Changing Engineering Culture with GitHub Pull Requests

©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved.
Presenter Name, Title and or Date@ralphbod
Slides https://bit.ly/pull-request-your-culture
Changing the Laws of Engineering 
with GitHub Pull Requests

This document and the information herein (including any information that may be incorporated by reference) is provided for informational purposes only and
should not be construed as an offer, commitment, promise or obligation on behalf of New Relic, Inc. (“New Relic”) to sell securities or deliver any product,
material, code, functionality, or other feature. Any information provided hereby is proprietary to New Relic and may not be replicated or disclosed without New
Relic’s express written permission.

Such information may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Any statement that is not a historical fact or refers to
expectations, projections, future plans, objectives, estimates, goals, or other characterizations of future events is a forward-looking statement. These forward-
looking statements can often be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects” or
words of similar import.

Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and are subject to
change at any time without notice. Existing and prospective investors, customers and other third parties transacting business with New Relic are cautioned not
to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements are based
on New Relic’s current assumptions, expectations, and beliefs and are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances
that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. Further
information on factors that could affect such forward-looking statements is included in the filings we make with the SEC from time to time. Copies of these
documents may be obtained by visiting New Relic’s Investor Relations website at ir.newrelic.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

New Relic assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. New Relic makes no warranties,
expressed or implied, in this document or otherwise, with respect to the information provided.

Confidential ©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 3
Culture Why you do things.
Metaprocess
Process
Entropy
How you change.
What you do, today.
Holding you down.

©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved.©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 8
The results
85 309 43
Comments Commenters 
(40% of Engineering)
PRs 
merged 
(+48 closed)
Engineers 
committing 
(+41 others)
1,920
numbers
to be
updated

What we want
Processes embody culture
Processes are repeatable (efﬁcient, fair)
Transparent
Inclusive
Discoverable
Single source of truth, written down
Update / delete easily
Bias for action
Autonomy
Editorial control

Confidential ©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Great Title Debate
10
1/ 5

Engineer

Margaret Hamilton,
engineer who coined
“software engineering”

Software Engineer

Senior Software Engineer

Lead Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer

Distinguished Software Engineer
Engineering Manager

Senior Engineering Manager

Director of Engineering

Process
 
= 
What you do because  
it works at the time

What we want

©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved.Confidential ©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved.
16
Ye Olde Metaprocess

What we want
Transparent
Inclusive

150

What we want
Transparent
Inclusive
Discoverable

HOW ABOUT A WIKI?

The append-only Wiki
2/ 5

Copypasta feeds inertia

What we want
Transparent
Inclusive
Discoverable

The Vestigial  
Manual Tests
3/ 5

Culture > Process

Culture is the
reason for Process

Entropy
28

You need a way to close  
the Culture / Process gap

What we want
Transparent
Inclusive
Discoverable
Bias for action
Autonomy

4/ 5
This document and the information herein (including any information that may be incorporated by reference) is provided for informational
purposes only and should not be construed as an offer, commitment, promise or obligation on behalf of New Relic, Inc. (“New Relic”) to sell
securities or deliver any product, material, code, functionality, or other feature. Any information provided hereby is proprietary to New Relic
and may not be replicated or disclosed without New Relic’s express written permission.

Such information may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Any statement that is not a historical
fact or refers to expectations, projections, future plans, objectives, estimates, goals, or other characterizations of future events is a forward-
looking statement. These forward-looking statements can often be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words
such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects” or words of similar import.

Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and are
subject to change at any time without notice. Existing and prospective investors, customers and other third parties transacting business with
New Relic are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The achievement or success of the matters covered
by such forward-looking statements are based on New Relic’s current assumptions, expectations, and beliefs and are subject to substantial
risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. Further information on factors that could affect such forward-
looking statements is included in the filings we make with the SEC from time to time. Copies of these documents may be obtained by visiting
New Relic’s Investor Relations website at ir.newrelic.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

New Relic assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. New Relic
makes no warranties, expressed or implied, in this document or otherwise, with respect to the information provided.
Our business is not a democracy

The Boss

Open Source is
not a democracy

What we want
Transparent
Inclusive
Discoverable
Bias for action
Autonomy
Editorial control

Confidential ©2008-15 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 35
a ideathe
5/ 5

Culture as Code

GitHub Pages
Jekyll
Markdown + HTML

Processes are repeatable (eﬃcient, fair)
Transparent
Inclusive
Discoverable
Bias for action
Autonomy
Editorial control
40
What we got
Transparent
Inclusive
Discoverable
Bias for action
Autonomy
Editorial control

Things we learned

Do write together

Actively discourage
email discussion

“Lowers the
contribution
barrier…”

~50% of discussion

after merge
Moderate! 
Is it useful?

git clone culture
6/ 5

Why did we think this  
was a good idea?
48

Why > What
49

Junior Software Engineer
Software Engineer




Engineering Manager



Software Engineer



Engineering Manager



Pull Request knows why
52

Ask why.

This talk was the work of at least 18 people.

@belindarunkle

@danarelic

@feministy

@foliosus

@kfrugia

@kwugirl

Matt Otis

@mewzherder

@mﬂaming

@nerdygirl

@nicbenders

@qkate

@relistan

@spkane

@SXavier_NwRelic

@WardCunningham

@xensesthegreat
55
Acknowledgements
Thanks for your help in shaping this talk 
and in making New Relic awesome!

Valve Handbook for New Employees http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf

GitHub: Quick Pull Requests https://github.com/blog/1945-quick-pull-requests
56
References

Valve Working without a Boss http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2012/04/screen-shot-2012-04-23-at-11.24.33-am.jpg

Valve cover http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--ANyPdiwb--/17k9nffv4tn36jpg.jpg

Constitutional Convention http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Margaret Hamilton with her code http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Margaret_Hamilton.gif

Ward Cunningham http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Ward_Cunningham_1.jpg

Scumbag appendix http://imgur.com/gallery/254ANHP

Pair keypunching http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Keypunching_at_Texas_A%26M2.jpg
57
Image References

Changing Engineering Culture with GitHub Pull Requests

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