Team Member Realignment to Verify and Fulfillment
Transparency
As a plan for resources realignments - this issue is was not public and was originally in an internally controlled (not all GitLab team members had access) project. We strived to make internal when appropriate with all team members as quickly as possible by transferring it to this now internal project but originally kept it confidential (non-public). We since made the issue public as quickly as possible.
Overview
With our hiring pause, we're likely to spend significant portions of the fiscal year under-invested in some key IACV driving Product Groups (Verify:CI, Verify:Runner, and Growth:Fulfillment) at a critical time for the company. Without the option to hire externally, we've decided it is necessary to ask some individuals to transfer to high priority vacancies in order to rebalance investments across Product Groups.
Rationale
If we consider the entire Ops Section a North Star Metric AARRR funnel through our user adoption journey, it's critical that we acquire and activate more users to GitLab CI in order to enable more usage of later stages. The work the CI and Runner teams are doing is focused on that enablement including easy adoption of GitLab Runners for self-managed customers as well as migration to GitLab CI from other platforms. In both groups there are also critical IACV drivers for large prospect opportunities.
As a global optimization outside of the Ops Section, we've also been asked to contribute to the realignment across sections of development team members in support of an increased focus on Fulfillment. These groups are critical to ensuring we properly focus our R&D investment and contain costs for GitLab.com to ensure other painful realignments are not required.
Current, Planned and Adjusted End-State
Here is the current, FY2021 planned and adjusted end-state for GitLab Product Groups in the Verify and Monitor stages as a result of this background.
Group | Current - BE | Current - FE | Planned - BE | Planned - FE | Adjusted - BE | Adjusted - FE |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Growth:Fulfillment | +1 | |||||
Verify:CI | 5 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 7 (+2) | 4 (+1 Backfill received from Package:Package) |
Verify:Runner | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 7 (+1) | 0 |
Package:Package | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 (-1 Backfill transfered to Verify:CI) |
Monitor:APM | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 (-2) | 4 |
Monitor:Health | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 (-1) | 3 (-1 converting to BE) |
As shown in the table above, we are asking for engineers from these teams to consider transferring:
- Monitor:APM - 2 Backend Engineers
- Monitor:Health - 1 Backend Engineer and 1 Frontend Engineer
Who is being asked to transfer?
We are asking intermediate engineers in Monitor:Health BE and Monitor:APM BE to consider transferring into high priority roles within the Verify:CI, Verify:Runner, Growth:Fulfillment groups. The rationale for asking intermediate engineers to transfer is:
- Retaining senior engineers in the Monitor groups will help keep these teams viable and making progress on their important priorities.
- The Verify groups are currently senior heavy.
- These are good growth and mentorship opportunities for intermediate engineers.
We are planning to get input from each team member involved and work hard to accommodate each person's preferences as much as possible.
Things to Keep in Mind
- While the Verify and Fulfillment groups are critical to our short-term IACV goals, we remain bullish about the long-term impact of the Monitor and Package stages. We intend to keep these product groups viable and able to make forward progress.
- It might not feel like it, but 9 developer groups are above average for GitLab. We will strive to maintain at least 6 developers (FE + BE) in each product group.
- We want everyone to be in a role they find interesting and rewarding. Aligning skills, interest, and preferences with GitLab's business needs is important to ensuring these transfers have the desired impact.
Process for Individuals Transferring
If you are individual considering transfers to a new team here are the steps to follow:
- Learn about open positions. We will hold a Team Pitch Office Hours/AMA to help you learn about the positions and process.
- Reach out to hiring managers for positions you are interested in. If you're not sure who that hiring manager is or would like an introduction to them tell Sam Goldstein in slack. Let the hiring manager know you are interested in their team and ask them if they think you have the right skillset and experience for their role.
- Communicate your top 3 role preferences to Sam Goldstein via slack. If you need more time let Sam know and we can work with you.
AMA sessions
We'll be hosting two AMAs:
- 2020-05-20 4pm Pacific Time (APAC friendly) Video Recording
- 2020-05-21 8am Pacific Time (EMEA friendly) Video Recording
- AMA Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ceVBfeRCBySRF7KXTQ1uv3gIf3G00By7BH1XDeTQbv8/edit#
Team Pitch Office Hours
We’re holding these office hours to help folks learn about open positions in the Fulfillment, Verify:Runner, and Verify:CI teams. Members of those teams will share details about what is awesome and interesting about their teams and answer any questions.
Written Pitches
- Team pitch for Fulfillment: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lq3zewt1dY2rVKMiUCnEqNkGuAYdu4sin6Z2Vt5td2A/edit#
- Team pitch for Verify (CI & Runner): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1stU_fzFBmWw7ewdlr6Ja_o8DSgwtUoLq6xvHYj5yDyk/edit#
Meeting Times and Agenda
- 2020-05-27 4pm Pacific Time (APAC friendly) Video
- 2020-05-28 8am Pacific Time (EMEA friendly) Video
- Team Pitch Office Hours Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XcmNkoIqaZg_txNAbrHJqtQ7abuDb9Zu9Lu3V5hf3Vk/edit#
Actions
We will generally follow the Realignment of Resources impacting multiple team members handbook process.
Due End of Day 2020-05-04
-
Determine ideal plan for reallocation (DRI @kencjohnston) -
Add business priority, reference Direction and other CI/Runner work - @kencjohnston -
Communicate plans to Monitor Engineering Managers (DRI @sgoldstein) -
Communicate plans to Monitor PMs (DRI @kbychu) -
Draft communication document that explains the rationale and business need motivating the transfers - @kencjohnston -
Engage People Business Partner (Roos) to ensure we comply with all local labor laws
Week of May 11
-
Determine DRI to coordinate transfer process (@sgoldstein)
Week of May 18
Wednesday May 20
-
Make this issue public, communicate in #ops-section channel that AMAs will be held tomorrow (@sgoldstein). -
Monitor and Package EMs communicate realignment plans to their teams and refer them to this issue for more details. -
Send out invites to AMA meetings (APAC & EMEA) (@sgoldstein) -
APAC friendly AMA meeting 4pm Pacific (@sgoldstein)
Thursday May 21
-
EMEA friendly AMA meeting 8am Pacific (@sgoldstein)
By Friday May 22
-
Communicate this realignment more broadly and highlight the ongoing strategic importance of our investment in Monitor stage teams to the entire company - @kencjohnston and @adawar -
Draft "team pitch" document that includes useful information for engineers considering transfers (e.g. what you might work on and why it matters) -
Verify:CI (DRI @darbyfrey) -
Verify:Runner (DRI @darbyfrey) -
Growth:Fulfillment (DRI @bmarnane )
-
Week of May 25
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Hold Team Pitch Office Hours to discuss Verify and Fulfillment roles, transfer process, and any questions (DRI @sgoldstein)
Week of June 1
-
Collect team member preferences from Monitor and Package Engineers (DRI @sgoldstein)
Week of June 8
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Transfer DRI and People Business Partner complete process for matching individuals to roles (DRI @rtakken @sgoldstein ) -
Transfer plan is reviewed with impacted individuals and finalized.
Week of June 15
-
Transfers move to their new roles. There may be exceptions if folks need more time to transition in flight work or key systems. In those cases we'll determine the effective date of the transfer with the individuals involved.
Note on comments on this issue
The description of this issue contains up to date information. Comments don't represent current status, but are available for transparency and feedback.