►
From YouTube: Importance of in-person interactions (events, summits, retreats) and coworking in a remote company
Description
Darren (GitLab) and Elisa (The Cowork Experience) discuss the value of in-person interactions and coworking retreats in a remote company as a team-building need at the team level.
Learn more about GitLab's all-remote culture and processes: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/
The Cowork Experience: https://thecoworkexperience.com/
Want to chat with GitLab about remote work? Submit your questions here: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/pick-your-brain/
A
B
Darren,
thank
you
for
having
me
I'm,
really
excited
to
pick
your
brain
and
chat
a
little
bit
more
about
remote
working
I
am
the
founder
and
host
and
with
that
I'll
just
go
ahead
and
start
asking
you
questions
all
right,
so
here
right,
so
those
organizations
offer
company-wide,
annuals
or
retreats
right
and
now
that
more
remote
companies
are
coming
up,
it's
becoming
more
of
a
standard
right.
Do
you
envision
these
annual
events
becoming
more
competitive
and
evolving,
especially
with
content
and
event
locations?
All
those
details.
B
A
Yeah,
absolutely
in
fact,
get
lab
is
kind
of
running
up
on
that
now,
so
we've
done
an
annual
retreat.
Well,
not
quietiy
annual
every
9
to
12
months
called
get
lab
contribute
and
we
have
one
coming
up
in
a
few
months
and
at
the
time
we'll
probably
be
around
1200
people
and
it
nears
past
when
it
was
a
much
smaller
team,
10
people,
100
people,
even
500
people,
it's
somewhat
easier
to
manage
getting
all
those
people
together,
but
as
it
scales
we
we
certainly
wanted
to
get
everyone
together
as
much
as
we
possibly
can.
A
But
there
there
is
something
to
be
said
about
getting
teams
the
sales
team,
the
marketing
team,
individual
teams,
smaller
subsets,
of
teams
that
work
together
more
intimately
get
them
together.
More
often
because
I
see
tons
of
value
in
in-person
bonding
and
an
all
remote
company,
it's
actually
something
most
employees
look
forward
to
sometimes
work
retreats.
If
you're
in
a
co-located
setting
can
be
something,
that's
the
burden,
that's
something
that
you
dread.
It's
like
you.
A
You
commute
to
work
every
single
day,
and
then
you
have
this
week-long
thing
where
they're
they're
also
asking
you
to
go
outside
of
your
home
to
spend
more
time
with
these
people
that
you
already
see
all
the
time,
a
very
different
perspective
and
an
all
remote
setting
where
a
lot
of
people
can't
plan
their
vacations.
They
plan
their
years
around
this,
because
it's
it's
special.
When
you
only
get
to
see
people
a
few
times
a
year,
you
really
savor
those
moments.
B
A
For
sure
and
I
actually
don't
see
anything
wrong
with
doing
both
so
I
think
there's
value
having
everyone
together.
So
you
let
some
serendipitous
things
happen
when
you
get
everyone
in
the
same
space,
but
also
teams
by
their
very
nature,
smaller
teams
will
work
together
on
them
on
a
daily
basis
closely,
and
these
are
the
opportunities
to
get
those
people
together
in
a
cool
spot,
and
it
doesn't
necessarily
have
to
be
for
quarterly
planning
or
things
like
that.
A
It
can
be
based
around
it,
but
I
do
see
value
in
that
all
remote
companies
tend
to
attract
people.
That
love
to
explore.
They're,
naturally
curious,
so
travel
is
something
that
for
the
most
part
they
look
forward
to,
and
so,
when
you
can
leave
traveling
with
getting
to
see
people
in
person.
There's
a
lot
of
value
in
that
yeah.
B
I
see
that
well
so
one
of
the
things
I
really
focus
on
so
I
do
cowork,
annuals
right,
which
is
pretty
much
similar
to
what
you
guys
do,
every
nine
or
so
many
months
right.
It's
it's
like
the
company-wide
party
or
the
gathering
and
then
there's
and
then
one
of
the
things
that
I
do
quite
often
is
cowork
retreats
right.
It's
the
intimate
it's
the
intimate
seconds
right
for
the
teams,
with
different
objectives
and
different
scales.
Depending
on
what
they're
looking
to
do
right
for
a
company
of
gitlab
size.
A
The
the
issues
we
run
into
is
scheduling
in
mass,
so
if
you're
trying
to
coordinate
1200
or
more
people
and
their
schedules,
it's
very
difficult
to
do
and
in
fact
somebody
that
I
work
with
very
closely.
Even
though
I'm
next
contribute
it's
still
six
months
out
at
the
current
time,
she
knows
she's
not
going
to
be
able
to
make
it
because
she's
getting
married
over
the
weekend
that
it
overlaps.
So
you
know
priorities
she's
got
to
go
get
me,
but
you
just
need
to
coordinate
all
of
those
schedules.
A
So
if
you
have
more
options
for
smaller
groups,
you're
more
likely
to
schedule.
Another
thing
we
deal
with
is:
what
do
you
do
with
your
family
and
community
back
home?
So
in
a
remote
first
or
an
all
remote
setting
a
lot
of
people
choose
to
work
in
this
setting
because,
for
whatever
reason,
they
feel
a
drawl
to
be
home
or
near
a
community
that
matters
to
them
so
yeah.
A
When
you
pull
someone
away
for
a
week-long
event,
you
have
to
think
about
their
partners
or
spouses
back
home
children
back
home
if
they're
a
caregiver
to
an
ill
relative.
Something
like
that.
What
do
you
do
back
home?
Do
you
invite
the
family
to
come
along?
Do
you
make
arrangements
for
that?
Do
you
support
child
care
or
elderly
care
back
home?
A
You
have
to
be
sensitive
to
those
kinds
of
things
and
consider
it
and
definitely
make
them
optional,
because
some
people
are
in
an
all
remote
setting
because
they
they
want
or
need
to
stay
home
most
of
the
time.
So
it's
not
like
they're,
indifferent
to
the
company
because
they
don't
want
to
go,
but
just
have
to
be
considerate
of
that.
That's.
B
True,
that's
really
true:
okay
and
then
I
guess
and
get
my
may
already
do
this
or
not.
But
do
you
think
or
should
there
be
more
team
to
formal
team-building
incentives
for
members,
because
I've
heard
you
know
people
companies
encourage
it,
they
say
yeah
I
want
you
to
go
ahead
and
get
some,
but
is
there
any
formal
and
incentive
to
like
get
them
to
really
invest
some
time?
Yeah.
A
I'll,
give
you
a
good
example:
I
get
lab,
we
have
a
an
incentive
called
the
visiting
grant,
and
so
actually,
if
any
get
lab
member
travels
somewhere
else
to
visit
another
get
lab.
Member
or
multiple
members,
you're
able
to
partially
reimburse
the
trip
and
there's
there's
no
limit
on
that
and
so
actually
early
on
in
the
company.
We
had
a
couple
of
folks
that
traveled
around
the
thing
was
all
six
continents
and
they
visited
members
on
well,
not
quite
Antarctica,
but
they
got
to
six.
A
They
got
to
say,
that's
not,
and
they
expense
a
lot
of
that
and
they
went.
They
went
around
the
world
and
across
several
releases,
which
was
really
amazing,
and
so
we
have
a
blog
post
on
how
they
did
that
and
we
want
to
incentivize
and
encourage
people
to
get
out
there
and
travel,
and
not
only
does
it
build
in-person
interactions,
but
it
encourages
people
to
get
out
of
their
comfort
zone.
Go
immerse
themselves
in
the
new
culture,
maybe
surround
themselves
with
a
new
language,
different
food,
different
time
zones.
A
All
of
these
things
make
you
a
more
empathetic,
compassionate
understanding
person,
and
so
we
want
to
encourage
that
I
would
caution.
It
could
be
easy
for
companies
to
say
we're
saving
all
this
money
on
real
estate.
We
don't
really
want
to
just
encourage
people
to
go,
spend
money
to
travel
and
see
each
other
right.
It's
great.
B
B
A
Or
janitorial
services,
all
of
the
things
that
go
into
maintaining
one
or
more
offices
reinvest
some
of
that
savings
back
into
your
people
in
encouraging
them
to
travel,
because
the
net
benefit
of
them
traveling
and
building
these
bonds
and
immersing
themselves
in
culture.
It's
one
of
those
things
where
it
will.
The
rising
tide
lifts
all
boats
and
it's
hard
to
quantify
what
the
value
is
of
having
people
face-to-face
on
their
own
travel
schedules,
but
we've
seen
a
Gill
lab
over
the
years.
It's
really
big.
It's
really
cool
and
people.
A
B
Know
it
almost,
it
actually
does
change
that
turns,
or
converts
employees
from
being
and
just
becoming.
How
should
I
put
this
icon
instead
of
becoming
a
retention
effort?
It
becomes
more
of
a
well,
they
become
loyalists
right.
They
become
a
loyalist
so
because
you
see
a
family
not
only
in
your
personal
life,
but
you
also
see
this
within
your
professional
right.
There's
more
attachment
there
for.
A
Sure
and
there's
research
that
shows
all
remote
andrew
most
remote.
First
companies
have
very
high
retention
compared
to
co-located
place.
That's
people
value
the
autonomy
and
freedom
that
comes
with
it,
and
travel
is
just
another
element
of
that.
If
you're
incentivized
to
travel
now
too
many
companies
will
pay
you
to
travel
and
go
neat
and
have
dinner
with
and
work
with,
your
colleagues
and
when
you
have
colleagues
all
over
the
world,
that's
an
amazing
opportunity
to
make
the
world
a
smaller
place
and
see
somewhere.
A
B
Performance
credit,
you
know
as
an
employer
makes
these
trips
and
makes
these
effort
to
see
their
team
members
that
could
not
possibly
be
part
of
case
for
promotion.
Saying
like
whoa
guys,
I've
been
in
the
sky
I'm
investing
in
my
team.
It
becomes
yeah.
You
know
when
I
was
a
full-time
employee
back
in
the
days.
If
I
win
met
up
with
my
team
members
outside
of
this
outside
of
the
office
right,
then
I
don't
think
that
would
ever
been
counted
toward
toward
my
growth.
A
B
A
Specify
it
to
one
person,
because
again
some
people
if
they're
mobility,
challenged
even
if
they
would
want
to
travel
extensively.
They
can't
so
we
don't
want
to
hold
that
against
any
one
individual,
but
I
could
see
value
and,
as
a
company
doing
what
we
can
to
see
that
go
up.
Just
like
we
look
at
retention
rates.
We
want
retention
rates
to
go
up.
It
could
be
argued
that
we
would
want
visiting,
grant
usage
to
go
up
as
well,
because
that
would
have
an
indicator
that
people
are
leveraging
it
they're,
aware
of
it.
A
B
Yeah,
okay,
so
kind
of
going
going
into
the
work
that
I
do
at
the
code.
So
one
of
the
things
the
way
I
just
kind
of
separate
myself,
I
like
to
see
myself
separated
from
a
lot
of
team
building
services
you
see
out
there
is-
is
the
program
design
right
where
the
event
model
itself
is
really
based
on
both
the
employer
and
the
team
members
growth
objectives
right:
it's
not
it's
not
a
covert
retreat.
It's
not
a
once
a
year
annual,
that's
just
focused
on
on
work,
centered
content
right.
B
It's
also
based
on
what
the
team
members
find
relevant
and
useful
for
them
and
their
personal
lives
right,
whether
it's
relation
so
investing
or
how
to
improve
my
health
right.
Do
you
see
value
going
beyond
offering
traditional
work
based
training,
those
kinds
of
topics,
and
these
and
these
face-to-face
gatherings
for
teens,
I?
Think.
A
It's
essential,
especially
in
all
remote
and
remote
first
companies,
because,
if
you're
getting
people
together
even
semi-regularly,
it
needs
to
be
about
more
than
work,
because
you're
able
to
work
together
very
efficiently
every
single
day
using
slack,
consume
various
tools.
What
you're,
not
able
to
do
is
get
that
in-person
bonding
experience
around
a
shared
event,
more
difficult.
A
You
can
a
virtual
pizza
parties
and
group
co-working
calls
and
things
like
that,
which
are
all
great,
and
we
do
that
where
we're
very
intentional
about
formal
communication,
but
there's
a
next
level
of
that
of
bonding
in
person
and
even
a
gay
lab
contribute.
We
get
everyone
together.
We
are
explicit
about
not
doing
death
by
PowerPoint.
There's
an.
A
And
then
everything
in
between
is
people
getting
to
know
each
other
going
out
and
seeing
and
exploring
wherever
we
are
in
the
world.
So
much
value
can
come
from
that,
so
there
can
be
work
elements
sprinkled
in,
but
for
all
remote
teams
they
want
to
get
together
and
see
people.
They
don't
want
to
be
burdened
by
work.
We
work
all
year,
let's
get
together
and
actually
enjoy
being
in
each
other's
presence.
Nice.
B
Lot
of
sense,
so,
if
use
here's
a
one
one
little
one
topic:
that
I
am
curious
to
know
about
what
you
know
the
likes
of
gitlab
and
think,
but
some
of
the
topics
that
I
tend
to
cover
in
these
code
retreats
is
side
hustle
sigh.
How
do
you
know
how
to
improve
your
side?
Hustle,
whether
it's
for
a
supplemental
income
or
whether
they
want
to
possibly
explore
that
path
and
I?
B
A
Funny
that
you
mention
that
I
feel
like
that's
a
defining
line
in
kind
of
old-school,
business
mentality
and
new-school
progressive
business
mentality,
you'll
find
some
companies
it's
a
very
hard
and
fast
rule.
You
can
never
do
anything
outside
of
whatever
your
full-time
employment
is,
and
then
some
of
the
more
modern
and
progressive
companies
realize
that
people
have
other
interests
outside
of
work
and
they
don't
compete
with
what
they're
doing
they
were
very
different.
A
They
they
stretch
a
different
side
of
their
brain
muscle
and
as
long
as
it's
put
forth
and
you're
forthcoming
about
it,
you're
transparent
about
it
and
your
manager
approves
of
it.
There's
it's
done
at
times
that
don't
impact
your
work
and
productivity.
I
do
think
we're
getting
to
a
point
where
that
is
less
frowned
upon,
and
it's
interesting
because
it's
actually
kind
of
rooted
in
ambition
and
wanting
to
educate
yourself
about
something
else
and
sort
of
continue
expanding
your
knowledge
base.
So
it's
all
about
how
it
should
be
handled.
A
A
In
particular,
you
run
into
people
from
all
walks
of
life,
so
you're
going
to
be
exposed
to
all
different
types
of
times
when
you
network,
it's
not
like
a
siloed
networking
event,
but
the
colocation
space,
where
everyone
does
the
same
thing.
So
you
get
a
lot
of
and
people
to
talk
to,
and
it
can
spark
your
curiosity,
I
say
squashing
that
or
putting
people
in
a
box.
It's
generally
not
what
you
want
to
do.
That
would
kind
of
be
my
it's.
B
B
A
A
A
lot
of
people
have
this
fear
that
if
you
just
ultimately
empower
people
they're
going
to
run
with
it
and
exploit
it
and
abuse
it,
I
haven't
really
found
that
to
be
true,
because
most
people
realize
that
if
you
do
that,
that's
where
it
ends,
so
it
would
be
wise
to
reward
that
empowerment
and
autonomy
not
to
exploit
it.
That's.
B
Good,
that's
good.
That
was
that
was
something
that,
but
that
has
kind
of
wandering
the
back
right
because
yeah,
so
all
right,
so
there's,
okay,
so
so
I
talked
about
the
way
I.
The
way
I
designed
my
programs
is,
there's
a
two
full
keys
to
it.
But
in
addition
to
that,
because
of
why
I
call
it
core
experience,
Kok
retreats
Daniels,
Earth
Sciences,
because
the
program
itself,
the
centerpiece
of
our
activity,
is
co-working.
Right
so
say
we
get
together
for
an
off-site
or
retreat
at
least
pretty
much.
A
B
When
you're,
it's
cruiseliner,
whether
its
villa
or
the
set
retreat
and
then
surrounded
by
that
you
have
all
these
ongoing
activities
right
all
optional
right,
you
have
workouts,
you
have
self-development
talks,
you
have
food
tastings.
You
have
workshop
skill
set
going
on
right,
it's
quite
different
from
the
conventional
Genda
that
you
would
probably
get
when
do
get
together
for
team-building
experiences,
whether
which
is
usually
workshops
and
days,
and
maybe
excursions-
and
that's
that's
fine.
My
question
to
you
is
how
much
of
an
uphill
battle
would
it
be
for
a
company
or.
A
An
interesting
question,
as
you
are
asking,
and
it
dawned
on
me
that
integrating
cowork
into
the
experience
actually
makes
it
a
much
more
justifiable
expense
to
the
company.
So
how
we've
been
thinking
about
it
is
it's
primarily
not
work-related,
so
you
could
zoom
out
a
bit
and
say
well,
you're,
basically,
spending
this
money
just
to
get
people
together.
It's
a
bond
and
yes,
there's
value
in
that,
but
it's
hard
to
quantify.
A
Whereas
if
there
is
some
work
element,
that's
woven
into
it,
you
know
you're
going
to
get
work
done
and
you'll
meet
other
people,
and
there
could
be
some
coordination
where
you
specifically
plan
the
program
to
work
with
another
company
or
a
similar
industry
where
you
wanted
to
learn
information
anyway.
So,
instead
of
going
to
a
seminar
or
a
conference
to
learn
about
it,
you
say
like
hey:
would
this
company
partner
with
us
and
work
alongside
of
us?
We
just
want
to
be
in
the
same
presence,
which
is
really
interesting.
It's
the
uphill
battle.
A
A
It
would
almost
be
just
redirecting
the
resources
they
currently
spend
on
whatever
their
summit
is
to
do
something
slightly
differently
and
maybe
a
matching
program
where
you
go
to
a
company
with
five
or
six
different
options
that
you
can
match
them
with
another
company
in
a
similar
field
or
a
slightly
adjacent
field
that
might
have
trigger
some
things
about
yeah
yeah.
We
could.
We
could
stand
to
learn
a
thing
or
two
from
these
other
companies.
B
Yeah
I
have
had
it's
funny
that
you
bring
that
up.
I
have
had
a
few
groups
where
it's
a
team
of
five
and
then
I
have
another
team
of
five
or
in
a
team
of
three
year
or
two,
and
they
proposed
the
idea.
What
about
you
put
all
four
of
us
to
go
there
all
four
teams
together
and
we
go
through
that
kind
of
experience
where
you're
able
to
dealer
but
either
way,
I
think
you
kind
of
hit
hit
something
an
opportunity.
B
So
I
guess
one
of
my
last
questions
is
really
just
kind
of
circling
back
to
the
beginning
of
where
this
all
started.
So
do
you
really
think
we
are
getting
to
a
time
in
this
culture
where
we
need
to
put
more
investment
in
how
we
formerly
bring
our
teams
together
and
bring
them
together
productively
be
upon
the
ones
in
your
in
the
holiday
party?
B
A
I
do
especially
as
a
remote
team
I
think
teams
have
have
commonly
gathered
themselves
to
do
things
like
quarterly
planning
or
quarterly
wrap
ups.
These
sort
of
natural
inflection
points
in
the
business
calendar,
but
they
they
generally
don't
have
a
lot
of
positivity
around
them.
They're
more
likely.
We
have
to
do
this,
like
we
have
to
plan
for
the
next
quarter
or
like
we
have
to
wrap
up
the
quarter
and
why
not
make
it
something
that
we
look
forward
to?
A
It
doesn't
necessarily
have
to
be
tied
to
this
big
planning
thing
where
this
specific
outcome
has
to
happen,
especially
in
remote
companies
where
people
can
battle
with
isolation,
and
they
do
want
to
see
in-person
interactions.
It's
a
proving
ground
for
what
this
could
be.
I,
definitely
envision
this
as
something
that
could
almost
be
a
choose-your-own-adventure
I
could
see
something
like
a
certain
team
knowing
that
they're
going
to
do
two
of
two
or
three
of
these
a
year
and
you
implement
a
voting
system
of
where
are
we
going
to
go
here?
A
Are
a
few
options
and
you
don't
just
put
it
to
a
test,
and
maybe
somebody's
really
familiar
with
a
place
and
they're
excited
to
help
plan
that
these
are
the
things
that,
if
you
make
it
more
interactive
for
people,
they're
more
likely
to
be
invested
in
it
to
get
something,
and
especially
with
remote,
bringing
people
together
and
traveling
to
do.
It
is
an
amazing
perk
that
should
be
taken
advantage
of
I,
see
I,
see
it
we're
at
a
cool
moment
in
time,
where
we're
still
as
a
as
an
industry
figuring
out
how
to
do
remote.
A
Well
and
something
like
this
is
popping
up
at
a
good
time,
because
it
will
add
some
some
process
and
actually
some
excitement
around
getting
people
together
and
encourage
and
incentivize
them
to
do
it.
One
thing
I
found
is
that
people
that
join
remote
companies
for
the
first
time
so
if
they
spent
their
whole
career
and
a
co-located
set
it
and
then
they
just
start
working
from
home
yeah.
A
The
common
thing
is
to
just
bring
all
the
habits
that
they
had
from
a
co-located
setting
and
then
try
to
do
that
in
the
home
and
it
it
doesn't
really
fit
well,
but
then
there's
the
thing
of
no
one
has
ever
taught
these
people
to
design
their
life
around
a
remote
environment.
How
do
I
take
advantage
of
that?
What
options
do
I
have?
A
My
travel
has
always
been
booked
for
me.
I've
always
had
someone
in
the
office
to
do
that
now,
I!
Don't
do
that.
How
do
I
arrange
getting
together
with
my
colleagues
and
ensure
that
I'm
not
inconveniencing
them
so
putting
something
in
place
to
help
people
do
that
I?
Don't
think
people
don't
want
to
do
it?
They
just
might
need
a
little
encouragement
on
on
how
that.
B
A
No
I'll
shoot
I'll
shoot
one
question
your
way:
I'm
just
curious
if
you've
had
any
early
success
stories
or
anecdotes
from
bringing
remote
teams,
either
small
or
large
together
into
something
like
this,
especially
if
it's
been
their
first
experience
and
how
is
it
different
than
typical
annual
retreat?
Yes,.
B
A
B
Know
going
to
another
annual,
it
doesn't
feel
to
them
at
least
based
on
what
I've
gathered
it's
another
annual.
But
when
they've
done
something
like
this,
when
they've
done
a
covert
off
site
with
me
record
retreat,
they
feel
like
they've,
gotten
a
spa.
They
feel
like
being
more
productive.
They
feel
like
they've,
gotten
some
growth
they
feel
like
so
recharged
in
all
aspects.
It's
it's
a
it's
a
very
striking
kind
of
impact
that
I've
seen
that
I,
don't
really
see.
B
B
All
remotes
armament,
it's
funny
I,
have
thought
about
possibly
making
this
more
available
for
co-located
companies.
It's
it's
it's
it's
a
little!
It's
a
different!
It's
a
different
kind
of
approach
for
them
right.
It's
a
little
bit
of
a
difference
when
they
see
my
work.
They
see
this
more
as
okay
baby,
so
I
can
train
up
our
sales
team
or
maybe
which
I'm
not
saying
it
can't
be
used
for
that.
B
But
for
them
to
think
of
this
as
something
ongoing
and
reoccurring
for
different
parts,
different
departments
and
different
groups
of
all
levels
and
scales
is
not
it's
not
a
model
that
they're
used
to
thinking
right
as
opposed
to
a
remote
based
company.
That's
something's,
very,
very,
very
cognizant
about
right,
yeah,.