►
From YouTube: Importance of a handbook-first approach to documentation and tips for transitioning to remote
Description
Darren (Head of Remote, GitLab) and Gabe (Senior Product Manager, GitLab) talk on the topic of going slow to go fast, as well as the importance of a "handbook-first" approach to companywide documentation.
They also dive into hiring/recruiting/interviewing, company culture, if it's possible for colocated or hybrid-remote companies to embrace documentation mid-stream, and offer tips for transitioning to a fully remote structure.
###
Other topics discussed:
GitLab's handbook-first approach: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/handbook-usage/#why-handbook-first
What's it like to work at GitLab? https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/faq/#whats-it-like-to-work-at-gitlab
Scaling by documenting: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/management/#scaling-by-documenting
Considerations for transitioning a company to remote: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/transition/
Asynchronous communication: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/management/#asynchronous
Adopting a self-service and self-learning mentality: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/self-service/
All-remote meetings: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/meetings/
People: adopting a remote lifestyle: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/people/
Getting started in a remote role: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/getting-started/
All-remote hiring: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/hiring/
All-remote jobs: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/jobs/
All-remote benefits: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/benefits/
GitLab Onboarding: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/general-onboarding/
GitLab Onboarding Buddies: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/general-onboarding/onboarding-buddies/
###
Learn more about GitLab's all-remote culture and processes: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/
Submit your own questions for a Pick Your Brain with GitLab: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/pick-your-brain/
A
What's
up
everybody,
this
is
darren
head
of
remote,
ed,
gitlab
and
today,
I'm
being
joined
by
gabe,
also
at
get
lab
and
we're
gonna
talk
about
going
slow
to
go
fast
in
the
context
of
documentation,
handbook
first
recording
things
to
contextualize
and
operate
in
a
remote
setting,
so,
first
of
all
Gabe.
Thank
you
very
much
for
joining
me
now.
A
So
look
I
want
to
start
out
by
talking
about
the
importance
of
documentation
and
handbook.
First,
so
I
get
lab.
We
try
to
live
handbook.
First,
our
handbook
is
publicly
accessible
to
anyone.
It's
over
3,000
pages.
If
you
were
printed
out
and
it
was
not
always
3,000
pages,
it
took
a
lot
of
diligence
and
intentionality
from
people
over
the
years
to
build
it
and
evolve
it.
A
A
We
need
this
handbook
to
kind
of
be
the
North
Star
and
a
source
of
truth
for
the
company,
but
I've
heard
that
you
have
an
experience
that
you'd
like
to
share
on
the
importance
of
it
and
kind
of
the
pros
and
cons
of
doing
it
and
living
handbook
first,
and
not
with
also
some
structure
around
coming
from
a
co-located
setting
to
a
hybrid
setting
transitioning
to
all
remote.
So
where
ever
you
want
to
go
with
it,
go
for
it
and
we'll
get
started.
Sure.
B
Yeah
at
my
previous
company,
we
weren't
definite
not
as
big
as
gate
lab.
We
were
only
35
percent
people,
but
we
we
had
an
office
centrally
located,
but
we
were
a
remote
first
or
attempted
to
be
in
a
sense
of
2/3
of
our
team
was
disturb
us,
the
four
time
zones
in
the
continental
United
States,
and
we
kind
of
had
that
restriction
just
because
of
the
nature
of
our
clients
and
where
we
did
business
most
more
in
the
u.s..
B
So
it's
as
people
work
in
the
US
across
time
zones,
but
the
interesting
thing
is,
as
you
start
to
grow
it
as
you
start
to
scale.
How
do
you?
How
do
you
keep
everybody
in
sync
where
if
you
have
people
in
a
centralized
office,
but
then
you
have
a
bunch
of
people
spread
out?
How
do
you
share
context
appropriately
and
I?
Think
that's
where
at
one
point
is
we
started
to
hire
more
and
more
remote
people?
B
We
needed
a
way
to
try
to
keep
everybody
else
in
page,
and
so
we
came
up
with
the
idea
of
like
hey,
let's
use
that
we
didn't
call
a
handbook
at
the
time,
but
let's
do
a
github
repo
and
let's
use
github
pages
and
let's
like
put
everything
in
version
control
in
terms
of
process
policies.
How
we
worked,
how
we
operated
to
codify
it
to
make
sure
that
everybody
could
contribute
to
it.
And
it
was
really
challenging.
I.
B
Think
some
of
the
more
engineering
heavy
teams
bought
into
it
and
really
enjoyed
that
because
they
were
familiar
with
the
process
of
using
it
using
version
control.
But
the
non-technical
roles
within
the
organization
really
struggled
and
didn't
enjoy
documenting
things
and
I
think
it
kind
of
goes
to
different
jobs,
required
different
skills
and
different
talents.
And
for
folks
that
are,
you
know,
doing
sales
and
marketing.
It's
very
relational
and
it's
hard
to
get
them
just
slowed
down
enough
to
document
things,
and
we
kind
of
found
like
without
doing
that.
B
A
So
what
what
held
people
up
from
from
documenting
it
was
that
was
it
was
the
quote,
always
that
we
don't
have
time
or
we
just
aren't
skilled
in
documenting
we
weren't
skilled
in
storytelling
or
contextualizing
I'm,
trying
to
figure
out
if
it
was
like
a
communication
barrier
or
something
that
could
be
taught
or
if
it
was
more
of
a
mindset
that
I'm
just
not
going
to
take
time
to
do
this
in
my
Bay
I.
Think.
B
It
was
a
combination
of
things,
I
think
one.
The
approach
that
we
took
of
how
to
do
it
using
github
or
using
version
control,
definitely
was
a
barrier
for
the
non-technical
folks.
They
they
didn't
know
how
to
use
git.
They
didn't
understand
how
to
like
just
how
any
of
it
worked.
Even
if
we
wrote
up
an
instruction
guide
of
how
to
do
it
entirely
within
like
the
UI
of
github,
I'm,
sorry,
kid
laughs.
Was
it
big
enough?
B
We
made
a
mistake
there,
but
we
even
wrote
like
documentation
on
how
to
do
that
for
a
non
technical
way
using
just
the
interface
and
we
had
gifs
and
we
had
everything,
and
so
it's
still
like
the
feedback
was
like.
That's
too
many
steps
like
it's
just
too
overwhelming
and
I
think
it
was
too
overwhelming
for
people
to
think
that
it
was
an
approachable
solution,
and
so
a
lot
of
people
you
know,
would
try
to
do
things
in
Google
Docs.
But
then
discoverability
became
a
problem
and
how
things
were
organized.
B
You
know
nobody
ended
up
keeping
things
up
to
date,
and
so
we
also
tried
a
tool
called
guru
which
is
kind
of
more
card
based.
You
know
like
boards
of
cards
and
then
cards
have
owners
and
they
have
to
be
verified
every
you
know
three
months
or
so
to
make
sure
that
the
consequence
will
be
trusted,
but
people
don't
don't
want
to
do
that
it.
B
So
it's
almost
like
they
don't
think
that
it's
valuable
I
think
that
was
the
big
thing
like
making
the
time
investment
to
learn
how
to
do
it
didn't
translate
to
return
value
over
the
long
run
and
I.
Think
that's
the
other
side
of
it
is
where
a
lot
of
people
don't
think
in
terms
of
systems
in
terms
of
processes
process
can
have
a
negative
kind
of
connotation.
B
A
lot
of
organizations
is
like
it's
too
heavy,
and
but
the
thing
is,
is
you
can't
improve
anything
unless
you
have
a
document
at
starting
point
to
improve
from
right?
So,
unless
you're
doing
something
consistently
you
you
can't
ever
know
what
variable
it
is
that
you
need
to
change,
to
improve
a
given
process
and
for
people.
They
don't
think
like
that.
They're,
inherently
not
going
to
see
the
value
and
kind
of
doing
handbook,
person,
type
brochures,
yeah.
A
That
makes
sense
we
we
have
documentation
in
the
handbook
that
actually
outlines
the
concept
of
paying
it
forward
by
documenting
and
one
of
the
one
of
the
elements
of
that
is.
If
you
ask
a
question
and
someone
on
the
team
helps,
you
discover
a
solution
and
that
question
has
not
been
documented
and
the
answer
has
not
been
documented
before
this
was
agreed
upon.
Then
you
take
this
step
to
actually
document
that
solution,
such
that
anyone
that
comes
after
you
or
even
currently
on
the
team
that
has
that
same
question.
A
If
they
go
search
in
the
handbook,
they
didn't
discover
that
solution
so
without
having
to
tap
someone
on
the
shoulder
without
having
to
interrupt
anyone
elses
day,
they're
able
to
just
find
and
act
upon
that
solution.
That
was
already
documented.
So
in
a
situation
like
that,
if
you're
ever
on
the
receiving
end
of
a
while
just
discovering
this
solution
that
I
was
searching
for
and
didn't
have
to
ask
anyone.
It
was
the
most
efficient
way
ever
to
find
this
answer.
A
My
thought
on
that
is,
it
encourages
you
and
inspires
you
to
want
to
pay
it
forward
and
give
back
such
that
hey
someone
that
I
don't
even
know
added
this
to
the
handbook,
and
it
benefited
me
so
in
my
day
to
day
task.
If
I
find
a
solution
to
something
that
hasn't
been
answered
before
I'm
gonna
try
to
document
it
such
that
I
can
help.
Someone
else.
Is
there?
Is
there
a
mechanism
for
kind
of
instilling
that
in
people?
A
B
I
think
anything
can
be
taught
and
anybody
can
learn
anything
humans
are
very
intelligent
beings
capable
of
doing
more
things
than
we
even
think
we
can
do
I
think
there
are
certain
personality
types
that
lend
themselves
naturally
to
thinking
in
that
and
for
those
that
aren't,
you
almost
have
to
start
from,
like
the
very
top.
It's
a
leadership
standpoint
of
an
organization
and
I
think
what
we've
done
they
KITT
laughs.
It's
been
really
successful.
Is
you
know,
within
our
values,
focusing
on
efficiency?
B
You
know
in
the
you
ask
a
question:
is
it
more
efficient
for
not
just
you
but
for
the
entire
company?
If
you
were
to
stop
and
pay
for
stop
and
make
it
an
update
to
the
handbook?
And
that's
where
I
think
you
know
in
our
values
page,
we
talk
a
lot
about
global,
optimization
over
locally
optimizing.
So
for
me
personally,
it's
slower
for
me
to
stop
and
do
it,
but
what
I'm?
B
What
you
don't
realize
is
that
by
doing
that,
I'm-
probably
saving
you
know
five
five
times
the
amount
of
time
down
the
road
for
everybody
else
which
is
going
to
make
the
organization
more
efficient
and
the
only
way
that
you
can
help
people
understand.
That
is
by
making
it
a
core
value
like
making
like
what.
What
is
important
for
you
in
an
organization
and
what
to
focus
on
is
not
getting
your
job
done.
B
B
So,
instead
of
rewarding
somebody
for
doing
great
just
at
their
one
thing,
look
at
how
they
helped
improve
the
entire
company
and
look
at
how
they
thought
about
the
big
picture
because
doing
that
will
enable
a
then
if
everybody
is
doing
that,
it
will
make
everybody
able
to
do
their
own
job.
Much
more
efficient,
too.
So
I
think
like
focusing
big
and
building
reinforcing
feedback
loops
into
that.
In
terms
of
how
you
praise
people,
how
you
reward,
people
is
a
great
way
that
you
can
instill
that
in
kind
of
the
culture
it's.
A
A
great
point,
I
feel
like
things
that
get
measured
get
done,
and
so,
if
you
measure
someone's
contributions
to
the
handbook
which
I
get
lab,
we
can
we
have
contribution
graphs
where
it's
pretty
easy
to
see
what
has
been
contributed
to
the
handbook.
If
that
is
measured,
just
like
any
other
metric,
then
I
feel
like
it
will
encourage
people
to
do
it
or
it
signals
from
the
top
that
it's
important
it's
as
important
as
any
other
thing
that
is
measured.
A
A
If
they
were
to
stand
one
up
using
gitlab
or
something
like
ask,
Almanac
or
train
you
all
or
you'd
mention
guru,
is
it?
Is
it
possible
that
it's
sort
of
like
midstream
make
that
a
core
value?
I
guess
that's!
That's
a
part
of
the
question
and
the
the
context
behind
that
is.
We
talk
to
companies
who
are
either
co-located
or
hybrid
and
they
want
to
transition
completely
out
of
the
office
and
they
want
to
go
fully
remote
and
they'll.
Ask
us:
how
do
we
do
that?
What
are
the
things
that
we
need
to
stand
up?
A
What
infrastructure
do
we
need
to
have
in
place?
What
do
we
need
to
know
about
communication
and
culture
to
do
this?
Well
and
inevitably,
I'll
say
you
need
to
focus
on
documentation.
Documentation
is
everything
when
you're
not
in
an
office.
People
need
to
be
able
to
go
to
a
central
repository
and
find
as
much
information
around
policies
and
solutions
as
they
possibly
can
and
to
prevent
complete
chaos
and
a
breakdown
of
communication.
But
then
my
next
thought
is
well.
A
How
do
I
encourage
them
to
document
if
they
didn't
start
documenting
from
the
from
the
start,
and
of
course,
you
can
just
start
with
one
policy
and
then
add
in
the
next
policy
and
then
add
the
next
and
that's
the
spirit
of
iteration
but
I
feel
like
it
needs
to
be
instilled
as
a
as
a
value
before
people
will
embrace
it.
Or
do
you
just
think
it's
outright
impossible,
I,
don't.
B
Think
it's
impossible.
I
think
it
has
to
be
instilled
as
a
value.
I
think
it
has
to
start
there
and
it
has
to
start
with
the
whole
leadership
team
in
an
organization
getting
on
board
so
like
in
our
in
our
case,
I
was
over
the
product
teams
and
we,
the
sales
marketing
side-
and
you
know
the
one
of
my
business
partners-
didn't
necessarily
see
the
value
in
it
and
he
was
for
the
sales
marketing
side.
B
And
then
you
have
like
from
the
very
bottom.
You
have
this
value
from
the
top
that
connects
everything
together.
So
it's
definitely
possible.
I
said
I
would
say
for
companies
that
want
to
transition
from
being
you
know,
co-located
to
fully
remote.
One
really
helpful
step
is
to
say
you
know:
intermediaries
be
like
we're,
gonna
be
remote
first,
so
it's
not
fully
remote
but
its
remote
first,
which
means
you
optimize
everything
in
your
office
space
to
be
remote
first.
B
So,
instead
of
optimizing
big
conference
rooms,
lots
of
tables-
you
have
everybody,
sit
in
their
own
office
and
they
were
headsets
all
day
like
that's
what
we
ended
up
doing,
because
a
lot
of
people
that
were
remote
felt
isolated
and
felt
that
we
did
things
differently
at
the
office
they
didn't
have
experience
with,
and
so
we
ended
up
putting
cameras
in
every
single
room.
People
could
jump
in,
they
could
livestream
in
any
room.
B
There
was
never
a
situation
in
which,
like
we
didn't
optimize
for
the
remote
experience
over
the
the
office,
experience
so
I
think
that's
one
step,
and
then
it's
definitely
possible
to
pick
it
up
midstream.
It
just
is
a
firm
commitment
and
it
takes
time
like
lots
of
time
and
lots
of
energy,
and
the
thing
is,
it
was
like
going
slow
to
go
fast,
lots
of
energy
up
front,
you
go
slow,
but
that
accelerates
things
dramatically.
You
know
a
year
down
the
road.
B
A
A
The
one
thing
I've
also
noticed
is
it
actually
is
self-serving
to
some
degree,
because
if
you
answer
that
question
in
the
form
of
documentation,
then
you
actually
buy
yourself
more
time
and
bandwidth
down
the
road,
because
if
you
are
asked
that
question
instead
of
having
to
really
berate
and
recontextualize,
you
can
just
answer
it
with
a
link.
So
if
you
can
get
people
to
understand
that
organizationally,
then,
like
everybody,
wants
more
time
in
their
day,
everybody
would
rather
spend
more
time
with
their
family
or
outside
of
work
and
by
adhering
the
documentation.
A
A
B
B
B
Good
cue
is:
if,
if
you
ask
questions
and
they're
they're
not
in
the
handbook,
then
that's
probably
pretty
good
indicator
that
you
may
not
be
handbook
first,
because
a
lot
of
times
I
get
to
the
point
where
I
can't
ask
a
question
that
isn't
in
the
handbook,
unless
it's
something
like
completely
different,
we
have
I
ever
thought
of
before
so
a
good
kind
of
going
back
to
what
you
said
before
it
was
like.
How
can
you
instill
this
in
a
company?
You
know
it's.
B
Maybe
midstream
just
make
the
decision
to
say
like
if
it's
not
in
the
handbook,
it's
not
true
and
there's
something
that
resonates
across
the
entire
organizations
like
well.
You
told
me
that
it
was
this
way,
but
the
handbook
says
it's
this
way.
So
I
am
gonna,
go
with
the
handbook
and
it
needs
to
change.
Then
you
should
change
the
handbook
because,
like
that's
the
real
source
of
truth,
not
like
a
contextual
conversation
that
gets
lost
in
the
ether
after
it's
over
so
yeah.
A
I
agree:
Gayla
thrives
on
having
a
single
source
of
truth,
and
it
is
actually
really
liberating
to
work
in
a
place
where,
if
there's
any
question,
just
go
back
to
the
handbook
and
if
it
is
decided
amongst
a
team
that
the
handbook
was
incorrect,
then
it's
on
the
team
to
correct
it
and
make
it
better.
It's
not
that
we
aren't
gonna
adhere
to
the
handbook.
It's
just
that
we're
going
to
make
the
iteration
to
the
handbook
to
make
it
right,
and
it's
funny.
A
But
the
utility
in
doing
the
interview
is
every
so
often
they'll
ask
a
question
that
actually
isn't
answered
or
they'll
ask
it
in
a
way
where
there's
added
context
and
the
answer.
But
the
funny
thing
about
the
loop
is
immediately
after
the
call
the
people
that
were
on
the
call
at
gate
lab
then
take
it
as
an
action
item
to
go
and
update
the
handbook,
with
whatever
context
that
they
added
such
that
if
they
were
ever
asked
the
ask
that
again
now
they
actually
could
answer
that
with
a
link.
A
So
that's
how
we
continually
iterate
and
evolve
the
handbook.
It's
sort
of
a
mission.
To
always
be
able
to
answer
with
a
link,
and
if
we
can't,
we
immediately
fix
it
in
the
handbook,
such
that
going
forward.
We
could,
on
the
recruiting
front,
I
completely
agree.
I
was
speaking
with
someone
recently
about
how
beneficial
it
is
for
gitlab
to
have
its
strategy
out
in
the
open,
its
handbook
out
in
the
open,
and
we
actually
added
a
section
of
the
jobs
FAQ.
A
So
something
very
very
early
on
before
you
even
apply,
if
you're
just
trying
to
figure
out
what
it's
like
to
work
here
and
actually
the
the
sub.
That
is
what
is
it
like
to
work
at
get
lab,
and
so
we
have
a
couple
of
key
paragraphs
there
that
kind
of
try
to
paint
the
overall
overarching
picture
of
the
culture
and
then
four
or
five
really
really
useful
links
that
I
feel
like.
A
Do
you
have
any
questions
about
the
company,
and
this
is
incredibly
an
incredibly
difficult
situation
to
be
in
because
the
truth
is
you
have
so
many
questions,
but
really
you
can
only
ask
one
or
two
and
then
you're
judged
on
what
those
one
or
two
are.
So
then
people
on
the
interview
side
will
will
say:
they'll
make
draw
conclusions
about
you,
based
on
whatever
the
questions
were,
but
it's
really.
B
A
Because,
honestly,
that
was
just
two
or
three
of
them,
like
thousand
that
you
have
yeah
so
by
putting
it
all
of
that
out
there
you're
you
enable
people
to
come
into
the
interview
process
way
more
informed
I
feel
like
it
allows
people
to
opt
in
and
self-select
into
the
gitlab
culture
and
the
way
we
work.
If
you
read
the
handbook
and
it's
appalling
and
you
think,
there's
no
way
I
could
ever
work
in
that
environment.
A
It
saves
you
the
trouble
and
so
people
that
get-get
down
the
interview
funnel
they're
there,
because
they
want
to
be
in
there.
They
shouldn't
be
surprised
when
we
get
people
in
that
actually
are
surprised.
We
immediately
take
action
on
that
and
try
to
figure
out
what
was
the
gap
in
onboarding,
and
how
can
we
fill
that
so
that
no
one
else
has
that
issue
I.
Think.
B
It
also
helps
a
lot
from
a
recruiting
standpoint
in
the
interview
selection
process,
like
I
found
it
really
interesting
when
I'm
talking
to
candidates-
and
you
know
one
of
the
questions
that
asked
sometimes
is
like
what
should
the
get
lab
values?
Is
your
favorite?
You
know,
and
sometimes
they
can't
answer,
which
is
a
really
good
indicator
to
me-
that
they
actually
haven't
read
the
handbook
they
have
it
right.
A
Yes,
yeah
it
does
it
does
one
thing
that
I
found
interesting.
Is
we
care
so
much
about
the
values?
Values
are
the
North
Star
of
every
decision
that's
made
here,
but
it's
unlike
any
place.
I've
ever
worked
before
in
that
the
values
actually
mean
something
and
they
aren't
modified
based
on
the
manager
and
that
interpretation
of
it
and
I.
A
Values
are
just
something
that
leadership
put
out
there
eons
ago,
but
it
doesn't
actually
drive
day-to-day
decisions,
and
so
that's
something
I
think
about
all
the
time
like
I
want
people
to
read
the
values
and
understand
the
values
before
they
apply,
but
more
than
that
I
actually
want
them
to
believe
that
they
matter.
Even
if
their
past
experience
would
say
that
most
values
that
most
companies
don't
actually
matter
that
much
yeah.
B
It
takes
time
you
can
get
really
hurt
by
an
organization.
I
mean
you
devote
like
eight
hours
a
day,
four
years
of
your
life
into
growing
something
and
participating
in
that
community,
and
you
can
get
burned
really
easily
and
I
think
that's
where
it
takes
time
to
build
trust
and
the
fastest
way
to
do.
That
is
seeing
that
lived
out
by
the
leadership
within
the
organization.
So
you
know
reinforcing
the
values,
lifting
them
up
and
and
upholding
them
in
all
sorts
of
different
ways
and
I.
B
Think
that's
the
biggest
challenge
that
we
face
at
gate
lab
is
we
grow
in
scale
is
like
how
do
we?
How
do
we
do
that
when
we
have
such
a
huge
influx
of
new
people
and
how
do
we
help
them?
Trust
us
as
quickly
as
possible
and
trust
the
values
as
quickly
as
possible
so
that
they
can
heal
from
some
of
their
baggage
of
past
organizations?
It's
a
real
challenge
and
I'm
not
sure
the
best
way
to
solve
it
or
how
to
accelerate
it.
A
I
hear
ya:
we're
working
on
the
onboarding
issue
and
trying
to
surface
as
early
as
possible,
just
the
importance
of
values
and
how
much
it
actually
means
such
that,
hopefully
it's
impossible
to
miss
when
you're
onboarding,
but
onboarding
is
daunting
anywhere.
We
have
many
many
tasks
in
our
onboarding
issue
and
yeah.
We've
got
to
find
out
figure
out
great
ways
to
reinforce
that
even
beyond
on
borio
feel
like
get
lab.
A
But
if
anybody
listening
has
great
advice
on
that,
we
we
have
values.
Pages
in
the
handbook.
Send
us
an
mr
send
this
send
us
a
comment
in
the
youtube
description.
We
we
love
contributions.
This
isn't
just
get
lab
doing
this
thing,
we're
trying
to
to
rally
around
all
of
the
companies
that
want
to
see
this
improve.
So
cool
man-
this
has
been
awesome
any
last
thoughts
before
I.
Let
you
go
I.