GitLab Learning & Development, 21 Oct 2020

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From YouTube: Monthly Continuous Learning Call 2020-10-21

Description

The Learning and Development team launched the first Monthly Continuous Learning Call to highlight all of the initiatives we have taking place within the learning and enablement space at GitLab

A

A

See everybody trickling in got about two minutes.

A

Can you all hear me, okay, try.

A

B

Looking forward to this yeah.

A

A

I'll start right on the dot.

A

A

All right, I will go ahead and kick things off. It is 10 a.m. Eastern standard time- and uh I just wanted to thank you all for taking the time to join our first ever all ever inaugural monthly, continuous learning call, and so I'm I'm here with jc and samantha lee, I'm josh zimmerman the learning and development partner here at get lab.

A

I'm joined with a number of folks from our enablement community as well, and we thought it would be a great idea to put together a monthly sort of regular call to highlight all of the learning and admit and development and enablement initiatives taking place at get lab. uh You know this is really an opportunity to reinforce our culture of learning here at gitlab, and this is an opportunity for you, as a gitlab community, to ask any questions related to professional development. You know growing your career.

A

What are we doing to upskill, team members, customers and partners in the broader community? So if you haven't had a chance, you know click on the slide, deck review it and take a look at the slides. Ask any questions that you may have related to the content and we are here to answer those.

A

So I don't see any questions yet I'm assuming we're all looking through the slides so.

B

Thanks for for kicking this off and to all of you in lnd and yeah, just curious as to, if you could maybe talk us through how you know, l d collaborates with sales, enablement and and other groups to give an overview of how connected it is.

A

No great question carol, um so, if you think of there's an organizational chart in there um in the slide deck and really like ellen d, jc myself and samantha work kind of more on the people side of the house and david and christina yoshida are focused more on field enablement and professional services, enabling our customers and partners and sellers to be able to sell and to fulfill the needs of that community. So we work with them to provide sort of organization, wide learning initiatives that will be applicable to their audiences.

A

That they're serving I know with david we're collaborating pretty heavily with him on developing an effective communication course as well, as you know, rolling out the manager training to to the sales audience as well, david. Anything to add there.

C

Yeah monthly sinks and actually more frequent informal communications just to look at yeah aligning our efforts. um Yet the uh another key element of collaboration is with our new learning experience platform. So there's some information in the deck there. So that's a cross-functional team effort, yeah with lots of folks at gitlab. Helping to you know how can we implement how how we will implement a learning experience platform that complements our handbook? First approach to learning and development.

B

Yeah great, thank you.

C

Thanks carol thanks a question.

A

Tim, I see you have a question as well.

D

Hey josh, hey tim, how are you today, sir good? How are you doing good? Thank you um slide number. Seven, the take time to learn which I love. I applaud. I think it's awesome. It's a little bit like my own personal initiative to take time to read books uh for for fun and other.

D

um It looks like it's hinging a little bit on focus friday and I I don't want to speak for the entire sales org, I'm not equipped, uh but I will tell you that at least at a sort of an enterprise west team that I get a chance to work with and support I've sort of seen that I thought focus fridays were um pushed through the end of the summer as a bit of a pilot under the cro organization, and I'm wondering if you know differently, if we've actually kept those or if that's more, of a corporate initiative now, but I can say I will confess that my fridays are no longer terribly focused, um wanted to get some feedback or thoughts from you sure.

A

Yeah so um carol feel free to add on this on the corporate level, but I think we're going to continue that initiative. Organization-Wide.

B

Yes, um um we did decide and I'm just wondering what communication we did on it now that we will go through the end of the year, so uh thanks tim for bringing that up and- and um I'm just gonna quickly check it here,.

D

Was there an end of summer pilot or was that.

B

You're right there was, we said we'd, we were gonna, do it during the summer and then think back as to how we, thanks to how how it went and then it was decided that we would go through the end of the year from memory dave. You have to let you've put in a link. Is that what it's do.

C

Yes, um we shared screen, that's right, so I included a link I'll put that in the uh agenda doc as well, but um yeah. The update was extending it through, as carolyn mentioned through the end of this calendar year for focus friday, so not just summer.

A

Yeah and they take time out to learn campaign- it's it's really. You know it's! It's really a proactive approach to just blocking time on your calendar to build new skills. You know, I think I get lab. We get so busy with our day-to-day roles. That sometimes we forget that hey. Maybe we need to take a course or learn a new skill to develop our ourselves professionally. So.

D

Love it thanks for the help cool thanks, tim.

E

I love the deck. It looks great that I'm all about aesthetics and how it's put together so lucy and josh great great putting that together, quick question for you, both one of you or whomever, wants to answer having had participated in the managers pilot just curious. I know that there's another session coming up in january.

E

Are you going to at some point open that up to be company wide, or will you continue to do just sessions.

A

Yeah, so I think, um love to open it up company wide. I know there's some specific audiences that are requesting for the manager training. Specifically, I know finance and sales.

A

You know want an iteration of it, but I think you know opening it up organization wide if you're interested in taking part in the january second iteration uh feel free to, I think, there's an issue in the deck you can click on and sign up. You know this was the first time we've ever done any formalized. You know, manager, enablement, training at get lab, and you know we're.

B

A

The current program, but I think, there's a lot you can learn. You know during the session as well, so.

E

It was great I did. I thought it was very well put together as well.

A

Awesome thanks guys.

A

um I see a question in there with no name on it regarding cloud environments,.

F

Yeah, that was uh sorry about the noise.

F

A

Brooklyn, for you.

F

Just wondering if um so, there's some gadlabbers that have significant experience with different technologies. Like I see darwin here and I've been on calls with darwin he's awesome when it comes to uh certain technologies. I was wondering if there's like a a formal way to transfer that knowledge or share that knowledge across um other roles or other kid levers. Is there a platform where this could happen.

A

Yeah, I know that that's a great question and and um so we're implementing a learning experience platform uh over the next couple of months here at get lab, and that's really going to be an opportunity for all team members to be able to develop. You know self-service learning, content that is handbook first, so one of our roles within the corporate lnd space is to enable you know all team members to develop courses uh that are applicable for the broader community.

A

So if there's you know around this topic specifically, if you want to partner with us to develop a course develop a handbook page that we can get out to the broader community and feature on the lxp as well as in the handbook. You know we can work with you to do that. I think you know, as we shift to this, you know learning culture here at gitlab. We really want to enable everybody to contribute to learning, not just for us internally, but also externally as well.

A

So I think, there's an l d request template in there. I can. We can link it for you.

C

Yeah and I'll just also add alejandro the um is more informal, but the the attempt or the uh the intention of the customer's success, the cs skills exchange is, is some of that right, sharing expertise and best practices of the community of customer success. uh Surely an opportunity to formalize that a bit more so I'll. Take that as an action item to follow up with uh chris reynolds on our team to look at what else we might have, or what's on the horizon, that aligns with what you're suggesting there.

F

Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah.

C

A

Great thanks for all the questions these are. These are awesome. um Darwin you got the next one. There.

G

uh I just wanted to note um I I did my own highly technical courses for about well for quite a while as a a solo entrepreneur, and then I've been involved in pluralsight's editorial process and there's things that in the area of e-learning, that so far a lot of our materials do not comply with that are really about engagement and they're, they're, hyper, obsessive about drop-off statistics and e-learning content.

G

So I'm just wondering if we're going to put together like editorial guidelines for content creators, especially if it's like reusable in a portal or usable by customers.

G

I think it might be really important, especially if we don't have the capacity there to have drop-off stats. I guess that's the question: does edx have drop off statistic tracking? So you know when people don't stay engaged for a whole course or even a whole. Video.

A

Yeah, I I believe so I think, there's there's there are those reporting uh drop off statistics on the back end management of webcasts, and I think too, just with rolling out an organizational-wide learning platform.

A

You know we need to make sure that all courses, all content, have a have a similar look and feel team members, customers partners, just the broader community. I think that's a big.

G

Yeah, this isn't branding it's actually engagement, so um it was hard even as an experienced instructor going through their editorial education and onboarding and then having the third party critiquing of your content.

G

um It was challenging, so um I think it's important to target more than anything uh audience engagement, because tldr happens with video as well right, so it doesn't magically overcome tldr, because it's video too long did not read for anyone. Who's not familiar with the acronym.

G

A

You have a a link or anything any any background in terms of that editorial, I.

G

Can give you I can give you the highest level overview in like one sentence. Progressive, uh um progressive disclosure is what differentiates mobile apps from those old nasty desktop apps, where there's 5 000 choices on one screen and training needs to have progressive disclosure. So in technical training we have frequently have very complicated diagrams. That must actually be viewed as a complete thing at the end in order for you to get it, but it should not be thrown on the screen that way.

G

This is like the number one principle there's a whole bunch of other stuff, but taking the time to animate it so that you unpack the story retain control. The narrative will both increase attention, engagement and on long-term understanding as well. So we can't get away from complex, visuals and technical training, but we can um make progressively reveal them um when we deliver, and that was the big thing at pluralsight too, is.

G

If you didn't have movement on the screen every 30 seconds approximately, then you were going to be asked to redo the content and no head no head. No heads moving heads are necessary in videos and it's actually kind of distracting.

H

It doesn't substitute.

G

For proper progressiveness of the content, um but yes I can, I can definitely be resource. I don't want to take too much more time in the meeting, but I can definitely be a resource in in helping within the you know, both the neurological aspects of uh training formulation and how to keep an audience engaged when you're not in a live context. For sure.

A

Yeah, no, that would be great. I think I put a link in the hand in the chat as well. Just on our you know. This is kind of spearheaded by david summers organization, but a handbook first approach to interactive content and that's really up leveling. You know our our ways of how we engage the community with our learning content to make it more interactive, because you know standalone text handbook reading the handbook. Sometimes that's not the that's, not how everybody learns right so making things a little bit more engaging for.

G

Everybody yeah, the only qualifier I'd add, is that an average content creator who knows how to use slide software can animate it and get to that level quite easily. As soon as you get into interactivity authoring now you need someone a lot more skills to get there and to know how to pedagogically, formulate it correctly, but just getting it so you say: hey you got this great big diagram. All we need you to do is to unpack it visually as well as audibly that that I can put together enablement session on how to quickly animate.

G

You know a big visual, um but interactivity is great as well when people need it, but that it's that makes it that that's the authoring level, where you kind of go off a cliff as far as authoring skills required to do that from our greater community of say, technical enablers, people who like to do this kind of thing.

F

What is it called darwin? Is it program? What did you say progressive what.

G

So uh it's called progressive disclosure, it's hard to find, if you, if you, if you, google, cognitive load and um training or anything, I I'm actually. I was just yesterday trying to piece this together because of something else that hit my radar but um basically progressive disclosure.

G

You have to go through the reasoning that in technology we can't avoid complex visuals as soon as you put up a complex visual everybody's cognitive load, pegs, they stop listening to you because you can't avoid trying to make sense of what's in front of you.

G

So all all the presenter has to do is take control of the narrative by only putting on the screen what they want to talk about and building out that final, visual um and so cognitive loads. Another concept: you can google to find out more about this, and then I found a really good article that talked about different kinds of illustrations and how they have promising and non-promising e-learning potential.

A

No, that's really, that's really helpful. I think uh we'll I'd love to set up the time with you just to learn. More of you know your background and kind of how we confuse that into the broader learning content here at gitlab.

G

Yeah and a lot of the positive feedback, I've gotten is not because of the greatness of what I'm saying. It's just that one aspect it's kind of like if you're in photography, you get great lenses and people start complimenting your your photography and you're like well. It's the lens awesome.

A

Thanks darren.

C

We have really good input and darwin, if there's um to help it make it tangible. If there's a specific example that comes to mind is like hey, if you just did a few of these things differently, totally open to suggestions and absolutely agree that there's opportunity to make things more consumable and easier to digest.

G

Yeah- and I would just suggest like pluralsight's editorial gate is hardcore. It doesn't need to be that hardcore, but I'd say that stuff that goes into this new learning system should not be like unfiltered. I make something, and I upload it if you want it to stand out and be distinguished.

G

The other thing, too, is that learning cycle in the current um powerpoint doesn't acknowledge the fact that when content is e-learning, people can come back and do phase one two and then go straight to six again and again, because you've got it online. It's one of the powers of video training over classroom training is, you can just go watch just a bit and then go straight to practice uh long after you take a course right. So if you construct it correctly, it'll be very uh highly usable that way.

G

So I I would the first thing I'd say is start talking about a gate, an editorial gating system, to getting content into this new system, and it doesn't have to be arduous or horrible, but not just anybody. Uploads.

F

G

F

G

A

A great suggestion.

A

Monica do you want to ask the next one there.

H

Yeah yeah, thank you. um So I was, I was just looking through the deck I slide. Eight is really interesting, like the gitlab learner experience and that like 70 2010 breakdown, um so I was just curious if you could just elaborate a little bit more on that and like kind of in you know, in a put it to practice way of like how. How would you you know an ideal way? How should get lab team members really embrace that that ratio in their day-to-day work.

A

Yeah, no thanks for the question, so the intention of this slide is is to show that you know just because you're, not in a formal learning event like a training or like a virtual class or taking like an e-learning, doesn't mean you're, not learning something you know, and I think at gitlab, because we have this culture of continuous learning, we're learning all the time we wanted to show like a breakdown of the majority of your the things that you're going to learn are going to happen.

A

You know on the job working with others, your day-to-day role and I think getting out of the mindset that hey learning has to happen in a classroom or taking a self-service course.

A

That's not when learning occurs, all the time, so learning happens every day every hour, especially at gitlab, just because we move so fast, and I think when you implement it into your day-to-day role, you know when you're thinking about upskilling your skills being able to say. Oh, you know what I took part in an ama to learn new something new, just taking a tally of all those events that you've been a part of throughout your time. Here.

H

Awesome. Thank you. Yeah.

A

Awesome lorna next question: there.

I

Thank you josh, and thank you both for doing this. I just love that the focus on learning is amped up since you joined the team and just kind of piggybacking on what david summers and team has already implemented. So my question is a follow-up to monica's question about learning styles. I love slide 8. It's great love to see that, but I'm wondering are we going to flush this out further in terms of looking into cultural learning, styles learning by gender or anything like that.

A

Yeah, I definitely, I definitely think so. I think you know the cultural aspect as well as like generational as well. You know, I think you know I'm a millennial. I might learn differently than somebody who's. You know maybe been in the workforce. Much longer, I think, applying those different threads to our learning content majority of our the way we learn things at gitlab is very like text based right. It's in the handbook. The handbook is the primary method, but not everybody learns new skills that way.

A

So I think we should take a lens of cultural and different learning. Styles generational and apply that to learn new learning content at gitlab. So all.

I

A

I think that's that would be the next iteration there.

I

Okay, I was just gonna say.

A

Timeline wise but yeah. The next.

I

Iteration okay, great to hear thanks john.

A

And I think we're already kind of doing that a little bit just through like some introductions of new animation videos, micro learning bringing in the lxp which will allow team members to access learning on their own time. um So I think we're starting to do that. A little bit great thanks, josh, thanks lorna. I know we got four minutes left. I want to keep everybody on time there.

A

So darwin! I see you got another question there.

G

Yeah I'll be brief. Just um I find that sales meetings are not marketing. We use, we tend to use marketing materials which are uh for the slides that we use in sales meetings, but I really feel they're learning engagements, because we have a small group wanting to learn more peel back the covers, and so, and especially you can't in a demo, easily show the overarching processes of all the pieces.

G

You're demoing, so I use short, small, slides or not slides that are animated to unpack these processes, and it seems to really help a lot versus using some of the more static marketing materials.

G

So I just wanted to say that I think this effort could also extend to there to him to imply or to assert if it's you know if it's found to be true, assert that um those those situations should have a learning materials focus. An engagement like a video, as opposed to the kind of stuff that we put on the marketing site, which does not neces, does not necessarily have to have the same level of interactivity or engagement uh management, so to speak.

A

Yeah, no, I definitely agree I. I would love to see too any examples that you may have in terms of you know those sort of bite, size, slide, content just to deliver information and a new and engaging way. So I think that's a great a great call out.

A

Awesome any more questions. There, we've got three minutes left.

A

All right: well, if you have any sort of there's anything you want to talk about, and you know maybe in the next l d, continuous learning call feel free to reach out to us. We can, we can add it to the agenda and you know be a sponsor of learning at getlab if you want to learn more, join the learning and development channel and contribute so really appreciate you all joining us this morning,.

H

Bye. Thank you. Thanks, erin.