 Hello and welcome to the Women in Leadership panel. Thank you for taking the time to join our GitLab culture open house. My name is Beverly Rufner and I am the People Experience Team Lead here at GitLab. I'm based in Johannesburg, South Africa and we'll be moderating today's session. Before we kick off, I would like to give a quick shout out to the work to make this event possible along with Megan, who is making magic coordinating everything on the back end. Let's get started with a quick few introductions. Starting off with Carol, who you heard from in the welcome session. Yeah, thanks Beverly. Hi everybody, I'm Carol Teske. I'm in the people success part of GitLab. I've been with GitLab coming up on two years, it'll be two years in January. And working on the, as I say in the people side, I'm based in Dublin, in Ireland. And over to you next over to Helen. Helen, thanks. It seems like Helen is having a little technical glitch. Can we hand over to Ramya? Sure, yeah, thanks Beverly. And so this is Ramya and I'm with the Quality Engineering Department. I'm one of the engineering managers there. And I'm with GitLab for the past two years and I just completed my second year last month. And I'm based in India and specifically in Chennai. And yeah, that's mainly about it. And I'm mainly managing the depth of products part of engineering. So thank you. Thanks so much, Ramya. Rachel, if you want to pick up next. Hi, my name is Rachel and I'm an engineering manager inside of the infrastructure department. I'm responsible for the team that looks at the scalability of GitLab.com. We have both site reliability engineers and back end engineers in my team. And I've been with GitLab for two years now. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Rachel. Helen, if you want to do a quick introduction. Yeah, sure. I'm Helen Mason. I look after the sales team for Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia, Japan, Pacific within our SMB sales division. Wonderful. Thank you so much. We're going to kick off with a couple of questions. If you'd like to engage directly with any of the panelists, you can do so immediately after the session in the networking area. OK, we're going to start with the first question, which is what opportunities around mentorship are available at GitLab? I'm going to push this to Helen and Ramya if you'd like to kick off. Sure. So our people group have been putting a lot of effort into mentorship and what I find particularly encouraging is that there's been a strong focus on underrepresented groups as well. So as an example, I'm part of the initial pilot of our Women in Sales Mentorship Program. And that's seen me paired with our Chief Revenue Officer, Mike McBride, which I would never have got this chance in previous roles. And it shows me that GitLab, you know, really cares about the development of its employees. That's wonderful. Thanks. Yeah, so just to add to what Helen said, like we also have a few other mentoring programs as well. And I was part of the Minorities in Tech Mentoring Program, which happened recently. So that was like really useful for me. And I got, I mean, I was mentored by the VP of Development. And that was a great experience. I had got a lot. I mean, I learned a lot in different aspects actually. So that was a great thing. And this, in fact, this actually helped a lot, especially this is because Minorities in Tech, right? So it actually, it helped me to be, I felt more included and that really helped me to collaborate better. So those were a few things that actually helped me. And apart from that, there are also these programs called for external mentoring. We have these programs with Plata HQ and I did participate in that. But one of my team members did. And she had great feedback about that as well. And it helped her a lot. So that's something which I wanted to just highlight here. Also about the internship program itself, right? So we also have that, especially for the students. And that's another platform where we get to mentor people outside of GitLab. Great. Thank you so much, Ramya. I appreciate that. Beverly, I might just pop in there just before we move on. There was just two things I wanted to add. One, just for people internally, our team members in GitLab. And that we do have also an internship for learning. So if you're potentially thinking of changing roles or changing groups, there is that availability in the company where you can spend 10% of your time in another function. And really, I just added that it is an area for you before you make a decision. So that was one thing. And the other thing I just wanted to say as well in relation to the women in the sales mentorship program, as somebody who's mentoring somebody in sales, I would say it's hugely beneficial as well for the mentors. We're learning an awful lot and learning a lot about the different functions that people are in, but also learning from those that we are and then tease out. So I'm looking forward to seeing about the minorities in tech programs scale throughout the organization. Thank you so much for sharing, Carol. Our next question is, what are the ways in which GitLab is demonstrating a commitment to support gender diversity? I'm going to put this out to Carol and Helen if you wouldn't mind answering. Sure. We have a lot of initiatives. So our recruiting team is continually looking to make sure it sources diverse candidates so that we as hiring managers can make an informed decision based on a diverse pool of people that we're talking to. We also have a rule that states that at least one woman should be involved in the interview process. And as a woman, I find that particularly compelling because sometimes, you know, we may be able to pick up certain biases that maybe other underrepresented groups might not be able to. Obviously, we've mentioned the women in sales mentorship program, which is, you know, has the ultimate goal of helping women move up the career ladder within GitLab. And something else I think is really important to mention. We also have some initiatives to support our non-binary siblings as well. So we're we're talking healthcare in the US that isn't discriminatory to gender non-binary or trans folk as well. And I think that's particularly important because it isn't just male and female. There are other genders to consider as well. So I'm proud of GitLab for for supporting that. Helen, I'm going to hand over to Carol. Yeah, thanks for that. I think the few other things from a practical perspective, I'd add to what Helen said is that we do have a women's slack channel, which is a safe space for all their members to discuss their resources and feel connected with other team members who identify as a woman in the company. And from a company perspective, we try to have as inclusive benefits as possible. So one example is our parental leave, which is 16 weeks paid time off for those that are heavy, they're had a child or adoption in the first year of parental parenthood. And the other thing pieces around the TMRG. So TMRG is a team member of resource groups and we do have a women's TMRG, which again is a place where you can network, leverage resources and really is is a great resource. And I think all those things are are excellent. But from a company perspective, we need to be able to make sure that we're on track and we're measuring how we're doing. So we do have KPIs in place, particularly for women gender at the moment and that we are looking at how we could build these out further for underrepresented groups. But we more recently moved our women's target from 30% to 40% because we had hit the 30% mark and we now increase it to constantly push ourselves to make sure we are increasing the balance. And we're focusing very much on leadership as well. Like, how can we make sure that as women come into the company that they are able to have as much career advancement and opportunity as as anybody else in the company? So they're the other pieces that I would add. Thank you so much, Carol. The women's channel is definitely one of my favorites. The next question we have is how was how was your experience at GetLab been different than your experience at other companies? I'm going to push this to Rachel first, and then we'll follow with Helen and Ramya. Thanks, Beverly. I found my experience at GetLab was was interesting from being the first completely remote and asynchronous company that I'd worked for. And I find that even after two years, the asynchronous experience continues to amaze me. Initially, I found it quite difficult to translate the in-office experience that I had. To both being remote and then to being asynchronous. And so many of the techniques I have for managing people are based on seeing them every day and being in-person and how to communicate effectively in-person. So I found it a really big challenge to try and adjust all of those things that I'd learned to now be both not in-person and asynchronous. But I found that a lot of the other values at GetLab has made it easier to deal with that change, especially the one about transparency and having everything written down as far as possible. Without that, I think it would be very difficult to move to an asynchronous setting. But I'm thoroughly enjoying that change and the flexibility that it affords people in adjusting their work around the other aspects of life that they have to deal with. Thank you so much, Rachel. Ramya, if you would like to chime in. Yeah. So yeah, definitely my experience with GetLab was definitely different from what I had in the past. And this is my first remote company as well. And the best part about this whole thing is actually the remote nature of the company itself, right? So to be honest, it did take some time, like few weeks or so, to actually rewire and to actually understand what this actually means, the whole remote nature. But then when I understood that, like it gives me total control over my time, right? It's not like I'd stick to the nine to five job and then I should just work. I mean, it's not that I follow everything. I actually can decide what I want to do when and that gave me a lot of flexibility so that's something that I really enjoy about being here. So that's one of the things. And yeah, especially around this time, like when I should homeschool my kid, not exactly homeschool, but at least help her during her online classes. I can actually have this split, like maybe in the mornings, I just spend some time at work and then I get to spend some time with my kid and then get back to work. So I can actually break my day and this is, we call this the non-linear day, right? So this is actually something that's really great about being here. And I couldn't even think of it in any other company where I work previously, right? Because that was not even an option and it was like, this is actually great. So this is one. And the second thing that I really enjoyed being here is the diverse nature of the team itself, right? So for example, if I should talk about my own team, I have five more members in my immediate team and all the five members are from five different countries. So it's like, I've been working, I mean, I have worked with people from different countries in the past, but this is like, I've never worked in such a diverse team, definitely. And yeah, this is actually very nice to understand the culture and the uniqueness of different people as well as to understand the differences in how, I mean, the culture basically. And what I really feel is one thing that we could actually agree on. And I mean, I feel that the bit like values, right? So whatever is defined. And those are few things where we can actually, we can think of it as a unified culture and we can actually, we usually get to that and help use that during our interactions as well. So that's another thing that I really like about being here. And yeah, definitely this is like, these are few things that I totally enjoy about being here. So much Ramya, I'm gonna hand over to Helen. Yeah, I agree with everything that's been said so far. And I think one of the things that really has struck me since I joined GitLab is that we actually, we actually talk the talk as well as walking the walk. So, I've worked for a lot of companies where they talk about diversity and how important it is. And eventually you start to think, actually this is just words on the wall or this is just words on the website. But I feel like at GitLab we make such a huge effort to really live the values and hold people accountable for focusing on things like diversity and all of our values. And that's really refreshing. And I think a lot of that is down to the fact that it comes from the top, that CID is very, you know, very focused on making sure people uphold the values of the company. So it's refreshing because it's very easy to lose the values of a company if you're not keeping an eye on it. Thank you so much Helen. The next question we have is, what has been the most difficult part of balancing your job and personal life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Was this something you anticipated or was it something unexpected? I'm gonna hand this over to Carol and then we'll follow on with Rachel. Great, thanks. Yeah, I think a few thoughts on that. One is I had previously and then back in working in a co-working space because I found that that's how I make remote work for me. But when we were in full lockdown, for me, I was having to work from home all the time. And finally, when you're in a co-working space, you force boundaries, right? Cause you're getting out, you're walking, you're getting to your space. And I had those boundaries in place and I hadn't worked out. And then all of a sudden I'm at home and I think it was two days where I, you know, leave and forgot to go for a walk or forgot to actually put in those boundaries. So it took a bit of time to figure out, okay, what am I going to do to be able to replicate the boundaries that I had when I was in my workspace? So I think that was one thing. And the other piece, I guess, is as well, like as a leader is helping the team members with their struggles. So for unbalancing the workload because a lot of people, whether it's, you know, you're in the environment you're in, it's very difficult or you have elderly parents or your kids or, you know, it's people that you're looking after in your community. It was all of a sudden that you were thrust into this and you had a job that was really busy. And how do you make sure that we can balance and make sure that we are having friends and family and yourself as a priority while still getting what we needed to do in the job done. And that I think, I wasn't sure, I anticipated the energy level it would take as a leader to be able to do that. And also because you're empathizing with your team as well and like you feel for them and you want to be able to fix things and you can't necessarily. So all you can do is really make sure that they feel empowered to take the time that they need. And if things need to slip and we need to push it out, that that is okay. And Carol, Rachel, do you want to chime in? I completely agree with Carol there about the energy levels because I found at the beginning of the lockdown period for us, I didn't find that it was too much of an adjustment in the sense of working from home because I was already working from home. And yes, my daughter was home from nursery a lot more but we had systems in place where that didn't feel like it was an overwhelming thing for us to handle. But I still found myself absolutely exhausted at the end of the day and I couldn't quite figure out why until I realized that I was investing a lot of energy in the team and a lot of energy in trying to figure out how people were doing what they were capable of, how I was gonna translate that into the results for the team and how I would report that up. And usually there are people on the team who are going through difficult things but usually it's one person at a time and now it was everyone on the team having a difficult time at the same time. And I just didn't anticipate how difficult it was to try and be present with all of those people at the same time through the same difficult experience. And yeah, I just didn't anticipate how much energy that would take to resolve and it meant quite quickly having to make some changes to just make sure that there was a good space available in my head from work but also from the person like dealing with home stuff. And once I figured out how to do that it felt like the rest of the lockdown period was a lot more manageable. But yes, putting so much energy into the team I think this was really important but super exhausting. Thank you so much, Rachel. I think there are a bunch of managers that would share their sentiments at the moment. Okay, our next question is what has been the most difficult parts of balancing... Oh, no. Sorry, wrong question. What unique challenges have you faced as a woman in leadership? What advice would you give to other women as they pursue leadership positions in their own careers? I'm gonna ask Carol to kick this one off. If she can find her mute puppet, there we go. And so I have always had imposter syndrome and it shows up in different levels, I would say, depending on the situation I'm in. I'm conscious of it and that's great but it doesn't mean that it goes away. And I think one particular situation that really stood out for me quite a few years ago is I was in a meeting with an all-male leadership team and I didn't speak up very much during the meeting at all and after it, a colleague pulled me aside, who was an ally and he kind of gently asked me why I didn't speak up in the meeting. And I told him it was because I was, I feel like I need to be 100% sure of what I'm saying. I don't want to say something that's incorrect or, and I also felt a bit intimidated given I was the only female in the room. And he proved me on it, spoke to me a little bit about it. One question he asked where I think it really kind of hit home was, well, what is the impact of you not speaking up? Like you have a seat at the table because of the experience you have, but if you don't use that, what is the impact it could have on team members, the company or, you know, on managers, et cetera. And that's something that I try to remind myself of when I am feeling that insecurity and having imposter syndrome is, okay, if I don't speak up, that's not good for somebody else or for something else. So it is, I can't say it hits the mark all the time, but a lot of the time it is a good reminder that I have for myself that can help me push out of my comfort zone. Thank you for sharing that, Carol. I'm going to hand over to Rachel. Carol has said there is a really nice way of framing it in terms of the impact on others if you don't speak up, because in my experience that some, I also receive feedback that using your voice is so important. You have a seat at the table, so use that voice. And it was the same. I would often feel that unless I knew 100% about the answer, I should probably wait and be sure, but that meant not using my voice. And I would forget that, yeah, you're at the table because of the experience that you have. And that means that what you're going to say is probably 80% correct, and it's not really worth waiting for the last 20% if you're that certain. And also the feedback that I'd received is that by not speaking up, it made me seem either disinterested or out of my depth in that conversation, neither of which were really the case, but it was so important to actually use your voice and take that place in the conversation. The other thing that I also feel is that in those situations, it can also be very tempting to look around the room and look for the differences, like I am different. And I think what is more, it can make you feel isolated, it can make you not want to speak up. And I think that you will get further if you look for the things that unite you across that table. If you look for the things that are common, if you look for the common goals that you have, I think that's a more healthy way to set that group up for success and to move forward. Yeah, the last thing I just wanted to add there is that also in leadership, people get challenged a lot and it can make you feel quite defensive when people challenge what you want to say and how you're saying it. And you're always going to get challenged. That's never really going to go away. But one of the things that I've found as a mechanism to deal with that is just to look at results because people can't argue with results. And if you can get your team to consistently deliver those results, that's the best indication that your leadership is earned and deserved. Wonderful, thank you so much, Rachel. We have got one question on the Google Doc and I'm just going to percolise that for you. Are there some aspects of GitLab's way of working that you think could be improved? I'm going to put that out to anyone who wants to answer. Could I take a first answer at that? I think one of the things that is becoming difficult, the larger that we get is everyone can contribute and that's great. And some of the things that are becoming difficult is when there is communication that needs to happen across the entire company and there's conversation that needs to happen prior to that. And I think as we grow and as we scale, that's becoming increasingly difficult to make sure that voices are heard but also make sure that action is taken. And one of the great things is that that's already recognised as something that needs to be resolved and there's working groups that are put together to try and look at this. But that's definitely one of the things that comes to mind but nice to know that it is getting looked at already. I think, John. I think just to add to that, while it's not a downside of the way we work per se, I do think that sometimes having so much flexibility can often put people into a bit of a spin. Say you've got kids and especially during the pandemic, they can't go to school. I think sometimes people can perhaps feel a bit conflicted. Do I spend an hour homeschooling my child? Do I spend this hour working? How do I juggle it? Whereas when you've got that clear demarcation of being in an office, there's a clear line between home and work. But the beauty of GitLab is that we're very flexible when it comes to working parents. We understand friends and family come first. But I think initially it can sometimes feel like, how do I balance my responsibilities as a wife or mother as well as a leader within GitLab? So that's not a problem with GitLab per se, but it is something people should think about because it certainly shouldn't hold anyone back. Yeah, I'd agree with those. And the only thing I would add is really how we can get better at helping people iterate when they come into the company and learn. Because iterate is probably one of the hardest values to understand. And that is something that we are actively trying to think about ways to help people understand how to do that more. And I know our CEO and I think Marin as well does the CEO iteration hours. So we're looking at how we can complement that to help. Wonderful, thank you so much Carol. Any final thoughts that anybody would like to share? Thank you all and have a great day.