alohaandmahalo

GitLab team member here for over 3 years. Can confirm, it works exactly as advertised. The detailed description above is totally in line with my experience.

The two essential elements of why this works.

1. Communication (both formal — work related — and informal) is explicitly defined. https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/

2. There's absolute executive sponsorship to work "handbook-first." If it's not in the handbook, it's as if it doesn't exist. The top-down belief in the system enables it to function. https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/handbook...

We recently codified the operating model in a course we're calling TeamOps. It's a first iteration, but anyone is welcome to take the course and provide feedback. https://about.gitlab.com/teamops/

Thanks for the kind words! Darren from GitLab here. It's a gift to see the world embracing these shifts and building more flexible workplaces. Onward!

Darren here from GitLab — warms my heart to hear that our remote guides are being used and making lives/companies better. Thank you!

Love this approach to using GitLab to incorporate intentional documentation in sync meetings. I work at GitLab, and we use the platform to collaborate, but I've not used it as described here. We'll have to give it a try!

Lots of great advice already given.

If you want a 1:1 advisor, I recommend Jordan Carroll: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanscarroll/

Thanks for the share!

Happy to discuss takeaways here if folks are interested. (I work at GitLab and helped architect this report.)

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

"but to actually perform thinking writing" <- This is well articulated, thanks for framing this in a way that is widely understandable.

We have a guide that covers top attributes of great remote hires. This will be merged into that guide soon: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_request...

We use video at GitLab. Lots of it embedded in our remote management course through Coursera, for example: https://www.coursera.org/learn/remote-team-management

We also have GitLab Unfiltered, where you'll find some tutorials, recordings of sync meetings, etc. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL05JrBw4t0Kq7QUX-Ux5f...

We have an Efficiency sub-value called 'Write Things Down' which helps to explain this: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/values/#write-things-down

Video has some pros (extra visual context, more engaging, more human) and cons (longer to consume, harder to search, typically creates double work having to record + document textually). Each company will likely view mediums slightly differently.

GitLab team member here. Written communication is vital in a remote company, and makes all types of companies operate more transparently and efficiently.

At GitLab, we don't just document to document. Instead, we recommend a "handbook-first" approach, which we outline here in our public handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/handbook...

We're also articulate about what we expect in terms of writing style guidelines, part of our Communications handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#writing-sty...

That's essentially how we interpreted it as well. Tools are still important, and useful in the right context, but we're in a period now where tools are not hindering remote proliferation.

Great points. Some interesting survey results from Gartner here that may be interesting to you: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-04-0...

Awesome to hear this. The "same playing field" bit is significant.

Flexibility is key. Even at GitLab, you don't have to work from home. You can expense external office and/or coworking fees: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/spending-company-money/#co...

This is a challenge at the moment, as those who do work outside of their homes have been forced back into them due to travel restrictions (which is what most of the suddenly-remote workforce is also managing).

You aren't alone. It's easy to conflate "remote" with what's happening right now, but it's not the same. Crisis-induced work-from-home while doubling as a homeschool teacher is not the same as properly organized remote work.

Less to do with home and more to do with everything outside of work impacting work.

More here: https://twitter.com/shanselman/status/1252040170783641600?s=...

Here's GitLab's guide on async: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/asynchro...

It's a challenge for suddenly-remote companies which aren't used to working this way, especially if all work communication isn't funneled through a tool that is designed for async workflows. The benefit of a remote organization which was designed as remote is people opt-in to those workflows.

Much has been said about transitioning from colocated to remote, but remote teams would struggle as well if suddenly forced into the office. It's worth recognizing that part of the challenge is the sudden shift in environment, regardless of origin and destination.

The super power you mention has elements of truth to it. Some people naturally prefer to work this way, while others prefer sync. It is tougher on those who prefer sync to suddenly need to work async.

The 'Residence Country' is listed on Page 7. Fair point on reiterating in the 'Methodology' section on Page 3. Thanks!

Tough to fully answer this question without context, but a few thoughts which may be useful. I work at GitLab, the world's largest all-remote organization, and have 14 years of experience in remote settings. I penned the guides you'll see below.

Hybrid-remote environments are tough if you don't have leadership on the office side of the equation implementing remote-first practices, such that everything is optimized for remote-first. Otherwise, your remote staff are always a second tier and at a disadvantage. https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/how-to-w...

It's possible that you're operating in Phase 1 of remote adaptation, which is imitating the design, structure, norms, ebbs and flows of an office environment. This is passable but not optimal. https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/phases-o...

Many office norms become slower when you try to copy/paste into a virtual world, which sheds light on the reality that those norms aren't the ideal way to accomplish the work. Instead of looking through the lens of "why doesn't this process transfer well to the virtual world?," look through the lens of "how could we be a more transparent and efficient team if we didn't have the burdens of the office?" In a way, it's scarcity vs. abundance mindset. https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/what-not...

Remote isn't for everything, and it isn't for everyone. It needs to be implemented well with intentional leaders, just the same as a colocated team needs intentional leadership to thrive. The conversation is often framed as us vs. them because that's the recipe for clicks, but it's a weak argument. Remote can work, colocated can work. You need great leadership, documented processes and culture, and company-wide trust in both instances.

I've built a library of guides, all public in the GitLab handbook. http://allremote.info/

The one below seems most germane for your particular question.

How to adjust to remote for workers: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/remote-w...

Remote work emergency plan for leaders/companies: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/remote-w...

Happy to answer questions about remote as well!

Loads of guides in the links Sid mentioned.

Plenty to watch in our Remote Work playlist at GitLab Unfiltered: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL05JrBw4t0Kq7QUX-Ux5f...

We're doing a webinar on Friday (2020-03-13) and would be happy to answer Qs there as well: https://gitlab.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hSUtLvcSTsqQ7ftNb...

Thanks for including GitLab in the report, Hrishikesh!

For those looking to learn more on remote, or leaders/founders considering it, here are a few resources that were used in this survey.

GitLab's Guide to All-Remote: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/

Informal Communication: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/informal...

People: adopting a remote lifestyle: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/people/

Guide for starting a remote job: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/getting-...

Thanks for reading the GitLab handbook! We're building out the all-remote sections, including a new section on onboarding within learning & development: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/learning...

Regarding social interactions while remote, check out the informal communication page: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/informal...

I've started to do lightning interviews with GitLab team members to give insights on questions like these. Our first few snapshot interviews are in the remote playlist on the GitLab Unfiltered YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL05JrBw4t0Kq7QUX-Ux5f...

If you have more questions, check out our Pick Your Brain submission: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/pick-you...

Thanks very much! We're building out the all-remote section with new pages on a regular basis. Just added dedicated sections for people, jobs, meetings, compensation, hiring, etc.

I recently joined GitLab to lead its all-remote initiatives. I've lived and worked remotely in a variety of settings (all-remote, remote-first, part-remote, etc.) and I'm building out pages within GitLab's publicly accessible All-Remote section to hopefully answer questions like these. The hub is here (as mentioned by langitbiru — thank you!): https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/

We're sharing what we've learned scaling the company to over 800 people across nearly 60 countries, 100% remote with no offices. The goal is to share this knowledge and see other organizations replicate, iterate, and evolve.

Some of the more recent ones are below.

People: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/people/

Jobs: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/jobs/

Hiring: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/hiring/

Compensation: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/compensa...

Learning and Development: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/learning...

Informal Communication: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/informal...

Meetings: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/meetings...

Part-remote: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/part-rem...

Remote work conferences, summits, and events: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/events/

Advantages and benefits: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/benefits...

Disadvantages: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/drawback...

More to come! If you have questions on making all-remote work, hiring all-remote workers, or managing/communicating in an all-remote environment, leave a comment! We're always looking for challenges happening across the space, so we can ideally find and document solutions.