Suddenly Hybrid

Chapter 9Creating Team Meeting Ground Rules

“GitLab is very prescriptive that we work handbook‐first. The GitLab handbook is the operating manual for the company. If it's not in the handbook, it doesn't exist.”

These are the words of Darren Murph, the head of remote at GitLab and one of the most passionate remote‐work evangelists you are likely to find. The GitLab handbook is an ambitious read at over 2,000 pages of text that are constantly being iterated on by its fully remote workforce. At GitLab, documentation is not just a process – it's a value that everyone adheres to, and one that hybrid workplaces need to adopt, says Darren. “The accessibility to the information must be agnostic. You should not have more access to information if you're remote. You should not have more access to information if you're in an office.”

The underlying reason for the documentation orientation is clear: it turns all tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge by making it visible to all. (In fact, anyone can check out the GitLab handbook by going to https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/.) As companies and teams are transitioning to hybrid work and hybrid meetings, it might be wise for them to steal a page or two or 10 from this tome, but we'll start here with the emphasis on documentation, specifically as it relates to hybrid meetings.

In order to make meetings that involve both in‐person and remote attendees work, you need to set ground rules for how those meetings are going to be conducted. Meeting ...