Chris Balane

Chris Balane's README

My role at GitLab

Principal Product Manager, GitLab Dedicated

Previously:

• Senior Product Manager, GitLab Dedicated
• Senior Product Manager, US Public Sector Services (and also supported the Dedicated Team and SaaS Platforms)
• Senior Product Manager, Release Stage

Who I am

• Chris is my preferred nickname.
• I was born in New York and have lived in the US for my entire life. I currently reside in Washington, DC.
• I am Filipino
• My academic background is in Computer Science. I have a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University and a Master of Science degree from the Johns Hopkins University.
• Music is my first passion and lifetime hobby. I love nearly all forms of music and have spent my whole life learning to play musicical instruments. My main instruments include piano, electric and acoustic guitar, and electric bass.

How I work

• Timezone is ET; hours are usually 1000-1800 and I take a break at 1200 to work out and eat lunch. I mostly work regular hours but will sometimes take advantage of GitLab’s support for non-linear workdays.
• I use TODOs and issues as much as I can but Slack DM can be good for urgent things
• I am mission and outcome driven
• I love learning and am very curious about most things
• I don’t shy away from very difficult challenges or problems and will aim to solve them myself; I’m learning how to better communicate this upwards. This may result in me usually saying things are good
• I do not like to be micro-managed and work best in an empowered team when I have a sense of ownership and direct responsibility for my scope
• I appreciate process when it is well-thought out and contributes to efficiency and quality, but not process for the sake of process.
• 16personalities: ENTJ-A
• Insights Discovery: Reforming Director