Manage 201s

The goal of a 201 session is to share knowledge about a particular topic, with the assumption that recipients already have some basic understanding or aptitude for the given subject. This is a useful initiative within Engineering teams to mitigate dependencies between specific engineers and areas of the codebase, while also improving team collaboration. An example format guideline:

  • Introduction (why does this feature exist?)
  • Demo (what problem does it solve?)
  • Implementation Overview (how is it implemented?)
  • Q&A

Sessions

topic host date video complete
SAML @jamedjo 15 Nov YouTube / Slides (internal) / pdf ✅
Import/Export @jameslopez 3 Dec YouTube / Slides (internal) / MR ✅
How We (Manage) Do Vue.js @dennis 12 Dec YouTube / Slides ✅
SmartCard Authentication @ifarkas 17 Dec YouTube / Slides (internal) ✅
E2E Testing @sliaquat Q119 - -
Customer Subscriptions @rdavila TBC - -
i18n @lmcandrew TBC - -
Auditing

Scheduling

If you are going to run a session please create the calendar invite and add the Manage team (and wider if you wish). To avoid 201 Fatigue, please try to not schedule more than 1 session per week.

It would be useful to record these sessions so we can share them in the future. Please update the table above with the video link after the session.

Preparation steps

If you're new to presenting at GitLab the steps can be a bit daunting. The steps are mostly in the handbook, but are duplicated here to give an overview. Feel free to edit this and create MRs to improve the handbook.

Schedule the call

  1. Ensure you have a Pro zoom account by checking the web interface. This is needed so the call length isn't limited and to cloud record.
  2. Duplicate the presentation template and get a sharing URL to add to the calendar. This will avoid spamming attendees by editing the description later. You can make it private or include a WIP slide until nearer the talk. Ideally, use the Manage 201 Google Drive folder
  3. Use the Zoom App to schedule the call.
  • Set a title as this will be used for the recording
  • Set it to record automatically
  • Have it create a Google Calendar event as this will include the Zoom URL.
  1. Use the Manage calendar and 'invite' the Team Meetings calendar to it.

Publicise the 201

  1. Update this issue
  2. Mention it in #g_manage on slack including date, time, presentation link and zoom URL
  3. Invite anyone who'll be particularly interested in that topic to the calendar event
  4. Announce it on the company call
  5. Just before the call you might want to remind people in #general on slack including the zoom/presentation links

Preparation tips

  • A dry run really helps. Doing this through zoom means you can record it and play it back, as well as share the live zoom link to get more feedback.
  • For a long talk stamina becomes more important; find ways to keep your energy up! I gave myself cues to remind myself of this as well as breaks.
  • The primary audience will be slightly familiar with the topic but other attendees will be more interested in the high level overview. When mentioning my talk on the team call I forgot to describe what SAML was 🤦🏽
  • I used a second screen with a smaller resolution for the presentation & demo, so that any text would be bigger on the video. I also increased the font size in my text editor and terminal.
  • There are tips at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/group-conversations/, such as turning off notifications

After the call

  1. The recording will be available through the Zoom web interface after processing
  2. Upload it to the Manage 201 Google Drive folder.
  3. Upload it to youtube.
  1. Create a pdf of the talk to avoid the GitLab community needing Google Drive permissions for access.
  2. Update this issue with links to the presentation/pdf/youtube
  3. Link to the talk from relevant development docs so the community can discover it.
Edited by Imre Farkas