<aside> 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.

<aside> ℹ️ Because we value being open and transparent, the Sourcegraph handbook is published to the web and accessible by people outside of Sourcegraph. Teammates should follow these guidelines when adding content to the handbook, to make sure we don’t share internal-only information.

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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 as a habit 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 is your responsibility to propose a change. This takes a lot more time than just doing things and not writing things down. But being handbook-first is worth it because it yields better processes and helps us work together efficiently as we grow.

We are a handbook-first company because:

1. A written process is followed more closely and frequently than an informal one, which leads to more people and iterations to improve it.
2. We believe anyone can and should propose improvements to a written-down process.
3. New teammates can onboard more quickly by reading our handbook to understand background information and processes.
4. When you go on vacation or to sleep, you can relax knowing that nobody will be blocked while you’re not working. They can rely on the handbook.

Related resources

Adding pages to the Sourcegraph handbook

Notion vs. Google Docs