Article
Journal of Organization Design

GitLab: Work Where You Want, When You Want

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Kevin Crowston, Linus Dahlander, Marco S. Minervini and Sumita Raghuram

Format:Print

Abstract

GitLab is a software company that works “all remote” at the scale of more than 1,000 employees located in more than 60 countries. GitLab has no physical office and its employees can work from anywhere they choose. Any step of the organizational life of a GitLab employee (e.g., hiring, onboarding and firing) is performed remotely, except for a yearly companywide gathering. GitLab strongly relies on asynchronous coordination, allowing employees to work anytime they want. After highlighting some of the main practices implemented by GitLab to effectively work all remotely and asynchronously, I asked renowned organizational scientists their thoughts on this interesting case and to question the generalizability of the all remote asynchronous model. Understanding whether and under what conditions this model can succeed can be of guidance for organizational designers that are now considering different remote models in response of the COVID-19 shock and its aftermath.

Keywords

New Forms Of Organizing; Remote Work; All Remote; Virtual Organizations; Covid-19; Organizational Design; Employees; Geographic Location; Health Pandemics

Citation

Choudhury, Prithwiraj, Kevin Crowston, Linus Dahlander, Marco S. Minervini, and Sumita Raghuram. "GitLab: Work Where You Want, When You Want." Art. 23. Journal of Organization Design 9 (2020).