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Enterprise Small Business Continuous Integration (CI/CD) Source Code Management (SCM) Out-of-the-box Pipelines (Auto DevOps) Security (DevSecOps) Agile Development Value Stream Management GitOpsThe Learning & Development team is rolling out learning programs to enable a culture of curiosity and continual learning. The learning initiatives are intended to provide a forum for team members to come together to learn about all of the activities taking place in the learning space, as well as hear from leaders internally and externally on various leadership topics.
At GitLab, the Learning and Development (L&D) team hosts a monthly Monthly Continuous Learning call. The series is intended to showcase all of the L&D initatives taking place at GitLab as well as provide a space for team members to ask questions. It's an opportunity to come together as an organization and highlight everything we are doing within the L&D space and to help instill a learning culture at GitLab.
Additional background information on this initiaitve is available in the Monthly Continuous Learning Call issue
Check out recordings of previous Learning Speaker Series calls!
The following process outlines steps for the L&D team to take each month when planning and implementing monthly calls.
Planning Issue Template: Open an Monthly Continuous Learning Call issue template in the L&D Project. Steps outlined below are also included in the issue template and are included here as reference.
Join the Learning and Development team on [DATE] for the Monthly Continuous Learning Call. This month's call is all about [TOPIC]. You can review the slide deck for the call [HERE], and post questions you might have in the call adenga doc [HERE]. Looking forward to seeing you there!
The L&D team hosts a monthly Learning Speaker Series call, open to all team members. The calls serve to provide a space where senior executives and mid-level people leaders can share relevant topics to engage and teach team members lessons learned from their own careers and answer relevant L&D related questions. We also hope to use this forum for external speakers to teach topics on relevant skills for team members.
This list of topics can be used as a starting point for brainstorming content and connecting with individuals to feature during Learning Speaker Series calls. This is not an exhasutive list - please add new ideas to this list as they come up in each monthly call!
Check out recordings of previous Learning Speaker Series calls!
The following process outlines steps for the L&D team to take when planning and implementing the calls.
Anyone or any team can host a Learning Speaker Series for the organization! If interested and there is a topic & speaker lined up, please fill out a Learning & Development Request template to begin the process.
Planning Issue Template: Open a learning-speaker-series
issue template in the L&D General Project. Steps outlined below are also included in the issue template and are included here as reference.
Join the Learning and Development team on [DATE] for the Learning Speaker Series Call. This month's call features [PERSON] and their experience with [BACKGROUND}. You can review the slide deck for the call [HERE], and post questions you might have in the call adenga doc [HERE]. Looking forward to seeing you there!
The L&D team also hosts and develops a quarterly newsletter for the community.
The L&D team publishes a quarterly mental health newsletter for team members and the wider community.
Focus Friday's are a great benefit at GitLab. We try to schedule minimal meetings on Fridays to catch up on work and grow our skills professionally. Use Focus Fridays to take time out to learn.
Team members can work with their manager through a career development conversation to determine what skills that want to grow in the future. Aspirations can be documented in an individual growth plan. From there, identify what will be needed to attain the new skills and consider using the Growth and Development Benefit or expensing professional development courses up to $500 USD per fiscal year. Another option you can utilize to learn more is LinkedIn Learning. GitLab has a number of LinkedIn Learning licenses for team members. Block time off your calendar every week or month to devote to learning new skills. Share what you are learning with team members and in the #learninganddevelopment slack channel.
Mini-challenges are 1 week learning opportunities that utilitze a combination of GitLab issues, live learning sessions, and Slack to organize a group of learners around a specific topic. Mini-challenges are advertised to team members via slack and require interested learners to opt in. Participation in issue discussion questions and in live learning sessions (synchronous and asynchronous) are is tracked by the L&D team or challenge organizer. Upon completion of the challenge, participants are awareded a certification. The L&D team has used the mini-challenge model to engage learners on topics like psychological safety.
In addition to the use of GitLab, each mini-challenge includes a dedicated Slack channel to organize conversation, share new issue links, and provide space for team members to ask questions.
Examples of current and past challanges can be found in the Learning and Development project
Learning campaigns at GitLab have an asynchronous focus and are used to raise awareness around a specific topic or set of resources. These campaigns are inspired by the structure of a learning challenge but without the required engagement or tracking. For example, the L&D team is using a learning campaign structure to host a mental health awareness week
Learning campaigns use a combination of GitLab issues and Slack announcements to raise awareness and spark discussion. Following the campaign, the L&D team will aggregate comments and resources that have surfaced and document in the handbook. Learning campaigns can be used to build buzz around a live speaker series or to start conversation about a common question or issue that GitLab team members are facing.
GitLab's Handbook pages grow every day. Each page serves as GitLab's primary source of learning and development material. Throughout FY22, the L&D team and the CEO will hold recorded interactive learning sessions to analyze Handbook pages. The goal of the sessions will be to incorporate more video-based learning into the handbook.
Three types of CEO handbook learning sessions:
The video below from Sid and L&D further explains the concepts:
Steps for L&D Team when setting up a CEO Handbook Learning Session:
List of CEO Handbook Learning Sessions: