
asynchronous
communication.
B
B
If
you
make
things
small,
then
you
can
do
them
without
coordinating
with
a
ton
of
people,
because
even
if
you're
not
going
in
the
direction,
that
is
ideal.
You
can
remedy
that
in
the
next
situation.
So
I
see
a
lot
of
things
that
are
bigger
than
they
should
be.
People
are
trying
to
do
more,
but
because
they're
doing
that
they
need
to
coordinate
with
more
people.
So
if
you
made
it
smaller,
you
could
just
do
it.
B
A
Yeah,
that's
that's
a
great
that's
great
tips.
I
I
think
I'm
I'm
thinking
of
my
own
experience
and
I
I
know
there's
a
couple
of
l
d
programs
where
maybe
we
launched
them
a
little
bit
too
big
initially
and
they
should
have
been
a
little
bit
smaller
and
we
should
have
tested
it
more
and
we
should
have
gotten
more
feedback
and
slowly
iterated
it.
So
I
think
the
concept
of
iteration.
It
applies
to
everything
we
do
at
get
lab,
including.
B
B
Yeah,
it's
it's
it's
so
hard
because
we
we
have
very
ambitious
people
working
at
gitlab
and
they
have
a
big
plan
and
that's
great,
but
you
have
to
go
from
wow.
This
is
my
big
plan
to
this
is,
but
I'm
not
going
to
ship
it
all
at
once.
I'm
going
to
ship
it
in
iterations
and
that
step
is,
is
we're
the
best
in
the
world
at
that,
but
it's
not
intuitive
and
it's
something
we
all
have
to
learn
and
we
all
have
to
keep
each
other
sharp
about
that.
B
A
A
So
you
know,
I
think.
Lastly,
you
know
how
we
kind
of
covered
this
a
little
bit
throughout
the
discussion,
but
I'd
love
to
hear
your
thoughts
around.
How
would
you
recommend
a
team
member
propose
new
ways
to
reinforce
this
sub
value?
Would
it
be
an
mr
to
the
communication
plage,
the
the
values
embracing
asynchronous
communication,
yeah.