David DeSanto is the chief product officer of GitLab, which is the largest remote-only company in the world. They share many of their team meetings on YouTube, and they’ve grown from being an open-source code management product competing with GitHub to a multi-product 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 breadth-over-depth strategy • The company’s unique approach to AI • The value of using humor in high-stakes conversations — Brought to you by: • Orb—The flexible billing engine for modern pricing: https://www.withorb.com/lenny • Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://www.geteppo.com/ • Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want: https://www.useparagon.com/lenny Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-gitlab-way Where to find David DeSanto: • X: https://twitter.com/david_desanto • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ddesanto/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@david.the.beard Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.