Meeting Title: Uttam Kumaran Date: 2025-03-26 Meeting participants: Luke Daque, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:01:15.370 ⇒ 00:01:16.340 Luke Daque: Hello!
2 00:01:16.520 ⇒ 00:01:17.270 Uttam Kumaran: Hey!
3 00:01:17.910 ⇒ 00:01:19.310 Luke Daque: Hey, Tom, how’s it going
4 00:01:19.310 ⇒ 00:01:19.940 Uttam Kumaran: Hey? Good! How are you?
5 00:01:19.940 ⇒ 00:01:20.660 Luke Daque: Morning.
6 00:01:21.010 ⇒ 00:01:21.780 Uttam Kumaran: Good morning!
7 00:01:22.350 ⇒ 00:01:24.730 Luke Daque: Must be early.
8 00:01:25.490 ⇒ 00:01:32.370 Uttam Kumaran: 30. No dude last month. It was horrible. Last month was brutal like I was getting up like 7.
9 00:01:32.760 ⇒ 00:01:38.448 Uttam Kumaran: Now that I’m like not in stand ups. It’s it’s been a bit nicer
10 00:01:38.860 ⇒ 00:01:39.730 Luke Daque: Nice
11 00:01:40.610 ⇒ 00:01:42.040 Uttam Kumaran: How about you? How’s everything?
12 00:01:42.970 ⇒ 00:01:44.820 Luke Daque: Yeah, everything’s well, so far.
13 00:01:45.100 ⇒ 00:01:45.710 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
14 00:01:46.440 ⇒ 00:01:47.360 Luke Daque: Going, good
15 00:01:49.040 ⇒ 00:01:49.840 Uttam Kumaran: Cool.
16 00:01:50.140 ⇒ 00:02:07.199 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I wanted to. I know I want. I’m sort of starting to get back into a meeting with everybody sort of one on one. And finally, I think I have a a decent you know, template to run these meetings. You know. And so I think hopefully, you’re seeing some evolution.
17 00:02:07.647 ⇒ 00:02:19.109 Uttam Kumaran: And yeah, I guess this time I I wanted to just keep every I’m meeting with everybody every 3 weeks or so. I think that’s probably a decent cadence, you know, beyond everything else.
18 00:02:19.920 ⇒ 00:02:20.690 Luke Daque: Yeah.
19 00:02:20.690 ⇒ 00:02:29.020 Uttam Kumaran: I think the biggest, you know thing I I wanna start to do, though, is is hear feedback in a more structured way across
20 00:02:29.360 ⇒ 00:02:36.990 Uttam Kumaran: both of us as well as the company, the department and yourself.
21 00:02:37.672 ⇒ 00:02:40.329 Uttam Kumaran: And I think really this document should help
22 00:02:40.480 ⇒ 00:02:43.370 Uttam Kumaran: to sort of, you know. Facilitate that.
23 00:02:45.090 ⇒ 00:02:57.050 Uttam Kumaran: I think one of the things that maybe I’ll take a second to just walk through this doc. So yeah, mainly, this is going to be like a running document that we continue just to append to itself and keep as we go.
24 00:02:58.530 ⇒ 00:03:02.200 Uttam Kumaran: I think you did a great job filling this out. I probably didn’t
25 00:03:02.200 ⇒ 00:03:02.570 Luke Daque: We can.
26 00:03:02.570 ⇒ 00:03:06.149 Uttam Kumaran: Here that you also should fill out the weekly perspective piece
27 00:03:06.150 ⇒ 00:03:16.629 Luke Daque: Yeah, I wasn’t sure as well like what this meant. Like in weekly perspective. Is it like the the currently the previous week? I guess that went by. I wasn’t sure. That’s why I didn’t like fill out
28 00:03:16.630 ⇒ 00:03:24.161 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, that’s fine. Yeah, I’m gonna let me think about what to do there, and fill that out.
29 00:03:25.230 ⇒ 00:03:27.904 Uttam Kumaran: But I think that, I think.
30 00:03:28.870 ⇒ 00:03:33.919 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I I think maybe I think you left some really great comments. And then we can spend some time talking about
31 00:03:34.090 ⇒ 00:03:37.760 Uttam Kumaran: the perspective on the company department.
32 00:03:38.350 ⇒ 00:03:40.299 Uttam Kumaran: and yourself. So I think
33 00:03:41.840 ⇒ 00:03:44.879 Uttam Kumaran: one of the items that I wanted to.
34 00:03:45.370 ⇒ 00:04:02.677 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, so ideally I would come take a look at this and give my comments before the meeting. I just wanted to sort of introduce the concept and just make sure that you’re okay. And I think we can go through my comments right now. So yeah, I I think
35 00:04:03.710 ⇒ 00:04:09.074 Uttam Kumaran: just to start. I mean, I I think your comments on here make a lot of sense.
36 00:04:09.620 ⇒ 00:04:15.869 Uttam Kumaran: I think you mentioned being able to do more things on the technical side. I think you’ve definitely gone more technical. Since
37 00:04:16.050 ⇒ 00:04:30.319 Uttam Kumaran: you know, you started with us, you know. Of course, I think also, we’re learning a lot more across data. AI, I mean, you’re one of the 1st people to to use all the AI stuff that I post that we can do in data. So that’s
38 00:04:30.990 ⇒ 00:04:41.970 Uttam Kumaran: that’s really, really, you know, great. And I’m I’m super happy about that. I mean 1 1 thing that I’m gonna I’ll just write a couple of things. So one is, I feel like that across
39 00:04:42.580 ⇒ 00:04:51.900 Uttam Kumaran: across our whole team. I if I were to think about who in the company I would describe as like incredibly reliable like your name comes up, meaning.
40 00:04:52.230 ⇒ 00:04:55.720 Uttam Kumaran: even if it’s something that we can’t figure out. I think about
41 00:04:56.030 ⇒ 00:05:08.480 Uttam Kumaran: going to you first.st if it’s on the data side, you know. So I think one of the things that you really are are strong at is is reliability. And like basically ownership.
42 00:05:09.835 ⇒ 00:05:15.709 Uttam Kumaran: of tasks. And like, you know, being available to help
43 00:05:16.663 ⇒ 00:05:24.806 Uttam Kumaran: this will sort of tie into the next section. So this is this is really good. I think the second piece here. Is yeah, like
44 00:05:25.690 ⇒ 00:05:30.229 Uttam Kumaran: interest in learning more and leveling up.
45 00:05:31.451 ⇒ 00:05:34.179 Uttam Kumaran: That’s, I think, really, really great as well.
46 00:05:35.970 ⇒ 00:05:42.289 Uttam Kumaran: I think 3 is that like you’ve been with us the longest. So I think ability to adapt
47 00:05:42.790 ⇒ 00:05:46.430 Uttam Kumaran: 2 new structures.
48 00:05:46.830 ⇒ 00:05:52.670 Uttam Kumaran: new changes like, you’re really really good at that. I mean, again, remember, we? It was just like me and you
49 00:05:52.670 ⇒ 00:05:53.420 Luke Daque: Yeah, you might
50 00:05:53.420 ⇒ 00:05:53.790 Uttam Kumaran: Ohio.
51 00:05:53.790 ⇒ 00:05:56.810 Luke Daque: We’ve come a long way, basically, like it’s, it’s very
52 00:05:56.810 ⇒ 00:05:57.800 Uttam Kumaran: And it’s not easy
53 00:05:57.800 ⇒ 00:06:04.430 Luke Daque: But I know, yeah. And it’s especially for you, like, it’s like you have so much in your plate. Now, it’s
54 00:06:04.540 ⇒ 00:06:08.140 Luke Daque: like compared to before where it’s like we’re just like focusing on.
55 00:06:08.680 ⇒ 00:06:22.890 Luke Daque: And now you have. You have marketing. You have like even looking at like the Logos, and whatever but yeah, I can’t even imagine how busy you are or something. But yeah.
56 00:06:24.250 ⇒ 00:06:24.610 Uttam Kumaran: And then
57 00:06:24.610 ⇒ 00:06:25.230 Luke Daque: Absolutely.
58 00:06:25.230 ⇒ 00:06:32.066 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I I agree. And I and I, and I consider you like a core part of it, you know. And that’s why for me.
59 00:06:32.780 ⇒ 00:06:37.480 Uttam Kumaran: One of the things that we want to incentivize is people staying here
60 00:06:37.940 ⇒ 00:07:05.810 Uttam Kumaran: for a while right building their career here? I mean, you’re the oldest. You’re the longest employee. Be second to me. Right? So it’s really important, you know, even on reflecting a little bit yesterday on me making sure that you feel like this is a good home for you, not only for this next month, but like for a while. And how can we do that? And I think it. Certainly I I think a lot about what you said in the second piece.
61 00:07:07.200 ⇒ 00:07:12.810 Uttam Kumaran: so let me just write a few comments, too on. I wouldn’t say not so good is like a
62 00:07:13.350 ⇒ 00:07:15.710 Uttam Kumaran: I would say I made changes to like
63 00:07:15.900 ⇒ 00:07:20.079 Uttam Kumaran: could be better. I don’t like how not so good
64 00:07:20.080 ⇒ 00:07:20.980 Luke Daque: Good thing.
65 00:07:20.980 ⇒ 00:07:26.650 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, positive scripting. I mean, one of the things here is like, I think, with tenure
66 00:07:28.115 ⇒ 00:07:34.169 Uttam Kumaran: comes more responsibility right? Like, I wanna see you
67 00:07:34.460 ⇒ 00:07:42.209 Uttam Kumaran: become more of a leader in in one area or another, and I think that’s something that we can work with each other on on understanding.
68 00:07:42.660 ⇒ 00:07:44.830 Uttam Kumaran: like, what are the avenues to like
69 00:07:44.960 ⇒ 00:07:50.440 Uttam Kumaran: to like? Become more of a leader in the company and everybody, even if you’re working by yourself.
70 00:07:50.680 ⇒ 00:07:55.210 Uttam Kumaran: or you feel like you’re just working on one client you have an opportunity to lead. And so
71 00:07:55.540 ⇒ 00:07:58.403 Uttam Kumaran: One of the things like I’m gonna propose is how
72 00:07:58.900 ⇒ 00:08:12.399 Uttam Kumaran: you you have a lot of knowledge. You know about how things were, how things are, how things could be better. And I think it’s important for your voice to to come to come out and share that you know. So
73 00:08:13.020 ⇒ 00:08:20.940 Uttam Kumaran: how can we provide more leadership opportunities in whatever form? That is right.
74 00:08:21.300 ⇒ 00:08:26.972 Uttam Kumaran: The the second piece is certainly like, I think,
75 00:08:29.070 ⇒ 00:08:31.900 Uttam Kumaran: I want you to speak up more
76 00:08:33.679 ⇒ 00:08:36.559 Luke Daque: I think that’s yeah. I agree with that. Like, I’ve
77 00:08:37.449 ⇒ 00:08:47.539 Luke Daque: I’m not sure what’s happening, but like in the recently my self esteem is getting a little bit low, especially like in talking or like speaking in front of people.
78 00:08:47.540 ⇒ 00:08:48.640 Luke Daque: Why, what do you think?
79 00:08:48.640 ⇒ 00:08:56.249 Luke Daque: I don’t know. I I don’t even know as well like even yesterday, when when I was like presenting the real dashboard, I was like
80 00:08:57.120 ⇒ 00:09:01.959 Luke Daque: I was like nervous, I guess, or something I don’t know like I don’t know what’s going on
81 00:09:01.960 ⇒ 00:09:05.940 Uttam Kumaran: But you know your stuff, man, like, what? What are you nervous about like you
82 00:09:06.380 ⇒ 00:09:08.220 Luke Daque: And you’re yeah.
83 00:09:08.220 ⇒ 00:09:08.600 Luke Daque: I mean.
84 00:09:08.600 ⇒ 00:09:09.890 Uttam Kumaran: And it takes rest.
85 00:09:09.890 ⇒ 00:09:10.220 Luke Daque: Maybe
86 00:09:10.220 ⇒ 00:09:11.489 Uttam Kumaran: It takes, reps.
87 00:09:11.490 ⇒ 00:09:14.880 Luke Daque: Yeah, I guess maybe because I’m also like
88 00:09:15.120 ⇒ 00:09:19.900 Luke Daque: there’s like a part of me that’s a bit of a perfectionist, as like
89 00:09:20.400 ⇒ 00:09:20.760 Uttam Kumaran: Same.
90 00:09:20.760 ⇒ 00:09:32.489 Luke Daque: We’re not matching like bare metrics in terms of the numbers and stuff like that. So that’s like taking a dent on my self esteem and like, maybe I don’t really know what I’m doing, or something like that. But I don’t know. It’s maybe just subconscious or something
91 00:09:33.180 ⇒ 00:09:37.030 Uttam Kumaran: So this is where it’s like we all have that like dude. I’m like the max.
92 00:09:37.250 ⇒ 00:09:42.670 Uttam Kumaran: I’m the max like imposter syndrome like I’m like a poster child.
93 00:09:42.790 ⇒ 00:09:53.999 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know anything about what I’m doing so, and this isn’t a company where you’ll have to worry too much about like I don’t know what you’re doing. It’s more of like I’m interested in knowing the right way. And I’m gonna give it a shot.
94 00:09:54.250 ⇒ 00:09:54.810 Uttam Kumaran: you know.
95 00:09:54.810 ⇒ 00:09:55.630 Luke Daque: Right.
96 00:09:56.320 ⇒ 00:09:57.040 Luke Daque: I think
97 00:09:57.390 ⇒ 00:10:06.389 Uttam Kumaran: It’s tough, right? I think I’m I’m very similar in that. I’m a perfectionist. And even when we present things I see the small things. But what you, what we should understand is that
98 00:10:06.830 ⇒ 00:10:13.880 Uttam Kumaran: like, even if we hit the mark, we still win. If we hit. If we perfect it, we like
99 00:10:14.080 ⇒ 00:10:20.429 Uttam Kumaran: it’s game over right? And so it’s always gonna be a work in progress. I think this is where, like as a leader.
100 00:10:20.530 ⇒ 00:10:23.800 Uttam Kumaran: it’s gonna take time for you to
101 00:10:24.290 ⇒ 00:10:29.730 Uttam Kumaran: think through like either, how you can compartmentalize some of that
102 00:10:29.840 ⇒ 00:10:33.400 Uttam Kumaran: perfection, how you can think through.
103 00:10:33.510 ⇒ 00:10:44.969 Uttam Kumaran: hey? There’s always gonna be a constant improvement process, right? Gonna be continuous improvement. We’re never gonna ship something that’s perfect. But there’s always gonna be another ticket that comes with the backlog to fix it right
104 00:10:44.970 ⇒ 00:10:45.530 Luke Daque: Right.
105 00:10:46.660 ⇒ 00:10:54.859 Uttam Kumaran: And and this is where I want you to start to think about like you know your career overall and like where you want to go.
106 00:10:55.359 ⇒ 00:11:21.810 Uttam Kumaran: One of the things I I’m thinking a lot about, you know, as I’m getting more time is I think of, like I think of like senior people. I think of mid level people. And I think of like new junior people, and I, wanna, I wanna move everybody up right. Everybody needs to get better. And getting better is an is a lifelong journey, like there are still things that I learn right like and
107 00:11:22.470 ⇒ 00:11:34.940 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t think it stops. And for me, one of the things I’m focusing on and this is why I I decided to bring in Mike. I will bring in more people to kind of coach and help is like, how do we move everybody up
108 00:11:35.170 ⇒ 00:11:56.249 Uttam Kumaran: right? In in whatever way they want to go? And so that’s that’s, I think, a big, a big piece that maybe we can spend some time talking today. But maybe let me 1st just address your your feedback here. So I’m being part time hourly. Feels like I’m stuck in limbo. Do you wanna speak a little bit about that? I think I think I know.
109 00:11:56.420 ⇒ 00:12:00.156 Uttam Kumaran: I think I know what you mean, and I hope I have some solution there. But
110 00:12:00.550 ⇒ 00:12:01.399 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, feel free
111 00:12:01.400 ⇒ 00:12:04.589 Luke Daque: Yeah, I think it’s just yeah. I think it’s just basically
112 00:12:05.400 ⇒ 00:12:11.879 Luke Daque: yeah, being like part time and like it, not really it. What’s like the term here.
113 00:12:12.430 ⇒ 00:12:23.210 Luke Daque: like, it doesn’t feel like it’s stable or something, because it’s part time, and then especially the hour. So like, sometimes it’s high, sometimes it’s slow. And yeah, something like that.
114 00:12:23.450 ⇒ 00:12:26.075 Luke Daque: And also like the the
115 00:12:26.790 ⇒ 00:12:33.029 Luke Daque: several, it’s been like a couple of occurrence where, like the the pay was like delayed, or something. Right? So it’s like
116 00:12:33.545 ⇒ 00:12:35.799 Luke Daque: for just for me it’s like
117 00:12:38.010 ⇒ 00:12:44.210 Luke Daque: I don’t know what the how you say it. But like, yeah, I I
118 00:12:44.210 ⇒ 00:12:44.860 Uttam Kumaran: Nervous.
119 00:12:44.860 ⇒ 00:12:51.330 Luke Daque: Does. Yeah, something like that doesn’t feel like, I’ll be, it’s stable or something. So yeah, that’s also like.
120 00:12:52.250 ⇒ 00:12:54.470 Luke Daque: yeah, I think that’s I think you understand what I mean?
121 00:12:54.470 ⇒ 00:13:02.449 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, it’s hard to hear for me. It’s you know, I consider you someone that I want to do whatever I can to keep.
122 00:13:02.790 ⇒ 00:13:09.159 Uttam Kumaran: and it’s so hard, you know, and I don’t. You don’t need to empathize with me at all. But I’ll give you my perspective if it’s worth it.
123 00:13:09.920 ⇒ 00:13:10.640 Luke Daque: Right.
124 00:13:10.640 ⇒ 00:13:14.310 Uttam Kumaran: We are hiring a lot, and the natural tendency
125 00:13:14.570 ⇒ 00:13:18.249 Uttam Kumaran: of the company is to focus on the folks that are struggling a lot.
126 00:13:18.380 ⇒ 00:13:23.730 Uttam Kumaran: What happens. And this happened to me at a lot of companies, too, is the folks that are doing really well.
127 00:13:23.970 ⇒ 00:13:27.869 Uttam Kumaran: You actually, you actually lose that attention
128 00:13:28.040 ⇒ 00:13:31.549 Uttam Kumaran: right? Because my time is spent on fires only.
129 00:13:31.720 ⇒ 00:13:49.100 Uttam Kumaran: But this is where you know. I think I want to share a couple of things that I’m doing to to make this to make you whole here and sort of sort of fix this problem short term and long term. So one piece is, I think I I’m gonna work on a path like.
130 00:13:49.370 ⇒ 00:13:51.580 Uttam Kumaran: ideally, hopefully, like in the next week.
131 00:13:52.000 ⇒ 00:13:58.330 Uttam Kumaran: to basically consider where your allocation and try to move you as as close to full time as possible.
132 00:13:59.032 ⇒ 00:14:02.830 Uttam Kumaran: I think this can also move towards salary. Basically.
133 00:14:03.278 ⇒ 00:14:13.360 Uttam Kumaran: I think you’re at the point where you’ve done so much work for us, and I think you’re a core member of the team that, like losing you for me, is like, not an is like, not an option
134 00:14:13.820 ⇒ 00:14:16.700 Uttam Kumaran: and so for me, I think this is a
135 00:14:17.000 ⇒ 00:14:19.869 Uttam Kumaran: this is a moment where I’m really, really happy. You brought this up.
136 00:14:20.561 ⇒ 00:14:24.679 Uttam Kumaran: I know it’s like scary to do so. But
137 00:14:25.900 ⇒ 00:14:29.020 Uttam Kumaran: glad like. Happily, I want to actually
138 00:14:29.200 ⇒ 00:14:33.160 Uttam Kumaran: continue to reinvest in you and make sure that you have
139 00:14:33.270 ⇒ 00:14:37.900 Uttam Kumaran: sort of faith in us that this is a place where you can continue to build a career.
140 00:14:38.900 ⇒ 00:14:39.320 Luke Daque: Cool.
141 00:14:39.320 ⇒ 00:15:05.079 Uttam Kumaran: So one of the things is I, you know I took a little bit of a look at, you know, hours for for last month for this month. So I know this month is around like 54 h. Last month was around 59 h. You know. Typically, what? What are we aiming for, like like 100? 2,030? Right? So this is where I know that you’re just working on one client. And so here’s
142 00:15:05.080 ⇒ 00:15:05.750 Uttam Kumaran: a couple things that
143 00:15:05.750 ⇒ 00:15:16.529 Uttam Kumaran: I want to do. Let me tell you what I can, what I can do at minimum, and then ideally, what we can work towards. So at minimum, I want to set like a base salary plus
144 00:15:16.730 ⇒ 00:15:22.580 Uttam Kumaran: meaning, you can guarantee that on any given month you’re gonna make X amount of money.
145 00:15:23.026 ⇒ 00:15:29.840 Uttam Kumaran: And I’m gonna put that here. So base salary plus hourly.
146 00:15:32.060 ⇒ 00:15:39.430 Uttam Kumaran: So basically, what I’m going to try to do is structure a process where at minimum, you’re gonna make a certain amount. And then if you
147 00:15:39.660 ⇒ 00:15:41.160 Uttam Kumaran: in addition.
148 00:15:41.270 ⇒ 00:15:51.170 Uttam Kumaran: there will be an extra portion that you can basically work until you hit like a a ceiling. Ideally, what I want to do longer term is just make a salary offer.
149 00:15:52.290 ⇒ 00:15:52.910 Luke Daque: Even
150 00:15:53.070 ⇒ 00:16:02.252 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So that’s that’s 1 item. The second item here is we’re meeting as a Pm. Team tomorrow to discuss
151 00:16:04.300 ⇒ 00:16:08.079 Uttam Kumaran: to to discuss allocation.
152 00:16:08.769 ⇒ 00:16:13.179 Uttam Kumaran: And so I’m gonna look to at least have you on 2 clients?
153 00:16:14.580 ⇒ 00:16:15.540 Uttam Kumaran: So
154 00:16:16.610 ⇒ 00:16:18.180 Luke Daque: Yeah, I think it should be
155 00:16:18.370 ⇒ 00:16:26.380 Luke Daque: a a little bit better since we have like backlog for pool parts now, because, like, I think, like last month. I was just like working on stack of those
156 00:16:26.380 ⇒ 00:16:27.050 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
157 00:16:27.050 ⇒ 00:16:31.810 Luke Daque: For the whole month, and then the 1st 2 weeks was also like Pretty.
158 00:16:32.070 ⇒ 00:16:38.690 Luke Daque: Not nothing. What’s going on for stack bits for the 1st 2 weeks. So yeah, I think, yeah, it should be like.
159 00:16:38.910 ⇒ 00:16:42.190 Luke Daque: it’s getting better now, I believe
160 00:16:42.870 ⇒ 00:16:48.470 Uttam Kumaran: So I think that’s great. I want to move you to 2 clients, but I want you to move to 2 active clients like pool parts is up and down.
161 00:16:48.925 ⇒ 00:16:52.829 Uttam Kumaran: I want to get you on something that’s actually like pretty serious.
162 00:16:53.321 ⇒ 00:16:59.649 Uttam Kumaran: So moving you to 2 active clients. The 3rd thing is starting to spend some time on like data platform work.
163 00:17:02.450 ⇒ 00:17:04.329 Uttam Kumaran: So I’m actually going to put this here.
164 00:17:04.900 ⇒ 00:17:12.309 Uttam Kumaran: So I’m I’m working a little bit. I’m gonna work with you, demalade and a wish on a roadmap for a data platform
165 00:17:12.670 ⇒ 00:17:17.359 Uttam Kumaran: that we can start to pick at, you know. Maybe once every 2 weeks.
166 00:17:18.295 ⇒ 00:17:21.400 Uttam Kumaran: This is going to be things like templatized repos.
167 00:17:21.893 ⇒ 00:17:30.340 Uttam Kumaran: Templatized Dbt projects. Better documentation, things like that. And I want to find a way for us to dedicate each dedicate like
168 00:17:31.110 ⇒ 00:17:37.709 Uttam Kumaran: 5 or 10 HA week, working towards that, you know, in addition to, in addition to client work.
169 00:17:38.650 ⇒ 00:17:39.430 Luke Daque: Gotcha
170 00:17:40.030 ⇒ 00:17:48.790 Uttam Kumaran: So how do you feel about these 2 things? Do you? Do you think like the these sort of like hit? And I? And again. I guess my ask would be for you to be like brutally honest
171 00:17:49.207 ⇒ 00:17:54.820 Uttam Kumaran: like, do you think this is like moving in the right direction? Do you think this is like not a great step like, what do you think
172 00:17:55.390 ⇒ 00:17:58.730 Luke Daque: Yeah, I think this is a yeah. This is a good good step.
173 00:18:00.500 ⇒ 00:18:05.170 Luke Daque: Start with. And then we can always like continuously improve like you mentioned
174 00:18:05.170 ⇒ 00:18:21.650 Uttam Kumaran: Okay? So yeah, I wanna, I wanna make sure that you are getting paid on time and that you are, you basically have enough work to take on reliably, ideally. I think I want to move you towards full time salary. So you’re not worried every month
175 00:18:22.360 ⇒ 00:18:28.659 Uttam Kumaran: in terms of like what you’re working on. I think I I certainly owe you that, and I’ll look to make that happen
176 00:18:29.210 ⇒ 00:18:29.940 Luke Daque: Cool.
177 00:18:30.060 ⇒ 00:18:36.170 Luke Daque: Yeah, as like, I was right reflecting, maybe this is also like one of the reasons like, there’s a dent in my
178 00:18:36.460 ⇒ 00:18:39.269 Luke Daque: self-confidence, or something like in my.
179 00:18:39.840 ⇒ 00:18:45.909 Luke Daque: I guess, like motivation or something to it, because it’s like, it’s up and down. So yeah.
180 00:18:46.510 ⇒ 00:18:51.819 Uttam Kumaran: No. And I and I wanna make sure that you come here and you’re able to dedicate 40 h, and you feel like.
181 00:18:52.120 ⇒ 00:18:55.490 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, my God! I wish there was more time in the day, you know, like that feeling
182 00:18:55.490 ⇒ 00:18:56.050 Luke Daque: Here.
183 00:18:56.840 ⇒ 00:18:57.550 Luke Daque: Okay.
184 00:18:57.550 ⇒ 00:19:03.269 Uttam Kumaran: And and like, you know, you’ve seen the sort of things that we’re going through in terms of bringing people on
185 00:19:03.911 ⇒ 00:19:16.200 Uttam Kumaran: but now I’m in a moment where we were only considering bringing on another analyst. And basically, I’m starting to build just a team. So we’re gonna sort of not have any external contractors.
186 00:19:16.838 ⇒ 00:19:19.069 Uttam Kumaran: and sort of working towards that goal.
187 00:19:20.360 ⇒ 00:19:28.079 Uttam Kumaran: You know. So ideally, I I want to basically start to throw that money.
188 00:19:29.450 ⇒ 00:19:32.269 Uttam Kumaran: The way of our internal team members. You know.
189 00:19:33.000 ⇒ 00:19:33.710 Luke Daque: Nice
190 00:19:34.910 ⇒ 00:19:38.850 Uttam Kumaran: So I think, if this is okay, then let me work towards these
191 00:19:38.960 ⇒ 00:19:41.059 Uttam Kumaran: in terms of the next item
192 00:19:41.180 ⇒ 00:19:47.119 Uttam Kumaran: task prioritization. This is where, like. I think I want to spend some time talking about
193 00:19:47.715 ⇒ 00:20:04.190 Uttam Kumaran: like a little bit of of like leadership. One of the things is like leadership can come into many forms. But this is where I guess I want to 1st just ask you like, if you’re to think about yourself and like where you see yourself in the next year or 2, like.
194 00:20:04.600 ⇒ 00:20:06.700 Uttam Kumaran: where do you? Where do you? Where do you
195 00:20:06.850 ⇒ 00:20:12.659 Uttam Kumaran: feel like you? You want to sort of continue to drive towards like
196 00:20:13.920 ⇒ 00:20:20.660 Uttam Kumaran: right? And again, there’s multiple. I can give you a couple of you know options. But if you were to think about what you’ve liked doing, and how you’ve grown.
197 00:20:21.060 ⇒ 00:20:24.349 Uttam Kumaran: Where do you think you want to go towards? And how can we enable that
198 00:20:26.780 ⇒ 00:20:34.769 Luke Daque: Yeah, that’s a that’s a good question. I don’t. I don’t think I have a an answer at the moment. But yeah, that’s maybe something I can like.
199 00:20:35.910 ⇒ 00:20:38.510 Luke Daque: think about, like, what?
200 00:20:38.640 ⇒ 00:20:40.660 Luke Daque: Because, like, you mentioned like.
201 00:20:44.270 ⇒ 00:20:50.439 Luke Daque: yeah, it can either be, I guess, in the leadership, in terms of like
202 00:20:50.780 ⇒ 00:21:00.679 Luke Daque: helping people grow as well right like, for example, like Kyle, has a lot of questions. Maybe we can help him out in that way, or it can also be like
203 00:21:01.120 ⇒ 00:21:04.729 Luke Daque: leadership in terms of like technical expertise.
204 00:21:07.120 ⇒ 00:21:08.050 Luke Daque: So, yeah.
205 00:21:08.780 ⇒ 00:21:12.519 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think there’s really 2 key like
206 00:21:13.130 ⇒ 00:21:19.399 Uttam Kumaran: areas. One is like coaching junior folks right? Coaching, pairing with junior folks.
207 00:21:21.120 ⇒ 00:21:28.880 Uttam Kumaran: Second, I I sort of want to see you grow as like an engineering leader. And really, I think there’s a 1 key way which is like helping
208 00:21:29.270 ⇒ 00:21:31.630 Uttam Kumaran: helping do
209 00:21:31.740 ⇒ 00:21:33.670 Luke Daque: Groom, backlog.
210 00:21:34.610 ⇒ 00:21:36.000 Uttam Kumaran: And so roadmap.
211 00:21:38.420 ⇒ 00:21:43.759 Uttam Kumaran: This is where you know similarly to stack Blitz. Similarly to other clients.
212 00:21:43.940 ⇒ 00:21:46.349 Uttam Kumaran: I’m setting a lot of the backlog.
213 00:21:46.680 ⇒ 00:21:59.469 Uttam Kumaran: but I want the engineering leader is who is supposed to set the requirements and like, what does success look like here? And this is where I I want to feel like you can almost solve this problem, which is like
214 00:21:59.600 ⇒ 00:22:11.910 Uttam Kumaran: the task prioritization and spending way. Too much time and effort. I want you to start to look above yourself and say, Okay, let’s say I’m the engineering leader here. I need to work with my Pm. To
215 00:22:12.290 ⇒ 00:22:22.220 Uttam Kumaran: to make sure that every ticket has all the details. I’m pushing them to get more requirements they need, and then I’m able to give estimates. I’m able to measure that things are coming out on time.
216 00:22:22.650 ⇒ 00:22:27.000 Uttam Kumaran: So these are 2 things that that I’m really really interested in seeing you
217 00:22:27.440 ⇒ 00:22:41.219 Uttam Kumaran: do more of. The 1st part is something that I can help facilitate right? And we’re kind of gonna create a little bit of a program where sort of our more tenured people are working with some of our new people and meeting for an hour a week. Basically
218 00:22:42.290 ⇒ 00:22:43.000 Luke Daque: Gotcha
219 00:22:43.000 ⇒ 00:22:57.880 Uttam Kumaran: Just to meet and and say, Hey, tell me what you’re working on. How can I be helpful? I think you do that a little bit with Kyle. Everybody’s starting to do that. That’s something. Of course, you know, I spend a lot of time doing. And I want now the team to start doing that with themselves.
220 00:22:58.509 ⇒ 00:23:03.450 Uttam Kumaran: So we’re working on that the other piece and everybody will have that like.
221 00:23:03.810 ⇒ 00:23:07.970 Uttam Kumaran: You will have a person like that everybody will have. Maybe some people will have you as that.
222 00:23:08.140 ⇒ 00:23:23.119 Uttam Kumaran: That’s the thing. And this is why I wanted to introduce Mike, and and I’ll start to introduce more people who can come in and just be like a rubber duck right? And just like help. You go through a task or challenge, or just be a 3rd person outside of myself.
223 00:23:23.350 ⇒ 00:23:23.820 Uttam Kumaran: you know.
224 00:23:23.820 ⇒ 00:23:24.140 Luke Daque: I’m sorry.
225 00:23:24.140 ⇒ 00:23:26.719 Uttam Kumaran: Answer questions and give you perspective. Now.
226 00:23:27.700 ⇒ 00:23:28.719 Luke Daque: That makes sense.
227 00:23:29.870 ⇒ 00:23:35.669 Uttam Kumaran: So the second piece is, yeah, helping to groom backlog and set roadmap like one of the things that I’m telling the Pm’s
228 00:23:35.790 ⇒ 00:23:39.369 Uttam Kumaran: is that their job is not to be your boss
229 00:23:39.870 ⇒ 00:23:43.300 Uttam Kumaran: like. It’s it’s a it’s a horizontal relationship.
230 00:23:43.450 ⇒ 00:23:46.180 Uttam Kumaran: You rely on them to
231 00:23:46.290 ⇒ 00:24:06.490 Uttam Kumaran: to make sure that what we’re going to work on is what the client wants to do. However, it’s your job to explain what success looks like and like, whether we’re building with the right tools and how long things are gonna take right? And so I’m gonna push them to to weave in the engineers more in the roadmapping process.
232 00:24:07.015 ⇒ 00:24:12.600 Uttam Kumaran: But this is where like, if you’re if you’re like, hey? I don’t know why we’re working on this, or Hey.
233 00:24:12.820 ⇒ 00:24:14.569 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not working on enough.
234 00:24:14.700 ⇒ 00:24:16.520 Uttam Kumaran: I need to hear you say that
235 00:24:16.710 ⇒ 00:24:21.399 Uttam Kumaran: right like I need to hear you say that, not to me, but to the Pm.
236 00:24:21.710 ⇒ 00:24:24.520 Uttam Kumaran: Right, or to the team, or in the in stand up
237 00:24:25.223 ⇒ 00:24:31.120 Uttam Kumaran: or in the Friday meeting, right? Like, that’s where that’s super super in important information.
238 00:24:31.440 ⇒ 00:24:39.969 Uttam Kumaran: And you know, we may we may longer term have, like, okay, principles around, like when to do that. But think about what I would say
239 00:24:40.110 ⇒ 00:24:49.780 Uttam Kumaran: and then say it, you know. Is, is it probably a good barometer, or if you’re feeling like, if you have something to say, and you’re like, Okay, if I talk to Tom and I mentioned this.
240 00:24:49.950 ⇒ 00:24:53.349 Uttam Kumaran: and he would agree with me, I should say it out loud.
241 00:24:53.520 ⇒ 00:24:59.999 Uttam Kumaran: right? That’s the sort of thing I want to to sort of start to hear from you, and in. When we talk
242 00:25:01.730 ⇒ 00:25:11.950 Uttam Kumaran: I will start to look at. I will start to ask you if if you’ve been doing that, and and that’s really where I want to see that your tenure shines like you’ve been here. You’ve seen a lot of stuff.
243 00:25:12.758 ⇒ 00:25:19.139 Uttam Kumaran: I wanna see that like you’re able to take all that knowledge and then basically push that into
244 00:25:20.010 ⇒ 00:25:27.540 Uttam Kumaran: setting the roadmap grooming and then starting to become that like a player, you know. And and leadership again doesn’t have to mean managing people.
245 00:25:27.920 ⇒ 00:25:34.500 Uttam Kumaran: but it’s it’s either managing work, it’s managing or it’s managing. People like it’s just becoming a leader that people can rely on
246 00:25:36.200 ⇒ 00:26:00.419 Uttam Kumaran: you know. And so I think certainly you can become a lot more of a leader in setting the roadmaps understanding the data platform, and then you’ll see. My job will be to pull, to go even one step higher and to pull everybody up, you know, with me right? And so that’s what I’m trying to do this whole way is like I graduate myself. 1st I go into the next limbo, and then I pull
247 00:26:00.420 ⇒ 00:26:01.050 Luke Daque: Everyone.
248 00:26:01.050 ⇒ 00:26:12.599 Uttam Kumaran: Right. And so for me. This is the limbo where I’m sure you you know, I was doing a lot of this right. And now I’m I want the people. I want folks like you, Demo, to start doing this
249 00:26:12.750 ⇒ 00:26:13.730 Uttam Kumaran: for folks.
250 00:26:14.340 ⇒ 00:26:17.380 Uttam Kumaran: And we’ll have a very, very strong company
251 00:26:18.350 ⇒ 00:26:18.920 Luke Daque: Cool.
252 00:26:20.470 ⇒ 00:26:21.840 Luke Daque: Yeah, makes sense.
253 00:26:23.130 ⇒ 00:26:24.170 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool.
254 00:26:24.470 ⇒ 00:26:29.090 Uttam Kumaran: Is there anything else I know? We just have a few minutes. Anything else beyond this that you wanted to
255 00:26:29.930 ⇒ 00:26:32.019 Uttam Kumaran: spend some time talking about
256 00:26:33.580 ⇒ 00:26:34.480 Luke Daque: 13.th
257 00:26:35.520 ⇒ 00:26:38.180 Luke Daque: Yeah, I think I’m good. So far, I think we we
258 00:26:39.100 ⇒ 00:26:44.110 Luke Daque: yeah, we’ve touched a lot of topics like points
259 00:26:46.750 ⇒ 00:26:48.370 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool.
260 00:26:48.480 ⇒ 00:26:53.240 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. I think. I think overall things are getting more organized, like, I think linear is getting good.
261 00:26:54.257 ⇒ 00:26:58.959 Uttam Kumaran: I think the Pm’s are pretty good, right? Like, I think they’re they’re they’re motivated.
262 00:27:00.010 ⇒ 00:27:03.219 Uttam Kumaran: I think we’re still probably remember, like she’s she’s pretty new. But she’s like.
263 00:27:03.500 ⇒ 00:27:06.770 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, just jump through the water. Yeah, yeah.
264 00:27:07.210 ⇒ 00:27:12.289 Uttam Kumaran: 100. And so those are the types of people I know that give us new energy and
265 00:27:12.290 ⇒ 00:27:12.990 Luke Daque: Right.
266 00:27:13.380 ⇒ 00:27:16.800 Uttam Kumaran: And I’m gonna throw gas on everybody that’s like moving up. And
267 00:27:17.274 ⇒ 00:27:32.660 Uttam Kumaran: we’re always gonna have people that come in and leave. But for the folks like you. I want to really commit and make sure that you feel happy, and you feel like you can. You could continue to build a career here, right? And and I think it’s really important for me to hear this feedback.
268 00:27:33.990 ⇒ 00:27:47.680 Uttam Kumaran: so yeah, I think considered, continue to think about some of the questions I had. I’ll see how soon later I can, how soon next I can do another one on one ideally, maybe in 2 weeks we don’t have to wait for 3 weeks. I’ll book it.
269 00:27:47.960 ⇒ 00:27:48.670 Luke Daque: Cool.
270 00:27:48.670 ⇒ 00:27:54.350 Uttam Kumaran: But I but I really want to invest in you dude like I really really feel confident in trying to
271 00:27:54.920 ⇒ 00:27:58.119 Uttam Kumaran: push you to not only take on 40 h of work.
272 00:27:58.320 ⇒ 00:28:12.800 Uttam Kumaran: but I want to push you to make your 40 h of work, not only like one to one, but one to 2, 1 to 3, meaning 1 h of your time needs to impact 3 h of someone else’s time. Right? And so you’re having what’s called leverage
273 00:28:13.254 ⇒ 00:28:23.939 Uttam Kumaran: and I really really want to see that you have so much knowledge about how our company runs, about how we’ve done things about the trade offs. People need to make when they’re doing data, modeling or data work.
274 00:28:24.070 ⇒ 00:28:26.490 Uttam Kumaran: All of those things I want to start to push you.
275 00:28:26.820 ⇒ 00:28:37.639 Uttam Kumaran: I know it’s not common. I know you’re definitely soft spoken, but this is where like leaders don’t need to be. Have a strong voice right? I don’t think you see me
276 00:28:37.910 ⇒ 00:28:40.619 Uttam Kumaran: yelling, or you see me sort of like
277 00:28:40.860 ⇒ 00:28:47.669 Uttam Kumaran: I talk a lot. But that’s just because someone has to talk around here. I want a lot of the talking to come from the team
278 00:28:48.110 ⇒ 00:28:50.709 Uttam Kumaran: right? And so I want you to to think about
279 00:28:51.310 ⇒ 00:29:06.169 Uttam Kumaran: exactly what you said is like, why do I feel like I’m not able to raise my voice and identify those issues, and we can work on those together. But I really want to hear you sort of voice your opinion and and feel like this is your company to sort of push forward, you know.
280 00:29:06.897 ⇒ 00:29:11.020 Uttam Kumaran: So hopefully, some of the changes that we’ll be making will will help you with that.
281 00:29:13.160 ⇒ 00:29:13.930 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
282 00:29:16.080 ⇒ 00:29:18.274 Luke Daque: Nice and looks like real. Just
283 00:29:19.830 ⇒ 00:29:23.880 Luke Daque: it’s now available. The the canvas one. They have an update. So yeah, cool
284 00:29:23.880 ⇒ 00:29:25.300 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, nice. Okay, cool.
285 00:29:27.180 ⇒ 00:29:37.610 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Alright. Dude. Let’s I know we have the stack Blitz meeting so we can jump there and then. Yeah, we’ll talk again soon. Thank you for the feedback, and I’ll keep you updated on the 2 items
286 00:29:38.080 ⇒ 00:29:39.840 Luke Daque: Sounds good. Thanks! Thanks! Otam
287 00:29:39.840 ⇒ 00:29:41.260 Uttam Kumaran: Thank you. Bye.