DevRel Programs Operational Guidelines

These operational guidelines define how the Developer Relations Programs team operates, collaborates, and executes our work. They provide the structural foundation and shared processes that enable us to deliver consistent, high-quality programs for the Education, Open Source, and Contributors ecosystems. We cultivate a deep understanding of our own product by using GitLab to manage our planning, collaboration, and execution.

Structure

Our activities and related resources are in the Strategy Program subgroup, under Developer Relations in the GitLab.org project. It contains our programs and other operational activities.

graph TD
    A[Developer Relations Programs]

    A --> B[Education]
    A --> C[Open Source]
    A --> D[Contributors]

    B --> B1[GitLab for Education]
    C --> C1[GitLab for Open Source]
    D --> D1[Co-Create]
    D --> D2[Notable Contributors]

    style A fill:#FC6D26,color:#fff
    style B fill:#E24329,color:#fff
    style C fill:#E24329,color:#fff
    style D fill:#E24329,color:#fff
    style B1 fill:#7759C2,color:#fff
    style C1 fill:#7759C2,color:#fff
    style D1 fill:#7759C2,color:#fff
    style D2 fill:#7759C2,color:#fff

Team activities

Operational tasks that are not specific to a program are logged with issues in Developer Relations Programs team-task. This issue board allows to see our operational workload by status.

Program activities

Activities related to a program are logged as epics and issues, in its corresponding project, under the relevant subgroup (Contributors, Education, Open Source).

Epics allow to log time-bounded or complex activities and capture the outcomes that contribute to our OKRs.

Issues allow to log discrete tasks required to execute on the epics or other program work.

For example, for Co-Create an epic is created to track a customer lifecycle from onboarding to first contribution, and an issue to track an onboarding workshop. For GitLab for Education, an epic is created for the creation a new blog post from idea to promotion in social media, and an issue for content writing with the customer.

Monitoring and reporting

GitLab Boards

Dashboards

Key Metrics

Total Members

Members enrolled and actively participating on a specific program.

  • Education: members with an unexpired EDU Program license
  • Co-Create: members that have completed the initial workshop and at least 1 contribution in a given quarter

New References

A new reference is a program member advocate who has agreed to provide referenceable material for marketing or sales purposes.

It can include one or more of the following activities:

  • Written testimonials or case study quotes for marketing materials
  • Customer case studies or success stories (written or video)
  • Reference calls with prospective customers during the sales process
  • Logo usage rights for website, presentations, or collateral
  • Blog posts or articles (authored or co-authored)
  • Speaking opportunities at events, webinars, or conferences
  • Live testimonials or recorded interviews
  • Review site contributions (G2, Gartner Peer Insights, etc.)
  • Press releases or media quotes

Criteria:

  • The member must explicitly consent to being referenced
  • The reference must be documented (signed agreement, email confirmation, etc.)
  • The reference should be usable within a defined timeframe (e.g. 12 months)
  • The individual providing the reference has appropriate authority to speak on behalf of their organization

Status

Status

  • New - Starting point for newly submitted issues
  • Refinement - Requires more information
  • Validation backlog - Not prioritized, to be reconsidered in the future
  • Planning breakdown - WIP, planning
  • In dev- WIP, executing
  • Blocked - Progress is blocked and requires additional support or escalation

Issues can be closed as:

  • Complete - Activity is done
  • Duplicate - Should be closed with link to open issue
  • Won't do - Items that won’t be actioned now or in the future

Labels

Epics are labeled with FYXX::QX - Corresponding to Fiscal Year and Quarter when activity is expected to be complete.

Issues and epics are labeled with specific program labels such as Strategy Programs::GitLab for Education or Strategy programs::Co-Create. When it doesn’t fall into a specific program, use the Strategy Programs label.

OKRs are labeled with OKR as well as the corresponding FYXX::QX

Last modified February 27, 2026: Rename Contributor Success and Strategy Programs team names in marketing pages (38a2d877)
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