Diana's README

Hi, I'm Diana. I'm a work in progress, and so is my README. I'm a Technical Writing Manager at GitLab. I use she/her pronouns.

Who I am

• I was born in the UK in the beautiful county of Somerset.
• I now live north of London, in rural Bedfordshire with my husband and our two teenagers.
• I received a degree in German and History from the University of London, Queen Mary College.
• I started my career in Munich, Germany at a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software startup.
• My first role was in implementation consulting and training. I spent most of my time onsite at enterprise customers in Europe, North America, and Asia.
• When I wasn't travelling, I was writing software documentation, training materials, and implementation guides.
• I saw the transformative power of good documentation and moved into Technical Writing full time.
• I've been leading remote and hybrid technical writing teams in a Git and docs as code environment since 2016.
• I joined GitLab in April 2021.

Working with me

• I am a morning person, and like to start my day with quiet, focused work. I prefer meetings and coffee chats after 11 AM UTC.
• I appreciate context. I want to know why the work is important, and how it connects to the bigger picture of what we are trying to achieve at GitLab.
• Big, hairy, ambitious goals motivate me, and keep me engaged.
• I'm an optmistic pragmatist, and look for small ways to move forward. This trait helps me deal with ambiguity and complexity.
• I'm a manager who has grown to love being a manager. I am energized by the team that I support, and I love seeing them grow and develop their strengths.
• If I'm quiet, it's because I'm thinking before I speak. I appreciate the async work practices at GitLab that help me articulate my thoughts in writing first.
• I'm highly analytical, and enjoy finding broader themes and patterns in the world around me. I can also overthink things. If you see this happening, feel free to nudge me to action.
• I am skilled at leading difficult conversations. Managers and mentors past and present have invested in me, and continue to be intrinsic to the growth of this skill.