David DeSanto is the chief product officer of GitLab, which is the largest remoteonly company in the world. They share many of their team meetings on YouTube, and they’ve grown from being an opensource code management product competing with GitHub to a multiproduct platform that covers security, compliance, continuous integration, project management, and deployment tools, many of which are infused with AI magic. In our conversation, we discuss:
• How GitLab operationalizes transparency
• The philosophy behind recording and sharing team meetings on YouTube
• Their extensive public employee handbook
• GitLab’s core value of having “short toes”
• Challenges and advice for doing remote work well
• Strategies for ensuring effective communication in a remote work environment
• GitLab’s breadthoverdepth strategy
• The company’s unique approach to AI
• The value of using humor in highstakes conversations

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Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/th...

Where to find David DeSanto:
• X:   / david_desanto  
• LinkedIn:   / ddesanto  
• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@david.the.beard

Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X:   / lennysan  
• LinkedIn:   / lennyrachitsky  

In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) David’s background
(04:20) Maintaining an epic beard
(05:29) Why GitLab publicly shares team meetings
(09:49) The GitLab Handbook
(11:30) GitLab’s issue tracker
(14:29) How to successfully build a culture of transparency
(18:11) Benefits of operating with transparency
(19:55) The value of building in public
(21:53) How GitLab implements their core value of kindness
(25:16) What it means to have “short toes”
(27:41) Other core values
(32:16) Common reasons for not fitting in at GitLab
(34:42) Advice for remote teams
(42:04) Advice for getting into product
(43:52) Advice for PMs who are struggling in a remote world
(48:25) Specific tools that help with remote work
(53:13) Time zones and remote work
(57:18) Breadthoverdepth strategy
(01:04:14) AI at GitLab
(01:13:11) GitLab’s products and solutions
(01:14:54) Lightning round

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.