How GitLab works

1. Conversational Development
Job van der Voort | @Jobvo
VP Product at GitLab
@Jobvo

2. @Jobvo

3. @Jobvo

4. 2011
Dimitriy Zaporozhets
@Jobvo

5. 2014
5 people
@Jobvo

6. today
@Jobvo

7. $45 million in funding
Google Ventures, Michael Dell, Ashton Kutcher and others
@Jobvo

8. >100k companies
@Jobvo

9. 290 people
(and about 70 pets)
@Jobvo

10. Zero offices
~36 different countries
@Jobvo - about.gitlab.com/team/

11. (Almost) everything is open
@Jobvo - about.gitlab.com/handbook

12. Why you should listen to me
@Jobvo

13. Q3 2015
First version of GitLab CI
@Jobvo

14. Q3 2017
GitLab CI Leader in Forrester Wave
CI Tools
@Jobvo

15. @Jobvo

16. OPEN@Jobvo

17. GitLab comes in two distributions
@Jobvo

18. Community Edition
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce
MIT Expat license
@Jobvo

19. Enterprise Edition
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee
Proprietary
@Jobvo

20. @Jobvo

21. @Jobvo

22. All code, issues and plans are public
@Jobvo

23. ..meaning anyone can contribute,
even to our proprietary product.
@Jobvo

24. The contribution process is
identical for everyone,
employee or not
@Jobvo

25. @Jobvo

26. We realized that being open is
incredibly powerful
@Jobvo

27. So we open sourced the rest of our
company
(everything is open)
@Jobvo

28. about.gitlab.com/handbook
@Jobvo

29. Want to know how we make
product decisions?
about.gitlab.com/handbook/product
@Jobvo

30. Want to see our vacation policy?
about.gitlab.com/handbook/paid-time-off
@Jobvo

31. Want to see our hiring policies?
about.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring
@Jobvo

32. Want to know how much you'll earn
as developer?
about.gitlab.com/roles/engineering/developer
@Jobvo

33. Everything we reasonably and
legally can be open about, we make
public
@Jobvo

34. It has meant that the community
has contributed to our company
@Jobvo

35. and others have taken our ideas
and built their own companies on it
@Jobvo

36. DEV@Jobvo

37. Focus on customer value
@Jobvo

38. Focus on customer value
Consistently build cool things that
people like
@Jobvo

39. Only possible to do consistently by
iteration
@Jobvo

40. SHORT CYCLES
@Jobvo

41. @Jobvo

42. Cycle time
Time it takes to go from writing down an idea to
shipping that change in production
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

43. Shorter cycles |>
More iterative
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

44. Skate to where the puck is going to be
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

45. Skate to where the puck is going to be
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

46. Ok, cycle time is important.
How do I get to shorter cycles?
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

47. 1. Shorter cycles
Minimally Viable Change (MVC)
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

48. 1. Shorter cycles
Deploy frequently (Continuously)
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

49. 1. Shorter cycles
Deploy more when it hurts
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

50. 1. Shorter cycles
Include gatekeepers into each step of the
cycle
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

51. 1. Shorter cycles
Automate everything
1. Have a great test suite (aim for 85% coverage)
2. Automatically deploy on merge to staging / preprod / prod
3. Automatic roll-out and roll-back
4. Adopting Cloud Native (Kubernetes + GitLab) makes this all
100x easier
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

52. 1. Shorter cycles
1. Adopt MVC
2. Deploy frequently
3. Deploy more when it hurts
4. Include gatekeepers into the conversation
5. Automate everything
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

53. 1. Shorter cycles
Result:
• Easier to coordinate, reason, estimate
• Quicker to respond to market needs
• Higher predictability
• Better code quality
• Easier to troubleshoot
@Jobvo - 1: Shorten your cycle

54. ADOPT CONVERSATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
@Jobvo

55. Conversational Development
(ConvDev)
Asynchronous, result-driven way of
communicating
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

56. ConvDev is why GitLab can exist
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

57. 2. ConvDev
Write everything down
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

58. 2. ConvDev
Thread the conversation through all stages
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

59. 2. ConvDev
Thread the conversation through all stages
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

60. 2. ConvDev
Asynchronous communication without need
for consensus
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

61. 2. ConvDev
1. Write everything down
2. Thread the conversation through all stages
3. Async without consensus
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

62. 2. ConvDev
Results
• Everyone can always move forward with their work
• Higher efficiency
• Every change and decision is written down and visible
• Can track cycle time
@Jobvo - 2: Adopt ConvDev

63. Small changes that are easily
revertable / rolled back
@Jobvo

64. There is a clear audit trail for each
and every change
@Jobvo

65. Everyone looks at the same things
@Jobvo

66. MEASURE AND LEARN
@Jobvo

67. Connecting business with change
@Jobvo - 3: Measure and learn

68. See how any change affects (business)
metrics in the same place
(You can do this today in GitLab)
@Jobvo - 3: Measure and learn

69. SUMMARY
@Jobvo

70. 1. Shorten your cycles
@Jobvo

71. 2. Adopt ConvDev (async
communication)
@Jobvo

72. 3. Measure and learn
@Jobvo

73. Questions?@Jobvo / job@gitlab.com
RemoteWorkPodcast.com
@Jobvo

74. @Jobvo

75. bonus slides
@Jobvo

76. 2. Everyone contributes
@Jobvo

77. 2. Everyone contributes
Every single person at GitLab
makes changes to everything
@Jobvo

78. 2. Everyone contributes
Commits activity of our Chief Revenue
Officer (sales)
@Jobvo

79. 3. Freedom to live a better life
@Jobvo

80. 3. Freedom to live a better life
Unlimited vacation
no log is kept of days off
@Jobvo

81. 3. Freedom to live a better life
No set hours, required hours or
tracking of hours
We only look at how well you do your job
@Jobvo

82. 4. We spend a lot of time bonding
@Jobvo

83. 4. Bonding
Daily team call
@Jobvo

84. 4. Bonding
Summits
@Jobvo

85. 4. Bonding
Travel to meet colleagues
@Jobvo

86. @Jobvo