What Leo saw at PostHog, 1. The copy and paste that lasted three years
In May 2021 PostHog's handbook said to copy customer conversations from Slack into the CRM by hand, 'until we have a way to integrate the two'. Leo named the integration. The workaround went on 24 June 2024, 1,137 days after it was written down.
PostHog builds product analytics, and like GitLab it runs on a public handbook. We gave Leo the handbook exactly as it stood on 31 December 2021, and nothing later.
PostHog had no part in this
We used PostHog's handbook because it is public and openly licensed (MIT, copyright PostHog Inc). PostHog did not take part, and nothing here is PostHog's view of Leo. Every quote below links back to PostHog's own pages and commits.
The claims, and where to check them
| Claim | Where to check it |
|---|---|
| PostHog's handbook told staff to copy customer conversations from Slack into HubSpot by hand, "until we have a way to integrate the two" | PostHog's CRM page, 31 Dec 2021 (the page at that commit) |
| That line went into the handbook on 14 May 2021 | PostHog's commit 7c650f1e |
| On 24 June 2024 it was replaced: the CRM moved to Salesforce and Slack messages began to sync automatically | PostHog's commit bf5f3e1f |
| That is 1,137 days from the workaround being written down to its going | Our arithmetic from the two commits |
| Leo read PostHog's 121 page handbook in under an hour of reading, for under US$10 | Leo's own run log |
The work as it was
PostHog wanted every customer conversation in one place, its CRM, HubSpot. But customers answered on Slack far more than on email, so that is where the conversations happened. The handbook was frank about the gap: "We've seen much higher response rates on Slack than email. You can copy paste from there into Hubspot until we have a way to integrate the two."
So every useful Slack conversation with a customer was meant to be copied into HubSpot, by hand, by whoever had it.
What Leo saw
Leo joined the CRM page with the support pages and the sign-up automation, and saw two things. The copy and paste, which the handbook itself called temporary. And the shared hey@ inbox, which seemed to be read in two tools at once, HubSpot for sales and a support tool for support.
The ways forward
- Redesign: one place to triage the inbox. hey@ is read and passed on in one place, not two.
- Eliminate: the copy and paste goes. Integrate Slack with the CRM, which the handbook says is the intent, and nobody copies a conversation again.
What happened next
- 2022 and 2023. The line stayed, word for word.
- January 2024. Still there.
- 24 June 2024. The CRM page was rewritten around Salesforce, and the copy and paste was gone: Slack messages now sync with each customer's record automatically.
The difference is time
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 14 May 2021 | The copy and paste workaround is written into the handbook, "until we have a way to integrate the two" |
| 31 December 2021 | The handbook Leo was given. Leo names the integration as a way forward |
| 24 June 2024 | The workaround goes, 1,137 days after it was written down |
PostHog knew this was a stopgap; it said so. What Leo adds is that it sees the stopgap on a first read, among everything else, and keeps it on the table until the day it goes.
What this does not show
The handbook does not say how many conversations were copied, or how many were not. It does not show why the integration took three years: a CRM change is a big decision, and PostHog moved to a different CRM altogether. Leo's card records that the way was taken, not why it took this long.
Leo learns how a business really runs by reading what its people write and talking with them, lays out the ways the work could go, side by side, and keeps the choice with the people who make it. When they take a path, its card records it, including one Leo did not offer.