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The GitLab Handbook (and the Handbook-First Approach)

GitLab · GitLab Handbook Free Intermediate

This is the reference implementation of your thesis: the handbook IS the process, not a description of it. GitLab's rule that any change (policy, process, decision) gets written into the handbook before it is communicated is exactly your 'updating it is part of shipping any new process' point, made operational by a company that runs on it. Do not copy its 2000+ pages: read the handbook-first page for the discipline, then steal only its table-of-contents structure (how we work, decisions, comp, tools) as a skeleton for your one living doc.

  • Write the change into the doc first, then communicate it, so the handbook is the single source of truth instead of a stale summary of Slack decisions
  • Structure by 'how do we do X here' sections (comms, decisions, comp, tooling), which is a ready-made outline for your first handbook
  • The 2000+ page scale is a warning, not a target: an early-stage team wants one lean living doc, not GitLab's full surface area
Open on handbook.gitlab.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How do I write my first company handbook without it becoming dead documentation nobody reads?

Read with it

  1. This is the lean counterweight to GitLab: a real, Creative-Commons handbook you can fork today, written as short human sections... GitHub (basecamp/handbook) Template · 30 min read The 37signals (Basecamp) Employee Handbook 37signals
  2. This is the 'why does nobody read our handbook' guide, and it names the real failure mode: fewer than 1 in 20 docs get updated... Slite Article · 15 min read Internal Documentation: How to Build Docs Your Team Actually Reads Slite
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