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The handbook is our way of making sure that all of our organizational information is accessible to everyone, regardless of when they became part of the team, and for those who are looking to partner or work with us. This is our single source of truth.

A limited amount of information is “internal-only,” to protect sensitive information. In general, however, our bias is towards transparency. When information is “internal-only,” it will still be accessible from the Handbook via links to documents in the GitLab Foundation shared drive, which will only be accessible by team members. This ensures that everyone has access to information that can be safely shared. This also supports our values, including transparency, efficiency, and results.

At the Foundation, we take iteration and continuous learning seriously. The Handbook reflects this mindset and will be continuously updated.

What Won't be Shared?

While the GitLab Foundation takes a Handbook-first approach, some things can't be made public and are either internal to the foundation or have limited access even within the foundation. We use the following guidelines when determining what will or will not be publicly available:

Internal-Only

Things that are internal-only are available to team members at the GitLab Foundation. Everything should be accessible from the handbook, but not everything will be publicly accessible (certain links and documents). Specifically, the following information is internal-only:

GitLab Foundation shared drive

  1. Sensitive information that would compromise our team members’, grantees’ or partners’ personal information (such as location, identification information, health, or information that would compromise the safety of a team member, partner or others)
  2. Security vulnerabilities: some information around our systems and processes that could make us vulnerable to attackers
  3. Financial information including the financial systems we use
  4. Legal contracts with external parties
  5. Communications planning around announcements, press releases and reports to be released
  6. Specific details about our hiring, including candidate names and completed candidate scoring rubrics; general information about our hiring process is available in the Handbook
  7. Brainstorming documents or documents that need to be reviewed or approved by DRIs before sharing externally

Limited Internal Access

Leadership-Confidential shared drive

Items below are not shared with the external public or certain team members outside of the President & CEO, Director of Operations and Finance Consultant unless explicitly stated:

  1. Team member information including job applications, reference checks, compensation and terminations details, demographic information (age and date of birth, family or marital status, national identification such as passport details or tax ID, required accommodations), home address.
  2. Compensation changes and the inputs in determining changes
    1. Managers will have access to this information for their team members
  3. Performance and evaluations, improvement plans, disciplinary actions and individual team member feedback
    1. Managers will have access to this information for their team members
  4. Whistleblower identities.

Handbook DRIs

The Foundation has assigned handbook DRIs who are responsible for maintaining key sections of the Foundation’s handbook by iterating and responding to/addressing questions and comments. Only the assigned DRI and Director of Operations have the ability to make edits to each section of the Handbook. Team members and others are able to comment. The DRIs are:

How to Contribute

The GitLab Foundation manages our Handbook with Notion. The Handbook is searchable and we welcome comments, questions, and suggestions. To do so, you will need to log into Notion using a valid email address, as anonymous comments aren't supported. Once logged in, you will be able to add a comment to any content block by clicking the comment bubble to the left. Type your comment and click on the blue arrow to post to the Handbook. DRIs will be responsible for deciding how to address inquiries on the Handbook on a bi-weekly basis.

How the Public Sees our Handbook

Our Handbook is public, so anyone on the web is able to read and interact with it and view other comments posted by the public (note that the public’s view through our website is different from our view using Notion). You should know:

  1. All subpages are published by default
  2. You can restrict subpage permissions to hide them from public view
  3. Your site's navigation appears as a breadcrumb menu at the top for all viewers
  4. At the top right, people can Search the content of your page (and all its sub-pages).
  5. How to share the public Handbook:
    1. Click Share at the top right of the Introduction page
    2. Click Copy; the URL is copied to the clipboard for pasting or sharing

Commenting Enabled

The public is allowed to comment on our Handbook. In order to comment, individuals need to be signed into Notion as a user (this is free for users). Only individuals logged into Notion will be able to leave comments. Anonymous comments aren't supported. Anyone who isn't logged into a Notion account will see the read-only version.

Managing Inquiries and Updates

  1. DRIs must review page-specific Handbook comments on the second and last Friday of every month and determine how best to respond. DRI’s are not required to respond to every comment and will use their best judgment as to when a response or action is warranted.
  2. If the comment or suggestion has been addressed, or if the DRI has determined that a response is unnecessary, the DRI should resolve the comment:
    1. Hover over the comment, and click •••
    2. You'll see an option to Resolve (makes the thread disappear), Edit comment, and Delete comment
      1. Click the Resolve button to make the thread disappear
    3. If you are unsure of if or how to respond, you can link to the comment and share with the team in the #Handbook channel.
  3. Team members may view Handbook changes in the workspace settings.
  4. DRIs should share important Handbook changes and additions to the Handbook Zoom channel if they believe it is important for the team to be aware of (i,e., organizational policies, changes in ways of working, etc). Minor changes (grammar, spelling, etc. do not need to be shared).