We want intuitive interfaces both within the company and with the wider community. This makes it more efficient for everyone to contribute or to get a question answered. Therefore, the following interfaces are based on the product categories defined on this page:
The categories form a hierarchy:
Groups may have scope as large as all categories in a stage, or as small as a single category within a stage, but most will form part of a stage and have a few categories in them. Only in the case where the group's scope is the same as a stage or category can they share the same name. For groups that have two or more categories, but not all categories in a stage, the group name can be a completely unique word or a summation of the categories they cover.
Every category listed on this page must have a link, determined by what exists in the following hierarchy:
Marketing product page > docs page > epic > label query > issue
E.g if there's no marketing page, link to the docs. If there's no docs, link to the Epic. etc.
Solutions can consist of multiple categories as defined on this page, but there are also other ones, for example industry verticals. Solutions typically represent a customer challenge, how GitLab capabilities come together to meet that challenge, and business benefits of using our solution.
Capabilities can refer to stages, categories, or features, but not solutions.
Adding more layers to the hierarchy would give it more fidelity but would hurt usability in the following ways:
We use this hierarchy to express our organizational structure within the Product and Engineering organizations. Doing so serves the goals of:
When designing the hierarchy, the number of sub-departments should be kept small and only grow as the company needs to re-organize for span-of-control reasons. i.e. each sub-department corresponds to a Director of Engineering and a Director of Product, so it's an expensive add. For stages, the DevOps loop stages should not be changed at all, as they're determined from an external source. At some point we may change to a different established bucketing, or create our own, but that will involve a serious cross-functional conversation. While the additional value stages are our own construct, the loop and value stages combined are the primary stages we talk about in our marketing, sales, etc. and they shouldn't be changed lightly. The other stages have more flexibility as they're not currently marketed in any way, however we should still strive to keep them as minimal as possible. Proliferation of a large number of stages makes the product surface area harder to reason about and communicate if/when we decide to market that surface area. As such, they're tied 1:1 with sub-departments so they're the minimal number of stages that fit within our organizational structure. e.g. Growth was a single group under Enablment until we decided to add a Director layer for Growth; then it was promoted to a sub-deparment with specialized groups under it. The various buckets under each of the non-DevOps stages are captured as different groups. Groups are also a non-marketing construct, so we expand the number of groups as needed for organizational purposes. Each group usually corresponds to a backend engineering manager and a product manager, so it's also an expensive add and we don't create groups just for a cleaner hierarchy; it has to be justified from a span-of-control perspective or limits to what one product manager can handle.
The impact of changes to stages and groups is felt across the company. Merge requests with changes to stages and groups and significant changes to categories need to be approved by:
Product Manager: Jeremy Watson | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Liam McAndrew | Frontend Engineering Manager: Dennis Tang (Interim) | Test Automation Engineer: Sanad Liaquat | UX Designer: Chris Peressini | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Evan Read
Product Manager: Jeremy Watson | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Liam McAndrew | Frontend Engineering Manager: Dennis Tang (Interim) | Test Automation Engineer: Sanad Liaquat | UX Designer: Chris Peressini | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Evan Read
Product Manager: Victor Wu | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Sean McGivern | Frontend Engineering Manager: André Luís | Test Automation Engineer: Ramya Authappan | UX Designers: Annabel Dunstone Gray, Alexis Ginsberg | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Mike Lewis
Product Manager: Victor Wu | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Sean McGivern | Frontend Engineering Manager: André Luís | Test Automation Engineer: Ramya Authappan | UX Designers: Annabel Dunstone Gray, Alexis Ginsberg | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Mike Lewis
Product Manager: Victor Wu | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Sean McGivern | Frontend Engineering Manager: André Luís | Test Automation Engineer: Ramya Authappan | UX Designers: Annabel Dunstone Gray, Alexis Ginsberg | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Mike Lewis
Product Manager: James Ramsay | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Douwe Maan | Frontend Engineering Manager: André Luís | Test Automation Engineers: Mark Lapierre, Tomislav Nikić | UX Designers: Pedro Moreira da Silva, M.V. | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Marcia Ramos
Product Manager: James Ramsay | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Douwe Maan | Frontend Engineering Manager: André Luís | Test Automation Engineers: Mark Lapierre, Tomislav Nikić | UX Designers: Pedro Moreira da Silva, M.V. | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Marcia Ramos
Product Manager: James Ramsay | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Douwe Maan | Frontend Engineering Manager: André Luís | Test Automation Engineers: Mark Lapierre, Tomislav Nikić | UX Designers: Pedro Moreira da Silva, M.V. | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Marcia Ramos
Backend Engineering Manager: Tommy (interim) | Frontend Engineering Manager: Tim Z (Interim) | UX Designer: M.V. | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customers: Quality Department, Infrastructure Department
Backend Engineering Manager: Tommy (interim) | Frontend Engineering Manager: Tim Z (Interim) | UX Designer: M.V. | Technical Writer: Axil
Product Manager: Brendan O'Leary | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Elliot Rushton | Frontend Engineering Manager: Tim Z (Interim) | UX Designer: Dimitrie Hoekstra | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Evan Read | Internal Customers: Quality Department, UX Department, Infrastructure Department
Product Manager: Brendan O'Leary (interim) | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Elliot Rushton | Frontend Engineering Manager: Tim Z (Interim) | UX Designer: Dimitrie Hoekstra | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Evan Read | Internal Customers: Quality Department, UX Department, Infrastructure Department
Product Manager: Jason Lenny (interim) | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Marin Jankovski (Interim) | Frontend Engineering Manager: Clement Ho | UX Designers: Amelia Bauerly, Sarah Voegeli | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Distribution Team
Product Manager: Jason Lenny | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Darby Frey | Frontend Engineering Manager: John Hampton | UX Designer: Rayana Verissimo | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Marcia Ramos | Internal Customers: Delivery Team, Distribution Team, Gitter, Security Department, Tech Writers
Product Manager: Jason Lenny (interim) | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Darby Frey | Frontend Engineering Manager: John Hampton | UX Designer: Rayana Verissimo | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Marcia Ramos | Internal Customers: Distribution Team, Gitter, Security Department, Tech Writers
Product Manager: Daniel Gruesso | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Dylan Griffith | Frontend Engineering Manager: Tim Z (Interim) | Test Automation Engineer: Dan Davison | UX Designer: Taurie Davis | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Evan Read | Internal Customers: Quality Department, Site Availability Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering
Product Manager: Daniel Gruesso (interim) | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Dylan Griffith | Frontend Engineering Manager: Tim Z (Interim) | Test Automation Engineer: Dan Davison | UX Designer: Taurie Davis | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Evan Read | Internal Customers: Quality Department, Site Availability Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering
Product Manager: Joshua Lambert (interim) | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Seth Engelhard | Frontend Engineering Manager: Clement Ho | UX Designers: Amelia Bauerly, Sarah Voegeli | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Infrastructure Department
Product Manager: Joshua Lambert | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Seth Engelhard | Frontend Engineering Manager: Clement Ho | UX Designers: Amelia Bauerly, Sarah Voegeli | Content Marketing: Aricka Flowers | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Infrastructure Department
Product Manager: Fabio Busatto | Product Marketing Manager: Cindy Blake | Backend Engineering Manager: Philippe Lafoucrière | Frontend Engineering Manager: Lukas Eipert (Interim) | UX Designers: Andy Volpe, Tim Noah, Kyle Mann | Content Marketing: Erica Lindberg | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Security Department
Product Manager: Fabio Busatto | Product Marketing Manager: Cindy Blake | Backend Engineering Manager: Philippe Lafoucrière | Frontend Engineering Manager: Lukas Eipert (Interim) | UX Designers: Andy Volpe, Tim Noah, Kyle Mann | Content Marketing: Erica Lindberg | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Security Department
Product Manager: Fabio Busatto | Product Marketing Manager: Cindy Blake | Backend Engineering Manager: Philippe Lafoucrière | Frontend Engineering Manager: Lukas Eipert (Interim) | UX Designers: Andy Volpe, Tim Noah, Kyle Mann | Content Marketing: Erica Lindberg | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Security Department
Product Manager: Fabio Busatto | Product Marketing Manager: Cindy Blake | Backend Engineering Manager: Philippe Lafoucrière | Frontend Engineering Manager: Lukas Eipert (Interim) | UX Designers: Andy Volpe, Tim Noah, Kyle Mann | Content Marketing: Erica Lindberg | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Security Department
Product Manager: Fabio Busatto | Product Marketing Manager: Cindy Blake | Backend Engineering Manager: Philippe Lafoucrière | Frontend Engineering Manager: Lukas Eipert (Interim) | UX Designers: Andy Volpe, Tim Noah, Kyle Mann | Content Marketing: Erica Lindberg | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Security Department
Product Manager: Fabio Busatto | Product Marketing Manager: Cindy Blake | Backend Engineering Manager: Philippe Lafoucrière | Frontend Engineering Manager: Lukas Eipert (Interim) | UX Designers: Andy Volpe, Tim Noah, Kyle Mann | Content Marketing: Erica Lindberg | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customer: Security Department
Product Manager: Eric Brinkman (interim) | Frontend Engineering Manager: Dennis Tang (Interim)
Product Manager: Eric Brinkman (interim) | Frontend Engineering Manager: Dennis Tang (Interim)
Product Manager: Eric Brinkman (interim) | Frontend Engineering Manager: Dennis Tang (Interim)
Product Manager: Eric Brinkman (interim) | Frontend Engineering Manager: Dennis Tang (Interim)
Product Manager: Joshua Lambert (interim) | Product Marketing Manager: William Chia | Backend Engineering Manager: Marin Jankovski | Frontend Engineering Manager: Clement Ho | Technical Writer: Axil | Internal Customers: Quality Department, Infrastructure Department
Product Manager: Luca Williams | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Liam McAndrew | Frontend Engineering Manager: Dennis Tang (Interim) | Content Marketing: Suri Patel | Technical Writer: Evan Read
Product Manager: Andreas Kämmerle | Product Marketing Manager: John Jeremiah | Backend Engineering Manager: Rachel Nienaber | Frontend Engineering Manager: André Luís (Interim) | Technical Writer: Evan Read
Not all categories are at the same level of maturity. Some are just minimal and some are lovable. See the category maturity page to see where each category stands.
GitLab also does the things below that are composed of multiple categories.
This list of other functionality so you can easily find the team that owns it. Maybe we should make our features easier to search to replace the section below.
