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ℹ️ Sourcegraph teammates will be editing the Sourcegraph handbook frequently to keep information up-to-date and participate in important changes in the company. This guide helps everyone get on the same page about how we organize Notion and edit the Sourcegraph handbook.
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What is the handbook?
The Sourcegraph handbook is centralized documentation system that outlines how we work as a company. We maintain the Sourcegraph handbook in Notion as a wiki, which allows us to assign owners to various pages, set expiration/verification dates so content doesn’t become stale, and group/filter content based on common topics and themes.
- 👈🏼 Click this toggle to learn more about how a wiki works in Notion.
What does it mean to be handbook-first?
Being handbook-first means using the handbook as the source of truth for answers and processes. To be handbook-first, we must:
- Rely on the handbook being a reliable source of truth: accurate and up-to-date.
- Default to the handbook when looking for information about a business process or policy—not just when we read about it the first time, but every time, because we expect it to keep evolving.
- Share responsibility for keeping the handbook accurate and up-to-date. If you notice something is missing or inaccurate, it’s your responsibility to propose a change.
This takes more time than just doing things without writing them down—but being handbook-first is worth it because it leads to better processes and helps us work together more efficiently as we grow.
We are a handbook-first company because:
- A written process is followed more closely and frequently than an informal one, which leads to more people and more iterations to improve it.
- We believe anyone can and should propose improvements to a written-down process.
- New teammates can onboard more quickly by reading our handbook to understand background information and processes.
- When you’re on vacation or offline, no one gets blocked—they can rely on the handbook.
Related resources
What goes in the public handbook vs. internal teamspaces
Notion vs. Google Docs