►
From YouTube: Advice for remote employees and employers on scaling culture and embracing transparency
Description
Darren (Head of Remote, GitLab) and Javier (Co-founder at Remotefit) discuss topics related to remote work, including culture alignment, recruiting, transparency, and scaling in a high-growth company.
Specifically, they dive into tactics for employers who want to inform candidates of how a company works by documenting strategy and culture, and making it public for all to see even before someone applies for a role.
###
Learn more about Remotefit: https://remotefit.netlify.com/manifesto
Other topics discussed:
What's it like to work at GitLab? https://about.gitlab.com/jobs/faq/#whats-it-like-to-work-at-gitlab
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/
Parental leave: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/paid-time-off/#returning-from-work-after-parental-leave
Combating burnout, isolation, and anxiety in the remote workplace: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/mental-health/
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/
Informal Communication: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/informal-communication/
In-person interactions: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/in-person/
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/
Update on hiring discussions for specific GitLab.com roles: https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2019/11/12/update-on-hiring/
Biggest risks: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/leadership/biggest-risks/
###
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
B
So
that's
this
new
adventure
that
I've
gotten
myself
into
now
with
my
co-founder
and
a
hoe
and
what
we're
building
with
remote
fit
is
a
way
for
jobseekers
to
find
remote
jobs,
but
for
those
who
prioritize
culture
fit
so
remote
work
is
sort
of
the
arena
that
we're
working
in
and
then
culture
is
what
we're
focusing
on
so
I
guess
to
dive
into
questions.
I'm
curious
to
hear
your
perspective
on
what
the
importance
of
finding
that
good,
good
cultural
fit
is
specifically
within
remote.
First
companies,
yeah.
A
It's
really
hard
to
thrive
in
a
role
if
the
culture
fit.
Isn't
there
that's
particularly
true
and
remove
first
and
all
remote
companies,
because
there's
there's
really
nothing
to
mask
it.
There's
no
office!
So
it's
not
like
someone
can
just
play
a
delightful
soundtrack
in
the
office
and
they
don't
kind
of
mask
the
culture
mismatch.
A
A
I'd
say
it's
it's
something
that
should
be
looked
at
closely,
especially
by
employees.
If
you're,
if
you're
diving
into
your
first
remote
role,
really
look
for
culture
fit
when
you're
interviewing
make
sure
that
the
people
are
aligned
with
you
on
as
many
as
many
planes
as
possible.
It's
gonna
make
a
difference
in
your
day
to
day
work
awesome.
B
A
Or
maybe
even
less
money
culture
is
going
to
be
something
that's
going
to
matter
a
lot
longer
than
whatever
the
role
is
that
you
are
hired
for
and
to
answer
your
specific
question
actually
know
of
quite
a
few
people
that
were
in
the
finance
realm
that
have
applied
for
roles
at
get
lab
for
product
project
manager,
roles
and
product
manager
roles.
So
they
essentially,
they
looked
at
all
the
all
of
what
they
could
find
through
our
handbook
online.
A
A
She
really
had
a
passion
for
learning
and
development
and
we're
building
out
that
team
that
get
lab
so
because
she
was
in
a
place
where
there
was
a
great
culture
fit.
She
was
able
to
have
these
open
and
honest
conversations
with
her
manager
and
because
of
the
transparency.
Everyone
knows.
The
departments
were
trying
to
build
and
the
skills
were
looking
for
and
she
was
actually
able
to
transfer
over
from
being
and
recruiting
into
learning
and
development
and
that
that's
easier
said
than
done.
A
I
think
it's
actually
quite
difficult
to
do
something
like
jump-jump
departments
all
together
in
most
companies,
just
because
there's
sort
of
a
perceived
need
for
control
and
just
the
cultural
differences
in
that
it's
kind
of
like
whatever
you're
hired
into,
is
kind
of
where
you
stay
you
kind
of
stay
boxed
in.
But
if
you
find
a
place
where
there's
great
culture
fit,
and
you
can
have
those
open
and
honest
conversations
there
stands,
there
stands
to
reason
that
you'll
have
more
potential
to
move
around
down
the
road.
A
Absolutely
I
mean
look
whatever
your
past
title
was.
It
doesn't
define
you
just
because
you
worked
as
a
recruiter
and
your
last
role.
It
doesn't
mean
that
you
didn't
do
other
things
and
you
don't
have
other
skills.
I
was
managing
editor
at
a
consumer
technology
publication
for
almost
eight
years,
but
during
those
eight
years
we
actually
had
to
recruit
and
hire
and
train
and
mentor
over
20
editors,
many
of
which
who
had
never
written
before
so
on.
Paper
you'll
see
editor,
but
what
you
don't
see
is
all
the
recruiting
functions
that
happen
within
that.
A
So,
if
you're
in
a
place
with
good
culture
fit-
and
you
have
a
passion
for
recruiting,
even
though
you
never
serve
as
a
recruiter
before
that's
the
type
of
environment
you
want
to
be
in
because
you
can
bring
that
to
the
table
and
then
maybe
you
have
an
opportunity
to
parlay
some
of
those
skills
and
work
in
recruiting.
That's
just
one
example,
but
it's
that's
a
personal
one
for
me.
Yeah.
B
A
What
we
try
to
do
and
the
effort
of
transparency
is
to
showcase
as
much
of
our
culture
in
advance.
So
if
you
look
on
get
labs
jobs
FAQ
right
now,
there
is
a
section
entitled.
What's
it
like
to
work
at
get
lab,
because
this
is
the
core
question
that
anyone
would
have
before
they
even
apply
at
get
lab.
And
so
we
try
to
be
an
oath
as
open
and
honest
as
we
can
about
what
it's
like
to
work
here.
It's
not
your
typical
corporation
people
that
come
to
work
here.
A
Do
so
because
it's
different
and
it
gives
them
permission
to
drop
prior
organizational
baggage
at
the
door
and
and
operate
differently,
and
the
only
way
they're
going
to
know
that
before
they
get
down
the
interview,
funnel
is,
if
we
tell
them
that
in
advance,
and
so
we
have
a
couple
of
paragraphs
there.
We
have
some
links
to
other
post
on
our
getting
started,
guides
some
blog
posts
from
employees
that
kind
of
showcase.
What
it's
like
over
the
first
three
six
nine
months.
A
We
try
to
shed
as
much
light
of
light
on
it
as
possible,
so
I
would
encourage
other
organizations
to
do
this
too.
It's
it's
silly
to
think
that
you
should
withhold
your
strategy
and
withhold
your
culture
and
the
way
that
you
work
until
someone
gets
hired
and
gets
on
the
job
that
that
is
going
to
determine
whether
or
not
they're
going
to
thrive
and
whether
they'll
enjoy
the
work
and
whether
they
will
put
in
the
effort
to
really
help
the
business
succeed.
B
Buddy
I'm
curious?
What
do
you?
What
do
you
think
some
companies
are
so
hesitant
to
doing
that,
because
it
seems
like
the
rationale
for
doing
it
is
crystal
clear
like
of
course,
you
want
both
sides
of
the
table
to
have
a
really
good
sense
of.
Will
there
be
a
culture
fit
so
as
to
not
waste.
You
know
anyone's
time
down
the
road,
but
even
then
it
seems
like
there's
still
this
culture
of
keeping
things
more
private
and
you
know
not
disclosing
it
still
much
later.
Yeah.
A
I'm
sure
every
company
is
different,
but
my
guess
is
that
it
stems
from
the
fact
that
culture
can
be
perceived
differently
depending
on
who
you
are
and
who
your
manager
is
and
what
team
you're
in.
So,
if
you
look
at
some
of
these
multinationals
with
80,000
people-
and
you
ask
a
subset
of
those
people,
what's
the
culture
like
what
is
it
like
to
work
at
this
company?
A
So
it's
better
just
kind
of
like
surprise
them
that
way
they
can't
hold
it
against
us.
That's
my
guess!
So
a
get
lab
we
are
transparent
about
all
of
that,
and
so,
when
we
publish
things
like,
what's
it
like
to
work
at
get
lab,
if
we
have
people
in
the
company
that
read
that-
and
they
say
that's
actually
incongruent
with
my
experience
at
the
company,
then
we
feel
responsible
as
the
company
to
dive
into
that
and
figure
out.
What's
going
on,
where
our
values
not
being
lived,
what
can
we
do
to
make
it
better?
A
What's
the
on?
Was
there
a
gap
in
the
onboarding
experience
that
we
can
change
that
that
path
now
to
make
sure
that
future
new
hires
don't
hit
that
void
and
they
have
that
base
covered?
We
start
asking
those
questions
instead
of
saying
like
well.
You
know
that's
just
kind
of
how
it
is
when
department's
gonna
experience
culture
different
than
the
other,
but.
B
A
Takes
intentionality
and
it
takes
a
top,
a
top-down
vision
that
culture
really
really
matters,
and
it's
just
as
important
as
any
other
result.
We
try
to
measure
culture
and
surveys
here,
and
we
want
to
make
sure
that
people
are
aligned
with
it
for
us
that
that
matters
just
as
much
as
any
other
metric.
That
would
be
measured
right.
A
And
that
actually
brings
up
a
point.
Another
great
point,
which
is
many
companies,
don't
rely
on
documentation.
The
way
they
get
lab
does
so
we
document
everything
as
much
as
we
possibly
can
we
document,
and
that
includes
things
around
culture,
things
like
parental
leave
and
mental
health.
Informal
communication.
We
have
handbook
pages
on
all
of
these,
and
anyone
in
the
company
is
empowered
to
make
a
merge
request
and
offer
up
a
suggestion
or
a
change
or
an
improvement
on
any
of
these.
So
the
culture
is
truly
owned
by
the
entire
company.
A
It's
not
like
the
HR
department
puts
together
this
handbook
on
what
culture
is
going
to
be
like
and
then
in
unidirectionally
just
shifts
it
out,
and
then
people
have
no
recourse
on
how
to
shape
that.
That's
not
an
ideal
situation
and
that's
why
we
open
it
up
to
the
entire
company,
because
we
want
everyone
to
be
able
to
contribute
to
the
culture,
so
they
feel
invested
in
it,
and
so
they
it
actually
means
something
to
them.
A
But
if
you
don't
document
from
the
very
start,
you
have
some
companies
that
are
decades
or
centuries
old
and
if
no
one
ever
documented
things
around
culture.
That's
another
reason
why
it's
not
promoted
in
the
interview
stage,
because
no
one
really
knows
and
no
one
actually
thought
to
document
it
from
the
beginning.
And
so
culture
has
now
become
a
hand-me-down
of
a
hand-me-down.
If
I
hand
me
now
enough
kind
of,
like
whatever
the
current
circumstance
or
scenario,
is
for
the
company
or
the
department
right.
B
So
so,
with
the
job
seekers,
who
you
know,
let's
say
the
land
on,
we
get
left
page
they're
reading
all
about
it
interested
in
you
know
what
it
would
be,
some
of
the
recommendations
that
you
would
give
those
people
to
determine
if
there
could
be
a
good
culture
fit
there
and
on
the
other
side,
how
would
you
on
good
website
determine
that
as
well?
So.
A
In
a
lot
of
ways,
finding
good
culture
fit
in
a
remote
first
or
an
all
remote
company
is
very
similar
to
looking
for
culture
fit
in
a
co-located
company.
So
I
like
to
say,
there's,
there's
very
there's,
actually
very
little
difference,
remote
first
and
all
remote
just
forces
you
to
do
things
and
look
for
things
that
you
should
be
doing
anyway
in
a
co-located
space,
but
we
just
have
to
do
it
much
more
quickly
and
much
more
intentionally,
because
we
don't
have
the
office
environment
it
kind
of
mask
it
over.
A
There
are
some
nuance
nuances
to
loving
remote
work
and
being
a
great
remote
worker
and
I
think
a
sub
value
at
Gale
app
that
really
encapsulates
that
as
manager
of
one
and
if
you're,
considering
a
remote.
If
job
you
I
would
recommend
asking
yourself
what
our
instances
were.
I've
been
a
manager
of
one
where
I
have
full
control.
Over
my
day,
no
one's
watching
you
clock
in
or
out
how
do
I
manage
my
day?
How
do
I
manage
my
time?
Do
I
perpetually
fall
behind?
A
Do
I
have
an
innate
drive
to
get
ahead
so
that
I
can
go
enjoy?
My
surroundings,
am
I,
how
agile
I
am
I
went
bouncing
between
like
when
real
life
happens
and
then
getting
back
to
work,
and
then,
when
real
life
happens
and
getting
back
to
work,
do
you
need
hand-holding?
Do
you
prefer
hand-holding
those
things
really
matter,
especially
when
you're,
when
you're,
in
a
room
by
yourself
or
you're,
in
a
co-working
space
and
there's
no
central
headquarters?
A
A
We
we're
an
asynchronous
company
and
so
much
of
what
we
do
is
communicated
through
text
and
for
people
that
have
worked
20
years
in
an
office
and
almost
all
of
their
communication
is
face-to-face
just
verbalizing.
They
may
be
uncomfortable
with
communicating
massive
amounts
of
information
through
text.
They
just
aren't
natural
storytellers.
They
just
don't
feel
comfortable
with
the
tone,
and
all
of
that,
that's
something
that
you
need
to
consider,
not
that
it
can't
be
learned,
but
it
is
different
because
most
of
our
communications
happens
happens
through
the
written
word
and
set
up
the
spoken
word.
A
So
that's
that's
a
little
different.
The
isolation
thing
comes
up
often,
but
I
found
that
to
be
less
of
an
issue,
I
get
lab.
For
example,
we
will
reimburse
co-working
fees
so
if
you're
just
a
social
person-
and
you
really
want
to
be
around
other
people
while
you
work,
we
totally
support
that.
We
don't
say
that
you
have
to
work
from
home.
A
We
just
say:
there's
no
office
for
you
to
come
to,
but
if
you
would
rather
go
work
at
a
co-working
space
or
your
your
current
home,
just
isn't
amenable
to
working
from
it's
totally
fine
like
we'll,
actually
pay
for
you
to
go.
Do
that
we
we
encourage
work
from
anywhere
wherever
you're,
most
fulfilled
and
comfortable
totally
fine
and
a
lot
of
other
remote
first
call
remote
companies
support
that
as
well.
So
there
are
ways
to
get
around
the
isolation.
That's
not
like.
You
absolutely
have
to
work
at
home
now,
any
employer
side.
A
How
do
you
screen
for
this?
Most
people
believe
it
or
not,
have
actually
worked
remotely,
even
if
they
don't
know
it.
So
if
you
come
from
a
co-located
space,
but
there
were
multiple
headquarters,
let's
say
you
were
based
in
Seattle,
but
then
you
had
colleagues
in
Singapore
or
London.
You
probably
worked
with
them
at
some
point,
and
so,
even
if
your
company
didn't
admit
it,
those
two
offices
were
were
remote
to
one
another.
A
So
you
had
to
deal
with
time
zones
you
had
to
deal
with
the
zoom
calls
and
not
seeing
each
other
face
to
face.
What
was
that
like?
Did
you
enjoy?
That?
Did
you
get
the
work
done?
What
were
the
perks
of
that?
What
were
the
drawbacks
of
that
asking
them
to
dive
into
those
types
of
situations
is
a
really
good
way
to
sort
of
hear
how
they
think
about
working
remotely
another
one
is:
did
you
ever
take
a
project
on
vacation
or
on
a
holiday
or
on
an
airplane
or
on
a
train?
A
Almost
everyone
has
done
some
amount
word
not
in
an
office,
even
if
it
wasn't
considered
remote
work,
they've
actually
moved
a
project
forward
in
some
remote
fashion,
so
ask
about
that,
for
people
that
are
just
coming
out
of
university
interns
or
junior
staff
chances
are
high.
That
they've
also
done
something
similar
to
that
when
working
on
projects
at
school,
were
you
always
on
campus
when
you
move
to
project
forward,
or
did
you
go
back
to
your
dorm
or
living
apartment
or
wherever
it
may
be,
and
complete
some
of
the
work
there
like?
B
Yeah,
it's
really
interesting
because
it
seems
like
you
know,
for
people
who,
in
their
mind,
see
remote
work
as
something
you
know,
they're
skeptical
about
it
or
this
isn't
for
me,
or
this
isn't
for
my
company.
That's
really
interesting
to
point
out
all
the
ways
in
which
it's
already
occurring,
and
you
know.
After
accepting
that
fact,
the
question
is
more
like
alright.
How
can
you
make
it
more
intentional
or
design
it
in
a
way?
That's
more
conducive
to
you
know
everyone's
happiness
and
productivity,
yeah.
A
Absolutely
the
truth
is
most
people
have
been
working
remotely
at
least
part
of
the
year
for
longer
than
they
even
realize,
and
it's
it's
about
a
company
deciding
that
they're
going
to
be
intentional
about
how
things
are
communicated
and
a
lot
of
companies
just
lack
the
infrastructure.
They
don't
know
how
to
embrace
asynchronous
if
they've
always
worked
synchronously
and
frankly,
a
lot
of
leaders
and
managers.
A
If
they
have
never
managed
a
remote
team,
they
may
be
resistant
to
hire
new
remote
employees
just
because
they
don't
have
that
experience,
and
so
it's
easier
to
say
we're
not
going
to
do
remote.
We
have
to
have
people
in
the
office
than
it
is
to
go.
Take
a
training
course
or
sharpen
the
skills
on
managing
your
remote
team
yeah.
A
B
Switching
gears
a
bit
I,
was
shocked
to
read
that
gitlab
has
grown
from
407
employees
at
the
beginning
of
the
year
to
more
than
a
thousand
today
and
I'm
curious
to
hear
your
take
on.
You
know
what
that
kind
of
growth
presents
towards
the
culture
of
the
company
as
a
whole
in
terms
of
the
challenges
opportunities
and
how
you
navigate
that
scaling
of
the
culture.
It's.
A
A
great
question
and
it's
a
kind
of
a
great
case
study
because
most
companies
cannot
grow
at
this
pace
if
you're
a
co-located
company,
where
you
have
to
attract
talent
to
a
certain
geographical
region,
it's
almost
impossible
to
rally
that
many
people
and
to
get
them
physically
relocated
in
that
amount
of
time.
So
remote
has
enabled
us
to
scale
at
a
very
rapid
pace
this
year.
But
this
is
something
that
is
on
my
mind
perpetually.
A
If
you
look
at
get
labs
biggest
risks,
the
things
that
we
consider
the
biggest
challenges
or
potential
stumbling
blocks
for
us
as
a
company
in
the
top
five
are
ineffective,
onboarding
and
losing
the
values
that
bind
us
together.
So
these
two
things
sit
really
heavy
on
my
mind,
because
those
two
things
are
directly
tied
to
scaling
culture
and
a
high-growth
company
in
maintaining
and
sustaining
that
culture
over
time.
So
how
do
we
do
it,
which
it
all
starts
with
onboarding
and
actually
starts
before?
A
Then
we
want
people
to
to
see
that,
what's
it
like
to
work
at
get
loud
before
they
ever
apply,
so
then,
when
they
do
apply,
they've
already
seen
that
so
then
nothing
in
the
interview
process
would
be
a
surprise
from
a
culture
front.
In
fact,
we
want
people
to
ask
the
interviewers
about
culture
based
on
what
they
read
so
then,
let's
say
they
get
the
job
they
come
into
the
company.
Our
onboarding
issue
is
over
200
check
boxes
where
you
there's
no
ambiguity
on
what
has
to
be
done.
A
It's
it's
daunting,
it's
a
lot
to
see,
but
we
try
to
structure
it
in
a
way
where
you
have
enough
time
to
actually
do
it
and
do
it
well
and
you're
you're
you're
shown
this
and
you
know
that
every
other
person
is
going
through
the
exact
same
process.
So
it's
not
like
anybody
gets
a
different
onboarding
process
than
anyone
else
growing.
A
At
this
rate,
that
kind
of
consistency
is
the
only
way
to
ensure
that
everyone
reads
the
same
important
material
and
everyone
goes
through
the
same
process
so
that
on
week,
three
or
four
or
five
they've
all
kind
of
been
through
that
same
thing,
and
so
we're
moving
as
much
ambiguity
as
possible
in
the
onboarding
experience
is
crucial
and
then
the
third
thing
would
be
setting
up
a
sustained
process
where
people
feel
comfortable
contributing
to
culture.
That
is
simply
every
individual.
A
In
fact,
on
that,
what's
it
like,
what's
it
like
to
work
at
get
lab
paragraph
that
intro
a
paragraph
from
the
jobs
FAQ,
there's
actually
a
line
that
says
it's
not
a
trap.
This
is
the
future
of
work
like
I.
Just
want
to
be
super
intentional
that
some
of
the
things
we
do,
especially
around
iteration,
they
feel
like
a
trap.
A
We
want
to
encourage
people
to
ship
products
that
they
actually
have
a
small
level
of
embarrassment
about
how
small
it
is
because
in
most
companies,
if
you
don't
ship,
something
big
and
shiny
and
impressive
and
perfect,
that's
actually
a
fast-track
for
termination,
which
is
it
blows
my
mind
that
that's
the
society
we
live
in.
But
if
people
are
being
honest
with
you,
a
lot
of
people
would
say
that's
actually
kind
of
the
case.
People
are
afraid
to
ship
anything,
that's
less
than
perfect.
A
So
what
they
end
up
doing
is
not
shipping
very
much
because
they're
afraid
to
put
something
out
there
so
get
lab
spirit
of
iteration.
Is
we
want
to
put
more
out
there
because
that's
where
innovation
it
comes
from
and
if
you
ship
it
quickly
and
it's
not
on
the
right
track,
it
didn't
really
cost
you
that
much
anyway,
it's
not
like
you've
lost
six
months
of
time
on
it.
A
So
elements
like
that
of
our
culture
are
almost
hard
to
believe
for
people
that
are
coming
from
a
very
different
place,
and
so
we're
working
hard
on
the
onboarding
to
really
drive
that
home
that
hey,
you
can
do
this
differently.
We
encourage
you
to
try
some
things
like
this
and
do
this
differently
and
we
have
slag
channels
up
and
down
on
every
possible
topic.
We're
veterans
of
the
company
are
in
those
channels
and
always
willing
to
help
out.
If
people
have
any
questions,
that's.
B
Awesome
and
and
I'm
curious
to
hear
more
of
this
200
points.
Onboarding
system,
you
know,
besides
reading
reading
sort
of
documents,
I
imagine
go
deep
into
the
culture.
What
are
some
of
those
other
items
and
I'm
curious
to
hear
that
onboarding
process
is
something
that
occurs
a
hundred
percent,
it's
it's
them
going
through
this
on
their
own
or
are
there
parts
of
it?
Where
are
more
in
a
group
group
setting
with
with
people
who
have
already
been
it
good
luck
for
a
while,
so.
A
The
beauty
of
this
is
like
everything
at
get
lab,
it's
all
transparent,
and
so
you
can
go
look
at
our
onboarding
checklist
right
now
and
replicate
it
for
your
organization.
We'd
love
that
we'd
love
nothing
more
than
that
and
you
can
contribute
to
it
actually
make
some
suggestions
on
changes
if
you'd
like.
So
all
of
that
is
out
there.
But
essentially
everything
starts
in
one
get
lab
issues.
A
So
anyone
coming
in
to
get
lab
they
get
assigned
their
first
issue,
which
is
over
200
different
check
boxes,
to
check
off
over
the
course
of
two
weeks
so
that
you'll
be
on
board
it.
We
break
those
up
for
some
of
its
more
mundane
like
signing
up
for
accounts
and
authorizing
octa
and
getting
your
access
under
control,
and
some
of
it
is
related
to
social
and
some
of
it's
related
to
learning
get
for
the
first
time
if
you're
new
to
it.
A
So
some
of
its
is
just
kind
of
a
more
manual
process
like
learning
the
foundational
elements
of
what
it
takes
to
work
at
get
lab,
but
then
a
lot
of
it
is
actually
encouraging
people
to
have
coffee
chats
with
total
strangers.
We
want
people
to
reach
out,
put
a
coffee
chat
on
somebody's
calendar
and
just
grab
20
minutes
with
them
to
get
to
know
them,
maybe
they're
in
a
different
country,
different
culture,
different
time
zone.
A
This
is
how
we
start
building
bonds
between
people
that
may
live
thousands
and
thousands
of
miles
away
from
each
other,
so
some
of
its
work-related,
some
of
it,
is
being
intentional
about
informal
communication
and
then
I
feel
like
there
was
one
other
question.
You
asked
me
about
the
onboarding
that
that
that's
escaping
me.
A
So
in
many
ways
you
need
to
operate
day
to
day
as
if
no
one
else
is
online,
like
you
think,
how
would
I
move
this
project
forward
if
no
one
was
online
and
I
needed
to
put
context
around
it
such
that
they
could
see
this
when
they
wake
up
and
move
it
forward?
Oh,
of
course,
that's
not
not
always
the
case,
but
that's
generally
how
we
like
to
approach
things.
So
much
of
onboarding
is
self-service,
but
it's
interesting
that
you
mentioned
this
because
we
we
do
have
a
thing
called
the
onboarding
buddy.
A
So
every
new
hire
at
gate
lab
their
manager
assigns
them
an
appropriate
onboarding
buddy.
So
they
think
long
and
hard
about
who
they
can
pair
them
up
with
my
onboarding
Burdick
buddy,
for
example,
with
somebody
that
was
really
really
good
at
get
lab
and
I
was
not
a
super
technical
user
coming
in,
and
so
my
onboarding
buddy
was
somebody
that
was
because
my
manager
knew
that
that
would
be
a
weak
spot
for
me.
So
hey,
let's
pair
him
with
a
buddy
that
will
be
able
to
supplement
that
right
away,
which
was
awesome.
A
So
I
was
someone's
onboarding
buddy
a
few
months
down
the
road
and
a
near
the
end
of
the
second
week.
I
just
had
a
call
with
her
and
I
said:
hey
give
me
some
feedback.
What
was
great
about
onboarding?
What
could
use
some
work
and
she
said
I
really
enjoyed
the
self-service,
because
it
allows
me
to
kind
of
focus
on
my
own
time
and
walk
through
it
at
my
own
pace,
whereas
if
it
was
kind
of
a
group
orientation,
there
would
be
some
areas
where
I
was
rushed
through
before
I
was
ready.
A
The
one
thing
that
got
me
was
there
was
no
new
hire
orientation
that
I'm
used
to
in
a
co-located
space
where
20
or
30
other
people
show
up.
On
the
same
day
we
just
we
all
gather
in
the
lobby.
We
walk
around
the
building
together
and
we're
kind
of
there
for
each
other.
Even
if
we
work
in
different
departments,
we
kind
of
maintain
that
relationship,
there's
nothing
like
that.
It
get
left
and
I
said
so
yeah.
Actually
you
got
a
good
point
there
you're
right,
and
so
we
actually
had
a
conversation
and
we
worked
on.
A
But
what
could
we
do
differently
to
improve
that
and
where
we
landed
is
every
week
there's
a
new
lab
Rochelle
we're
all
of
the
new
hires
are
announced,
and
so
all
of
the
other
new
hires
know
who
all
of
the
other
new
hires
are.
There
was
just
not
a
mechanism
for
any
one
of
them,
standing
up
a
zoom
call
for
these
new
laberd's
to
all
get
to
know
each
other
and
mimic
that
new
our
orientation.
So
we
added
a
merge
requested
to
add
a
responsibility
to
the
onboarding
buddy
to
ask
their
buddy
early
on.
A
Hey,
if
you
prefer
a
more
social
orientation,
just
ask
the
people
that
joined
in
your
week
and
organize
an
impromptu,
zoom
call
as
many
as
you'd
like
to
talk
about
work
hobbies.
What
are
you
struggling
with?
What
don't
you
understand
about
onboarding?
That
kind
of
thing?
So
that's
just
a
cool
example
of
how
we
empowered
somebody
a
week
and
a
half
into
the
job,
to
make
a
fundamental
change
on
how
we
do
onboarding,
but
it,
but
it
is
true.
Most
of
our
onboarding
is
self
directed,
though
there
are
ways
to
make
it
more
group
oriented.
B
A
A
That's
a
great
question:
I
think
events
is
a
big
one,
so
I've
seen
a
proliferation
of
virtual
events.
So
if
you
think
about
what
an
event
used
to
take,
you'd
have
to
find
a
location
that
had
a
lot
of
great
hotels
around
it.
There
wasn't
competing
with
another
event
and
then
you'd
have
to
find
the
space.
It's
like
massive
cost
to
rent
the
space
out
and
then
massive
costs
to
use
the
dedicated
vendors
with
that
space.
A
So
the
overhead
of
actually
having
an
event
and
sharing
information
or
educating
people
was
very
very
high,
but
with
a
virtual
of
that
much
easier
to
organize
much
cheaper
to
organize,
so
you
can
spread
information
and
sign
people
up
for
panels
and
educate
people
a
lot
easier.
So
the
barrier
to
entry
on
just
education
in
general
has
gone
down.
A
Another
thing,
I've
noticed
is
the
cowork
experience
is
a
great
example
of
this.
So
all
remote
teams,
one
thing
that
they
struggle
with,
is
getting
people
together
in
person
because
there's
still
a
ton
of
value
in
in-person
interactions,
even
when
they
work
within
a
remote
team
and
although
gitlab
gets
all
of
their
team
together.
The
entire
company,
every
9
to
12
months,
forget
lab,
contribute,
there's
been
a
need
for
some
of
the
smaller
teams,
like,
let's
say,
a
marketing
division
or
a
sales
division
or
an
engineering
division.
A
What,
if
some
pockets
of
the
team
want
to
get
together
for
off
sites
that
are
like
kind
of
some
work,
but
also
some
play
just
like
some
personal
bonding
experiences,
so
there's
been
some
startups
that
have
been
developed
that
helped
piece
those
together
sort
of
the
travel
arm
of.
How
do
you
do
this
for
remote
companies
and
then
I
think?
The
third
thing
is
trying
to
figure
out
what
meetings
look
like
in
a
remote
setting.
A
B
Yeah,
it's
super
interesting
I'm,
always
you
know,
I!
Guess
it's
from
my
DC
days
that
I'm
always
thinking
of
all
right,
there's,
there's
a
gold
rush.
You've
got
all
these
miners
going
up
to
take
this
gold
out
of
the
ground,
but
you
know
who's
gonna
be
failing
to
take
access
and
you're
gonna
be
setting
up
the
room
board.
It's.
A
A
So,
just
like,
we've
seen
VCS
focus
on
focus
on
niches
like
sustainable
their
VC
firms
that
go
after
companies
that
are
working
in
sustainability,
they're,
now,
a
VC
firms
that
are
going
after
and
remote
first
and
all
remote
companies
because
they
see
the
future
there
and
they
see
like
you,
can
spend
so
much
of
your
seed.
Money
on
people
and
Ardie
instead
of
real
estate
I
mean
even
from
a
financial
perspective.
It
makes
a
lot
of
sense.
A
B
So
I
guess
to
finish
off
with
one.
You
know,
tangential
question
thinking
about
the
intersection
of
geopolitics
and
remote
work.
Good
love
is
in
the
news,
the
whole
controversy
with
Russia
and
China
and
cyber
espionage,
and
whether
it
would
be
allowed
to
hire
people
in
these
countries
or
not.
Here's
to
hear
your
perspective
on
you
know
what
are
some
of
the
challenges,
but
maybe
also
opportunities
in
you
know
for
remote
work
within
this
larger
context,
that
is
the
geopolitics
of
the
world.
Yeah.
A
It's
interesting
because
remote
companies
that
are
overtly
transparent,
you
know,
will
put
out
there
that
were
abiding
by
these
laws
because
of
this
that
and
the
other,
whereas
most
companies
just
wouldn't
do
anything
there
and
it
would
just
be
kind
of
behind
closed
doors,
so
good
lab.
In
particular,
we
have
a
few
blog
post
that
we've
put
up
encapsulating
all
of
our
POV
on
that
so
I'll
link
those
in
the
YouTube
description
instead
of
rehashing
them
here
but
yeah
in
general.
A
That's
it's
an
interesting
new
development,
but
you
also
have
to
remember
that
multinationals
that
have
offices
all
over
the
world,
including
countries
where
geopolitical
things
happen.
They
also
have
to
deal
with
these
things
because
they
have
an
office
there,
a
presence
there
or
servers
there.
So
it's
not
it's
not
something
that's
exclusive
to
remote.
It's
just
the
lights
being
shine
here
at
the
moment.