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Library/Case studies/GitLab

GitLab

An all remote software company that runs on a public handbook. Leo read it as it stood on 31 December 2019, and we followed what happened next, to 2023.

Source: GitLab's public handbook, CC BY-SA 4.0

5 entries here

ArticleWhat Leo saw at GitLab, 1. The payroll that was typed by handIn January 2020, adding a new hire to GitLab's US payroll took 28 hand steps between two systems. Leo found it on its first read of the handbook. Three years later the steps were still there.Finance · People · 4 min readArticleWhat Leo saw at GitLab, 2. One fault, three hand fixes, and the team that removed themIn January 2020 GitLab's support team ran a two hour Salesforce to Zendesk sync by hand two or three times a week to correct one fault. Leo joined three separate hand fixes into one problem. 27 days later, GitLab's team removed them, and the commit says why.Sales · Customer support · 5 min readArticleWhat Leo saw at GitLab, 3. A promotion copied into five places, and the path nobody offeredIn 2019 an approved promotion at GitLab was retyped into five places from the HR system. Leo offered two ways to stop the copying. GitLab chose a third in 2022: it replaced the HR system. Leo's card records the path it did not offer.People · 4 min readArticleWhat Leo saw at GitLab, 4. Who owns which customer, kept in four placesAt GitLab in 2019, who owns which customer was kept in four places that had to agree, and no single page said so. Leo joined the pages. Through 2021 the territory page was edited 86 times, one move at a time. Then the handbook copy went.Sales · 4 min readArticleWhat Leo saw at GitLab, 5. The investor update built by hand from 14 sourcesEvery month in 2019 GitLab's investor update was built by hand from 14 sources, and it went out before the books closed. Leo found the clash by reading two pages side by side. Two years later the monthly update was gone: GitLab reported quarterly as a public company.Reporting · Finance · 3 min read