Hard to believe it’s already just over a year in the “new” role and 6.5 years at GitLab. If you’re interested in an explanation of my current role/team and what I was working on in the first 6 or so months, check out my previous reflection post.
Handbook project
I talked about managing the GitLab handbook in my previous reflection post, and I’ve spent a significant amount of time continuing to do that.
In addition to the things I mentioned in the previous post, we added and fixed a bunch of stuff including basic monitoring. I finished:
- Adding Mastodon social icon with link when present for team member
- Adding a file size check
- Fixing all internal handbook links and update internal link check job
- Creating a monthly maintenance tasks template
- Automate a bunch of maintenance tasks
- More documentation, including partials
- Fixing a bunch of bugs, such as performance indicator page not refreshing and linter checks taking forks into account
You can see a more substantial list with all the things other team members have contributed in the recent handbook updates.
I’m also in the process of transferring ownership to the Learning and Development team. Our team wasn’t meant to own the handbook long term, so part of my responsibilities in taking ownership (for the time being) was to create a plan, recommend options, and follow through on finding a new owner.
We’ve completed the training, but will be sharing maintenance tasks this month, and “shadowing” maintenance tasks next month, then do the official handover.
Other projects and work
I’ve continued to do stuff that happens quarterly, such as kick-off/assembly logistics. I’ve been helping with the talk tracks too, which has been interesting to do.
Otherwise, I’ve continued to collaborate with and support the other members of the team. For example:
- AI research, such as a high-level feasibility study for implementing a possible new feature
- Sit in on CEO calls with external people (when requested) to take notes and follow-up on action items
- Provide program management support on initiatives other OCEO members are working on, like “project panda”
- Create feature requests or bug issues
- Author (the initial draft of) MRs on others’ behalf, such as adding to our iteration value
I’ve also been doing some internal consulting type work for other departments. Namely, for teams that don’t have someone who knows the product really well, especially the API, to advise on third-party integrations; or may want someone who is familiar with certain company processes, such as onboarding. It’s been nice to work with some departments that I didn’t used to work with.
My manager has also been helping me improve how I communicate with senior leaders to get my point across concisely in a well-structured way, and focusing on the right information when doing updates or follow-ups.
Recently, I’ve been the onboarding buddy for our two recent Staff Backend Engineer hires as well.
Of course, I’ve continued to mentor people through our internal mentorship program, and Support Driven’s Aspire program. I typically have two mentees at once for each program. Thankfully they don’t overlap much.
And… that’s kind of it for the highlights.
Although, I say “that’s it”, that’s quite a lot, simply summarized into a short list. I have been spending a fair amount of my time on the handbook, trying to finish a bunch of issues and clean up before the handover.
Apologies if this post is a bit short, and possibly less insightful than usual. If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to dive into more, let me know.
What’s next
It’s hard to say what’s next actually. I know there will be some CEO-related stuff I’ll need to continue to do, and I need to finish the handbook transition. Otherwise, we have a new CEO, and our team will be temporarily reporting to others while our manager is on leave for a couple of months. So, come back in 6 months if you’re interested in finding out what happens next.
