Meeting Title: PM Discussion w Alexander Date: 2025-05-26 Meeting participants: Alexanderlubka, Uttam Kumaran, Amber Lin
WEBVTT
1 00:00:30.210 ⇒ 00:00:31.530 Amber Lin: Hi! There!
2 00:00:31.530 ⇒ 00:00:32.919 alexanderlubka: Hey, Amber, how are you?
3 00:00:32.920 ⇒ 00:00:38.809 Amber Lin: I’m good nice to see you again. We’re both working on a holiday. It seems.
4 00:00:38.810 ⇒ 00:00:43.649 alexanderlubka: I know. Yeah, I’m glad it worked out to have some time. Did you do anything fun this weekend.
5 00:00:44.030 ⇒ 00:00:52.394 Amber Lin: Hmm, yeah, I was actually just in Austin. I was staying at Utam’s house as Utah would, and.
6 00:00:53.260 ⇒ 00:00:56.317 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, me and my girlfriend. We’re in Argentina,
7 00:00:57.070 ⇒ 00:01:04.489 Uttam Kumaran: and so, hey amber came, and then we had a we have a client here in town. So she was able to visit them.
8 00:01:04.650 ⇒ 00:01:10.677 Uttam Kumaran: And then I was like, Well, if you’re gonna be here, you just house it and we’ll be gone. So it worked out.
9 00:01:10.940 ⇒ 00:01:12.960 alexanderlubka: That worked out great. How was Argentina.
10 00:01:13.250 ⇒ 00:01:18.820 Uttam Kumaran: It was good. It was good. I got back this morning, so I’m kind of tired, but
11 00:01:18.930 ⇒ 00:01:23.949 Uttam Kumaran: it’s start of the start of the week. So we are just running with it. So.
12 00:01:24.480 ⇒ 00:01:25.899 alexanderlubka: How long are you down there for.
13 00:01:25.900 ⇒ 00:01:35.520 Uttam Kumaran: I was there since last Wednesday, this past Wednesday. So yeah for. And then we left yesterday evening.
14 00:01:35.660 ⇒ 00:01:38.890 Uttam Kumaran: But we went to Mendoza, which is like wine country
15 00:01:39.906 ⇒ 00:01:47.059 Uttam Kumaran: and then one of our former Pm’s was getting married, so I went to his wedding on Saturday.
16 00:01:48.085 ⇒ 00:01:52.460 Uttam Kumaran: Night, and it was dope so crazy.
17 00:01:54.000 ⇒ 00:02:00.820 Uttam Kumaran: But yeah, overall good trip like. Didn’t work that much about to relax. Yeah. It was nice.
18 00:02:01.370 ⇒ 00:02:04.833 alexanderlubka: Oh, that’s awesome. It’s a great trip, and the name in Austin.
19 00:02:05.520 ⇒ 00:02:07.909 Amber Lin: Yeah, I spent some time in Austin.
20 00:02:08.807 ⇒ 00:02:13.069 Amber Lin: It’s really nice. Uto’s place is also really nice. So.
21 00:02:13.070 ⇒ 00:02:14.340 Uttam Kumaran: It’s very nice to be home.
22 00:02:15.100 ⇒ 00:02:17.010 Uttam Kumaran: It’s really nicely back. Yeah.
23 00:02:17.740 ⇒ 00:02:20.140 alexanderlubka: Yeah and amber, are you? You based out of la.
24 00:02:20.450 ⇒ 00:02:28.350 Amber Lin: Yeah, I’m back in la, right now. My girlfriend just moved in. So I we were organizing the whole place. And now it looks completely different.
25 00:02:29.150 ⇒ 00:02:29.659 alexanderlubka: Oh, hell, yeah.
26 00:02:29.660 ⇒ 00:02:30.270 alexanderlubka: Nice!
27 00:02:30.270 ⇒ 00:02:32.114 alexanderlubka: Where in la are you? I’m gonna be in
28 00:02:33.090 ⇒ 00:02:39.730 alexanderlubka: Where the hell am I gonna be? I’m gonna be in. I have a friend that lives in La, and she lives in somewhere near Pasadena, Altadena, or something.
29 00:02:39.730 ⇒ 00:02:41.189 Amber Lin: Oh, yeah,
30 00:02:42.710 ⇒ 00:02:49.589 Amber Lin: My girlfriend went to school around Eagle Rock, which is pretty close to Pasadena, and I’m just in downtown, la.
31 00:02:49.670 ⇒ 00:02:51.400 Amber Lin: so cool. I’ll let you when I’m out there.
32 00:02:51.640 ⇒ 00:02:55.159 Amber Lin: Yeah, okay, exciting. Where are you based? Now.
33 00:02:55.160 ⇒ 00:02:56.000 alexanderlubka: I’m in New York.
34 00:02:56.220 ⇒ 00:03:07.690 Amber Lin: Oh, I’m flying to New York. I think I’ll be there the weekend this weekend, probably, until like next Tuesday. So if you’re still there this weekend, I’ll go visit you.
35 00:03:07.690 ⇒ 00:03:08.660 alexanderlubka: Deal. I’ll be here.
36 00:03:09.055 ⇒ 00:03:09.450 Amber Lin: Okay.
37 00:03:10.900 ⇒ 00:03:19.459 Uttam Kumaran: Nice. Oh, yeah, cool. I’ve given Amber a lot of the context, and I think we have some
38 00:03:20.358 ⇒ 00:03:22.949 Uttam Kumaran: kind of questions. But maybe
39 00:03:23.360 ⇒ 00:03:27.789 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I would love Alex like I don’t know how much you’re a member of of.
40 00:03:28.130 ⇒ 00:03:37.299 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I’m sure you you remember a little bit about what we do. But any questions like we can answer upfront. I think for to kind of give you maybe a little bit of like where
41 00:03:37.420 ⇒ 00:03:42.670 Uttam Kumaran: I feel like you could be most valuable one. Like as the leader for me, I have a lot of questions about
42 00:03:43.400 ⇒ 00:03:46.160 Uttam Kumaran: how to architect the best like.
43 00:03:46.430 ⇒ 00:04:02.539 Uttam Kumaran: you know. Pmo, function. I am, of course, involved in like hiring. So I have. I have some questions on just like how to hire the best people, and like sort of profiles, it should be going after but I think where I’m probably less
44 00:04:03.211 ⇒ 00:04:18.849 Uttam Kumaran: useful is like asking about specific, like tactical things like daily, weekly, like monthly rituals, with clients like probably hearing like anecdotal stuff from you about how to deal with clients that’s like all of Amber’s world, and sort of the
45 00:04:19.019 ⇒ 00:04:24.643 Uttam Kumaran: how she’s architecting sort of what future Pm’s are going to walk into.
46 00:04:25.910 ⇒ 00:04:48.899 Uttam Kumaran: My job is to get us more clients, and then to get more money out of over time, and like, I think I sit on those sides, you know really well, right now, and the Pm. Team is, should use me to facilitate that or use me strategically. But like where I’m not, that useful is in stand ups and planning and like in all the specifics.
47 00:04:50.040 ⇒ 00:04:54.009 Uttam Kumaran: but like that’s probably the the lay of the land where we are right now.
48 00:04:55.530 ⇒ 00:05:14.969 alexanderlubka: Yeah, that’s good. That’s some good context. I’d love to know, like where. And this might probably sounds like an amber question. But like where things stand. Now you know how many projects are we working on? I know you. There was talk of like hiring a Pm. From a client like did we hire? So how many Pms do we have right now? Do we hire that person like what is like the current state of like project management at Brainforge. Right now.
49 00:05:17.037 ⇒ 00:05:44.239 Amber Lin: So basically is just me. Right now, we have around 6, 6 or 7 clients, and I manage most of them, except for one Eden, which is one of our biggest clients which Robert is managing because it’s we had a Pm. On it before, but then he wasn’t able to join us. So Robert is still handling that right now we were looking to hire another pm, but we were
50 00:05:44.659 ⇒ 00:05:53.490 Amber Lin: we were still looking through the options, and the need is not completely pressing right now, because I do have capacity to handle the different projects
51 00:05:53.680 ⇒ 00:06:04.629 Amber Lin: we would need one if we were to start a few other projects, though, so the the need is there. And since we’re thinking about hiring, and the state of the current Pm. Is that
52 00:06:05.190 ⇒ 00:06:17.080 Amber Lin: we are into. We have gone from no structure to some structure, because this is my my entire job, and we have certain rituals in place. We have
53 00:06:17.610 ⇒ 00:06:33.424 Amber Lin: client communications and rituals we have with the team, though it’s not strictly executed because some of the teams are just me and a engineer. So sometimes it goes more ad hoc. But for bigger clients there’s more
54 00:06:34.300 ⇒ 00:06:43.480 Amber Lin: rituals in place. And so right now, what we’re trying to develop this last week, we were thinking about, okay, how do we build a
55 00:06:43.740 ⇒ 00:06:48.970 Amber Lin: lifecycle aware? Pm, function? Because I’ve thought about
56 00:06:49.380 ⇒ 00:07:04.479 Amber Lin: just basic rituals based on what I’ve learned before. Okay, we need these rituals in place, but it’s not really tied to. How do we grow this client, or how do we follow this client from its nurturing to the final. How do we expand it? How do we
57 00:07:04.520 ⇒ 00:07:24.260 Amber Lin: renew it? And so the whole life cycle of what rituals need to be in there? What should be the goal of whenever we do things, or whenever we communicate with clients, what should be the goal in place? Because maybe you want to upsell. Maybe you want to grow. So we’re in that stage right now. I think this is where we really wanted your input on
58 00:07:24.670 ⇒ 00:07:27.800 Amber Lin: how to build it right from the outset.
59 00:07:28.260 ⇒ 00:07:42.066 Amber Lin: So that’s that’s what’s going on. And I also have a similar question to of where do you think you would be the most helpful. Of what kind of questions should we come to you for? Versus
60 00:07:42.540 ⇒ 00:07:46.989 Amber Lin: Some other questions, maybe, is for Chatgpt before coming to you.
61 00:07:48.843 ⇒ 00:07:51.960 alexanderlubka: I can never be chat, gpt. It knows everything. So
62 00:07:54.210 ⇒ 00:08:02.368 alexanderlubka: yeah, I think maybe more situationally, I can help maybe more like building, you know. Customize right sizing this Pmo that I want to build with you guys.
63 00:08:02.920 ⇒ 00:08:10.569 alexanderlubka: like, like you’re talking about with some of the ceremonies and rituals you want to do and like, try not to be too prescriptive in taking it by like a.
64 00:08:10.760 ⇒ 00:08:19.327 alexanderlubka: whether we want to size it by client, type or site type of engagement. I wanna like, I like the idea of just like
65 00:08:19.870 ⇒ 00:08:46.739 alexanderlubka: customizing it based off. So at least we have like, when you initiate a project I’m thinking about like you’re saying, like some of them are just one engineer. Maybe some have a couple engineers on them like what’s like a good place to start with it. And what’s a good like documentation have in place? And what’s good? You know, structure to have based on whatever factors make sense to us here. If it’s by like, I said by size, by term of engagement, by type of project, it is so at least, then, like, when we get new projects, you can say, Okay, well.
66 00:08:47.140 ⇒ 00:09:09.909 alexanderlubka: the con contract says this, it’s a 1, 1 engineer project. It’s only going to be 3 months or so. Okay, well, let’s I don’t want to overdo it with like the what ceremonies we’re gonna do be doing for that. It probably doesn’t make sense to, you know, be, as you know, water folly on that one as maybe one that’s really is bigger and does require the steps and maybe require sign off from the clients on different deliverables, depending on how we run it. So
67 00:09:10.140 ⇒ 00:09:36.130 alexanderlubka: I think I can help with that. I think I can help with the ceremonies, the documentation, when you’re building out these things like consulting you on that and advising you on like different directions that you can take. If you’re having issues with clients or like, I just like I’m dealing with this client and like you know, I can’t. Or if it’s like from a project management perspective. And just like I’m trying to implement this. But they’re not really receptive to it, or they have a they don’t have a project manager manager on their side, or they do a project manager on their side. And like they’re
68 00:09:36.130 ⇒ 00:10:02.330 alexanderlubka: we’re trying to do that. So those situational things, I think it can really help with as well as you’re in the weeds with, especially because there was another. What was it? Akash, or something? There was another project manager when I last talked to you guys, right? He’s okay. So if you’re doing this, 6 to 7 projects is a lot for one person. So if I’m here, you know, 10 h or so a week, and like you’re going through it, and you’re in the the wood, the the forest there, and I can help with that like feel free to ping things my way.
69 00:10:03.000 ⇒ 00:10:03.560 Amber Lin: Hmm.
70 00:10:04.970 ⇒ 00:10:33.709 Amber Lin: yeah, totally. I think a lot of the situational problems right now. I I talked to Utam and Robert, and then with Chatgbt, for instance, last week we had a it was my 1st time experiencing unhappy client. So it was like, Okay, how do I deal with this situation? How do I lead more in meetings and deal with client emotions, but not completely please them. So I was able to think through that by talking to Tom and Robert, and then chatgpt. But I think it’ll be really nice to have your insight
71 00:10:33.910 ⇒ 00:10:34.730 Amber Lin: on that.
72 00:10:34.730 ⇒ 00:10:37.530 Uttam Kumaran: Cause I don’t cause I don’t do this every day now.
73 00:10:37.640 ⇒ 00:10:42.899 Uttam Kumaran: like I was a product manager for a while, and of course we I was doing it
74 00:10:43.000 ⇒ 00:10:53.310 Uttam Kumaran: part time at this company, among other things. So I’m opinionated. But I’m also like that’s not where I spend my every single day. And so I think.
75 00:10:53.720 ⇒ 00:11:00.839 Uttam Kumaran: like Alex, that’s where I think we definitely so this anecdotal like scenario based stuff. It could be very helpful.
76 00:11:02.420 ⇒ 00:11:10.510 Uttam Kumaran: as like an again, another escalation step before it sort of comes to me, and I’m honestly getting less and less available.
77 00:11:10.610 ⇒ 00:11:14.090 Uttam Kumaran: So that’s that’s where we’re at. There.
78 00:11:15.480 ⇒ 00:11:19.620 alexanderlubka: Yeah, if I can help and buy some hours on that, if you’re not available happy to do it.
79 00:11:21.440 ⇒ 00:11:28.939 Uttam Kumaran: So I guess, Amber. Maybe, like we can start wherever you want to start. I mean, I had. I just had a couple of things on like hiring.
80 00:11:29.516 ⇒ 00:11:32.180 Amber Lin: I can start there if you want to start.
81 00:11:34.140 ⇒ 00:11:39.369 Amber Lin: Sure Alex, let me share the document that I’ve been working on for the
82 00:11:40.470 ⇒ 00:11:50.580 Amber Lin: for the Pm. Lifecycle, aware. Pm. System. And then I I guess I’ll let Utam ask his questions 1st while I get those shared with you.
83 00:11:51.410 ⇒ 00:11:52.020 alexanderlubka: Sure.
84 00:11:53.060 ⇒ 00:11:55.920 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I was just gonna ask, like,
85 00:11:58.330 ⇒ 00:12:08.880 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I mean, like, we’re so in in all the hiring decisions we’re deciding. Now, I’ve I’ve always coached the team. And I try to think about like we’re trying to hire every hire we make should be
86 00:12:09.300 ⇒ 00:12:18.450 Uttam Kumaran: smarter than our smartest person in that function, basically right? And I think that’s where I’m trying to think about who this next
87 00:12:18.760 ⇒ 00:12:28.070 Uttam Kumaran: Pm. Hire should be for our organization. I think we are, Con. I think we’re. I don’t think we’re in 100 a place where we need
88 00:12:28.400 ⇒ 00:12:46.680 Uttam Kumaran: like management functions on the Pm. Side, like we’re pretty flat hierarchy we now have, like amber, is sort of leading stuff on Pm. Side. We have someone the design with someone on edge. But I don’t think we need like more hierarchy there, I think we need people that are just like executing every day for clients.
89 00:12:46.830 ⇒ 00:12:49.830 Uttam Kumaran: I guess. I just ask you broadly, like
90 00:12:51.910 ⇒ 00:12:55.200 Uttam Kumaran: at a company our size, like, what sort of
91 00:12:55.440 ⇒ 00:12:59.480 Uttam Kumaran: easy filters can we put in the process?
92 00:12:59.911 ⇒ 00:13:12.150 Uttam Kumaran: Just to make sure that we have like that? We’re we’re making a good hire and like, what are some of the things that we should look for? If you were to say like, these are like must haves, or these are like
93 00:13:12.460 ⇒ 00:13:14.500 Uttam Kumaran: red or green flags. You know.
94 00:13:15.210 ⇒ 00:13:22.800 alexanderlubka: So these would, you would say, are these generally? Are you hiring like a junior Pm. Or like a mid tier? Pm, like, what are you thinking for? Level of experience.
95 00:13:24.335 ⇒ 00:13:28.489 Uttam Kumaran: I would probably bring on like a mid tier. Pm,
96 00:13:31.240 ⇒ 00:13:38.909 Uttam Kumaran: just cause like Junior Pm, I feel like it. This, can’t this? This would be too hard if it’s like your 1st client facing role.
97 00:13:39.100 ⇒ 00:13:42.600 Uttam Kumaran: But I think we want some people with some previous experience
98 00:13:42.820 ⇒ 00:13:49.099 Uttam Kumaran: ideally. That person then goes to like lead. The function after a while, you know, and then I roll people to them.
99 00:13:50.110 ⇒ 00:13:55.970 alexanderlubka: So like a 3 to 5 year experience project manager. I think, okay.
100 00:13:56.150 ⇒ 00:13:56.770 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
101 00:13:58.210 ⇒ 00:13:59.590 alexanderlubka: Managing
102 00:13:59.990 ⇒ 00:14:10.350 alexanderlubka: is like, do you capacity wise like, do you? I? I know Amber’s like 6 to 7, and that might be like a full energy. I know, she mentioned. You have like a little bit of capacity, but like that seems like a lot.
103 00:14:10.640 ⇒ 00:14:20.610 Uttam Kumaran: A lot. And some of these, some of these engagements aren’t each like same size? Right? But I do think that’s probably on the high end.
104 00:14:20.800 ⇒ 00:14:26.960 Uttam Kumaran: I think, like probably like 3 or 4, is like a healthier amount.
105 00:14:27.618 ⇒ 00:14:32.399 Uttam Kumaran: And of course, like, I think we can talk about like allocation, based on sizing and
106 00:14:32.550 ⇒ 00:14:35.249 Uttam Kumaran: and importance, or whatever. But
107 00:14:36.800 ⇒ 00:14:38.790 Uttam Kumaran: it’s probably gonna be something like that.
108 00:14:39.710 ⇒ 00:14:43.179 alexanderlubka: Yeah, it’s good, because I’m sure it’s a lot of coach switching for amber right now.
109 00:14:43.500 ⇒ 00:14:45.150 alexanderlubka: That’s a lot clients and.
110 00:14:45.150 ⇒ 00:14:55.789 Amber Lin: It is a lot of times it’s I have to make sure that actually, I have. I have to write a list. Okay, I have to think about each client each day, or else something will slip.
111 00:14:55.900 ⇒ 00:15:06.440 Amber Lin: So I have to look at every single channel to make sure. Okay, they’re communicated. The I’m only able to manage that because some of the clients are, say me and another engineer.
112 00:15:06.660 ⇒ 00:15:10.049 Amber Lin: So that was able to happen because it was small.
113 00:15:10.430 ⇒ 00:15:13.020 alexanderlubka: Yeah, so
114 00:15:13.200 ⇒ 00:15:28.410 alexanderlubka: some, I think in this kind of space a project manager, maybe that’s worked in like a 1st software company before definitely with some startup experience. If if it’s like a person that’s only worked in corporate that, could it could have it, could work. But it’s gonna be tough.
115 00:15:28.730 ⇒ 00:15:55.919 alexanderlubka: I think this environment software companies are great. Startups are great. Consulting is great experience proof that they like know the project management lifecycle. Well, that and how they would deal with like amber is dealing with now, like maybe unhappy clients. You know it doesn’t all the time, but it’s a great scenario to run by them like, what would you do if a client is unhappy with a deliverable, what would you do if you know, how do you a big thing for me when I’m interviewing is always like, how do you deal with risks?
116 00:15:56.156 ⇒ 00:16:19.059 alexanderlubka: Like different? You can give them different scenarios that you might have of, you know, if it’s you know you think you’re not going to hit your timeline, or it’s the quality deliverable isn’t hitting the client expectations. How do you deal with that? How do you deal with expect stakeholder expectations? Management is a big one for you, I would think, for you guys for being, you know, client facing. And this is somebody that’s going to be engaged with the clients. Well, somebody with, like, you know, making sure they have, like the Eq.
117 00:16:19.060 ⇒ 00:16:27.210 alexanderlubka: That you are looking for, for engaging with the clients. That you think that they would that they are going to be a good
118 00:16:27.210 ⇒ 00:16:53.640 alexanderlubka: fit for, like your your organization that they’ll get along with like other people that are working here, and the client as well. If it’s somebody that’s just like doesn’t have that kind of personality that’s going to work with clients. You can, pretty. You can sniff that up pretty easily, but it’s like those kind of things are always like some of my 1st questions on, just like how you deal with the client. What have you experienced before? How do you have. How do you manage your projects? Everybody does it a little bit differently. So what is your experience doing it? How do you manage projects now, when you’re currently
119 00:16:53.640 ⇒ 00:16:58.919 alexanderlubka: capacity or your last role. And if you think, once you hear some of those things that that will translate well, to what’s.
120 00:16:58.920 ⇒ 00:17:03.769 Uttam Kumaran: And what are you looking for that in that answer? Are you looking for like tools? Are you looking for
121 00:17:04.150 ⇒ 00:17:08.740 Uttam Kumaran: like? Explain a day in a life, or like what like? What’s a good answer?
122 00:17:08.950 ⇒ 00:17:09.859 alexanderlubka: So, which? One.
123 00:17:09.869 ⇒ 00:17:13.369 Uttam Kumaran: To the last question, which is like, explain to me how you manage your projects.
124 00:17:13.490 ⇒ 00:17:37.639 alexanderlubka: I want to know that they, you know, I want to know if they know the different ceremonies that they’re running. I want to know. And then I want to dive into that a little more like, what is your sprint? Okay, you’re doing sprint planning? Great. What does sprint planning mean to you because it could mean so many different things like, Are you? You’re doing grooming for your backlog like, okay, what does that actually mean? How are you grooming? How are you making sure people understand the tasks that need to be done like? Are you building out a roadmap, are you? You know? How are you basing this engagement on? Is it just off of a contract.
125 00:17:37.640 ⇒ 00:17:54.649 alexanderlubka: or do you build out project management plans or documentation on your side to support the the contract that you agree to. So I wanna make sure that they have like the full picture of things because you could just use buzzwords like stand up, or whatever. But what does that stand up mean to you? I’ll get more detail from them on that.
126 00:17:55.680 ⇒ 00:18:01.860 Uttam Kumaran: Is there anything that like, you know, on the engineering side? I think it’s sometimes fair
127 00:18:02.020 ⇒ 00:18:06.690 Uttam Kumaran: like, for on the engineering side we don’t hire anyone until we bring them in, and they do a little bit of work.
128 00:18:07.050 ⇒ 00:18:11.230 Uttam Kumaran: And for the most part this is a good. This is a good filter for 2 ways. One. Some people are like.
129 00:18:11.370 ⇒ 00:18:31.219 Uttam Kumaran: I can’t do that. And I’m like, Okay, you’re probably not good, because otherwise you’d be like, I’m down to do that, even if it’s a week. And I’m like, Take one ticket on and come to one. Stand up or 2. Stand ups right? So that’s something we do. I’m trying to think of a similar. I mean a project management side. What we tried to do is basically come in and do like 2 to 4 weeks. It’s challenging because
130 00:18:31.420 ⇒ 00:18:35.060 Uttam Kumaran: it can screw with the client rights. But I’m trying to think about like
131 00:18:35.720 ⇒ 00:18:50.070 Uttam Kumaran: I’m just really not a fan of like interviewing, interviewing, interviewing, being like cool. We’re gonna make a huge decision. I would love to try to get some level of a exercise or something. Is there anything that comes to mind that’s like pretty standard, or like?
132 00:18:50.320 ⇒ 00:18:53.320 Uttam Kumaran: If you were in that position that you would, you would do.
133 00:18:54.120 ⇒ 00:19:01.250 alexanderlubka: Yeah, we could do. We could use do use cases. We could send them like a use case that they can present to us on how they would manage a certain type of project.
134 00:19:01.680 ⇒ 00:19:02.300 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
135 00:19:02.710 ⇒ 00:19:07.809 Uttam Kumaran: And are you looking in that sense like a deck or like a you’re looking just like a walkthrough.
136 00:19:08.050 ⇒ 00:19:13.609 Uttam Kumaran: Here’s a project like how you would. Here’s the resources you have like. How would you break it down? What questions would you have.
137 00:19:13.940 ⇒ 00:19:15.090 alexanderlubka: Yeah, we could do both.
138 00:19:15.220 ⇒ 00:19:21.567 alexanderlubka: I would. I would. I’ve seen scenarios where you do both, where it’s like, okay, well, this is like a scenario
139 00:19:21.970 ⇒ 00:19:29.669 alexanderlubka: walk us through, how you would attack it, and then we’ll have a put together a deck, and we’ll, you know, talk through it, and we’ll probe it once we get together.
140 00:19:30.010 ⇒ 00:19:30.620 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
141 00:19:32.110 ⇒ 00:19:39.730 alexanderlubka: Yeah, cause it is. And I, yeah, it’s tough with the project management role and putting a a potential Pm in front of clients, I probably wouldn’t do that.
142 00:19:40.200 ⇒ 00:19:46.329 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I mean, we didn’t. It was it was effed up. Yeah, I mean it. Actually, the clients were okay.
143 00:19:47.116 ⇒ 00:19:50.070 Uttam Kumaran: It just figuring things out.
144 00:19:50.990 ⇒ 00:19:55.520 Uttam Kumaran: In one sense, we needed. We actually needed them like, it wasn’t just a
145 00:19:55.940 ⇒ 00:19:59.470 Uttam Kumaran: like, we just needed more pm, resources at that moment. Now, I think.
146 00:20:00.127 ⇒ 00:20:03.339 Uttam Kumaran: I think you’re right, like Amber, I think, is out of her limit.
147 00:20:03.490 ⇒ 00:20:06.500 Uttam Kumaran: and so I will be. I am searching
148 00:20:06.720 ⇒ 00:20:09.320 Uttam Kumaran: loosely for more people, although, like
149 00:20:09.450 ⇒ 00:20:12.170 Uttam Kumaran: we are at a point where we get so much inbound
150 00:20:12.919 ⇒ 00:20:20.270 Uttam Kumaran: from people that, like on paper, are very, very good, that I need some like very clear filtering that I can do upfront.
151 00:20:20.834 ⇒ 00:20:30.779 Uttam Kumaran: You know, I know we talked about like certifications. But even things like that, where, if I’m on the phone with someone for 15 min. Can I suss it out before wasting anyone else’s time?
152 00:20:33.612 ⇒ 00:20:42.879 Uttam Kumaran: you know. And the the other, the other piece we have is, we also have some great engineering talent that I think could stretch more into Pm. Functions. I mean, that’s what I did.
153 00:20:43.470 ⇒ 00:20:50.840 Uttam Kumaran: So at the same time there, like, if there are some opportunities for some of our engineers to get more into that level.
154 00:20:51.090 ⇒ 00:20:54.530 Uttam Kumaran: I am much more excited to do that.
155 00:20:55.057 ⇒ 00:21:08.760 Uttam Kumaran: Cause they they get that other experience for free, you know. And I don’t think it commonly happens the other way around, like I don’t think it’s rare for the Pm’s again, then engineering. But they could do, ha, does happen in the engineering side.
156 00:21:09.210 ⇒ 00:21:11.040 Uttam Kumaran: So okay, that’s helpful.
157 00:21:11.180 ⇒ 00:21:16.179 alexanderlubka: Yeah, I don’t know what Kyle’s up to these days, but he has some skills that could transfer if he’s interested.
158 00:21:16.520 ⇒ 00:21:22.010 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think, yeah, I think Kyle even demode on our team. I feel like could do it. The problem is, it’s
159 00:21:23.270 ⇒ 00:21:31.360 Uttam Kumaran: Like it’s a wet, much harder job. Like. It’s much harder job for way, less like
160 00:21:31.970 ⇒ 00:21:41.350 Uttam Kumaran: credit, I would say. So like psychologically, the move I made was like kind of like, horrible move but like I did it because I wanted to like.
161 00:21:41.580 ⇒ 00:21:42.900 Uttam Kumaran: have leverage and
162 00:21:43.020 ⇒ 00:21:51.299 Uttam Kumaran: do project management. Most of the people engineering they’re like, I want to either manage people or I want to go deeper because you get engineers that are kind of obsessed.
163 00:21:52.080 ⇒ 00:22:00.576 Uttam Kumaran: But for me, I was like, this is just an engineering problem like project management and stuff like that. But tough, tough sell, it’s a lot more stressful.
164 00:22:00.860 ⇒ 00:22:02.099 Uttam Kumaran: Not a lot of glory in it.
165 00:22:02.100 ⇒ 00:22:09.240 Uttam Kumaran: Got a lot of glory. Yeah, okay, cool. That’s really helpful. Actually. So yeah, I guess I will ask a lot about.
166 00:22:09.600 ⇒ 00:22:16.869 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll probably jump right into scenarios if I talk to people which is like, tell me about a time client was unhappy. Tell me how you run projects.
167 00:22:17.630 ⇒ 00:22:19.839 Uttam Kumaran: See if it’s like too much jargon
168 00:22:20.130 ⇒ 00:22:23.689 Uttam Kumaran: and not enough like, you’ll actually tell me, like, what’s going on.
169 00:22:25.470 ⇒ 00:22:27.160 Uttam Kumaran: So okay, that’s helpful.
170 00:22:27.160 ⇒ 00:22:31.889 alexanderlubka: Yeah. And if you want me to take a look at a resume or want me to do an interview eventually, just let me know I’m happy to.
171 00:22:31.890 ⇒ 00:22:34.930 Uttam Kumaran: Perfect. Yeah, it may even helpful to
172 00:22:35.550 ⇒ 00:22:37.540 Uttam Kumaran: shadow you on one of those
173 00:22:37.981 ⇒ 00:22:41.579 Uttam Kumaran: or have you do one of those and record it, and then we can sort of like,
174 00:22:43.010 ⇒ 00:22:44.980 Uttam Kumaran: use that as help. But okay.
175 00:22:45.110 ⇒ 00:22:49.669 alexanderlubka: Yeah? Or if we wanna if we get to a point where we want to start incorporating a use case in there, I can help you guys develop.
176 00:22:49.670 ⇒ 00:22:52.500 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Okay, cool.
177 00:22:53.820 ⇒ 00:23:00.162 Amber Lin: Cool. Alex. I sent you the 2 links in the chat. Let me know if I can open them.
178 00:23:00.710 ⇒ 00:23:14.429 Amber Lin: I guess as you do that I do have a question of say, comparing the work that you do at Bridgewaters, and what you think we should do. What do you think is the biggest difference when we approach things, because we’re very, very different firms.
179 00:23:14.640 ⇒ 00:23:18.252 alexanderlubka: Oh, I don’t think you should. echo it off of Bridgewater.
180 00:23:18.530 ⇒ 00:23:19.640 Amber Lin: Oh, okay.
181 00:23:22.210 ⇒ 00:23:29.409 alexanderlubka: yeah, yeah. I mean you you did. I want to compare yourself to Bridgewater. I would. You gotta build it for what works for you guys.
182 00:23:29.810 ⇒ 00:23:30.610 Amber Lin: Excuse me.
183 00:23:33.720 ⇒ 00:23:47.939 alexanderlubka: Yeah, that’s they’re they’re different. It’s it’s internal facing. It’s, you know, it’s and I work in research tech there. So we, our client or, yeah, our clients are invest investors, engineers and investment analysts and stuff. It’s a yeah, it’s a different world. I wouldn’t do that.
184 00:23:49.210 ⇒ 00:23:49.990 Amber Lin: Okay.
185 00:23:50.210 ⇒ 00:24:02.379 Amber Lin: But you think that, say your experience with that type of work it would translate, would it translate well? Or do we have to think about things in a completely different way.
186 00:24:03.561 ⇒ 00:24:05.639 alexanderlubka: The principles are there? Yeah, I mean, if you’re
187 00:24:05.810 ⇒ 00:24:35.515 alexanderlubka: if you’re just thinking, yeah, I think some of my experience the other startups have worked at is probably more transferable than the Bridgewater stuff. But the principles are still there like how you’re managing project. What are your needs are? How are you capturing certain things like it’s principles of project management. We use the principles of project management. There. We’re pretty. We’re pretty water, or we’re pretty hybrid over there. Which I think is usually the best route to go some sort of hybrid approach. But yeah, I wouldn’t. Yeah. I wouldn’t compare yourself to Bridgewater.
188 00:24:35.810 ⇒ 00:24:37.924 Amber Lin: Okay, totally. That’s that’s great.
189 00:24:38.910 ⇒ 00:24:46.870 Amber Lin: So what would you say? Based on your understanding of us and what we’re trying to build right now, what would you say that we prioritize
190 00:24:47.020 ⇒ 00:24:51.680 Amber Lin: first, st because there’s a lot of components if we’re building a function from scratch. And
191 00:24:51.830 ⇒ 00:24:57.440 Amber Lin: I’m not confident to say this is going to be priority, because I have limited experience.
192 00:24:57.717 ⇒ 00:25:17.960 alexanderlubka: Well, I don’t know if I have enough information to answer what you should prioritize. Yet so I don’t really know what exists. But I can help you prioritize that once we figure it out. But yeah, I don’t think I know enough what how projects are currently run here and what exists. Maybe that’s in. I’m in the 2 links, and maybe this is part of it. But I I don’t think.
193 00:25:17.960 ⇒ 00:25:34.210 Amber Lin: The most helpful for me to help you answer those questions. Would you like me? Would you like to produce a list of questions that I can answer, or I could record a video to walk through. Say, my day in life, what would be the most helpful to help you understand what’s going on.
194 00:25:34.210 ⇒ 00:25:53.349 alexanderlubka: Yeah, I’d love to learn what exists like, how are you managing projects now? Like, what is the current project? Lifecycle like, how how are you initiating projects? How are you explaining them? Executing monitoring control and closing projects so like what is involved with each phase for you like, what are the projects that are currently that you’re working on now?
195 00:25:53.603 ⇒ 00:26:18.749 alexanderlubka: Like, where are they in each lifecycle, like, how long are the projects? Who’s working on the like. What resources do you have on the project like? What are the scope of those projects? And like, how you’re going about this phase like, what documentation are you using for each like? What meetings do you currently have with it with those clients and like, how is it going like? Are are these? I know you mentioned one client has that didn’t wasn’t happy at 1 point. But, like, how are generally the pro projects going? Are they?
196 00:26:18.750 ⇒ 00:26:29.555 alexanderlubka: Are they generally going well like? Are people happy? Or their issues that you’re seeing and like, what are the are you tracking risks per project like? What are the biggest risks for each one, and like the
197 00:26:30.130 ⇒ 00:26:35.655 alexanderlubka: mitigation for them, or like likelihood of them happening, if are they happening? Are they not happening?
198 00:26:36.070 ⇒ 00:27:02.400 alexanderlubka: I think if I I know I just said a lot of things, but I think if I can get a better picture of like what’s going on and what’s being used? I can give you idea of how I think the how it’s going with and how that’s going with those things. And if I maybe I can observe like a meeting or of yours once in a while, or like yeah, like, internally or externally, whatever makes most sense. So just like some of your ceremonies like, how are you managing them like, I don’t think you guys aren’t using Jira right.
199 00:27:03.040 ⇒ 00:27:05.140 Amber Lin: No, we’re using linear.
200 00:27:05.140 ⇒ 00:27:27.989 alexanderlubka: Okay? So like, yeah, I’d love to like, walk through at some point, or a video, or whatever of like. How are you managing your projects in linear like the documentation, or like the tasking, or whatever you’re using linear, for, I’m not as familiar with linear. So I’d love to just learn more about that. But yeah, so I think some of those things will help me like, see what the current state is. So we can talk about how we can get to the next level, or what makes most sense to work on next.
201 00:27:28.250 ⇒ 00:27:44.690 Amber Lin: Okay, that’s really helpful. And honestly, as I heard your list of questions, that’s also a really nice checklist for me to go through internally to get more sense of what’s going on, because oftentimes I’m just stuck in the weeds, and this is helpful to look at it at a higher level. So.
202 00:27:44.690 ⇒ 00:27:45.990 alexanderlubka: Totally. Yeah. You’re in the.
203 00:27:45.990 ⇒ 00:27:47.109 Amber Lin: And titles, questions.
204 00:27:47.110 ⇒ 00:27:59.255 alexanderlubka: Yeah, of course. And you’re yeah. You’re definitely in the thick of it right now. I’ve definitely been there. So if there’s any leverage I can give to you for that, or like, you’re dealing with some issues. And I can like, give you a different perspective on it. I happy to do that.
205 00:28:02.090 ⇒ 00:28:19.759 Amber Lin: Yeah, I think I think I’ll probably leave the walkthrough of that document after I give you a sense of what’s happening, because all all of that long list of document is sort of aspirational. What we want to have and then you can’t really make a comment on it. If you don’t know what’s actually going on.
206 00:28:20.120 ⇒ 00:28:33.460 alexanderlubka: That’s what I want to learn. I mean, this is my 1st time like talking to you guys since or for, like a I don’t know like a month and a half or something. So I want to like my 1st couple, you know, days, or whatever spending time with you guys, I want to go. I want to get a better understanding. The current state.
207 00:28:35.960 ⇒ 00:28:36.580 Amber Lin: Okay.
208 00:28:37.330 ⇒ 00:28:39.377 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think, amber. We can add
209 00:28:40.040 ⇒ 00:28:58.850 Uttam Kumaran: we can add Alex’s Brainforge email to linear to notion. And then you can also send. We have a ton of, you know, meetings recorded. That amber you can send whatever is, is helpful to do so. It may even be easier for you to just like upload it, to loom.
210 00:28:59.580 ⇒ 00:29:04.009 Uttam Kumaran: And send it that way. Maybe, Alex, you can even leave comments there on like things you notice.
211 00:29:04.454 ⇒ 00:29:08.020 Uttam Kumaran: But I agree with that checklist. I mean, I think we have like
212 00:29:08.480 ⇒ 00:29:12.810 Uttam Kumaran: fair amount of that, like here and there, but putting that all in one place would be helpful.
213 00:29:12.810 ⇒ 00:29:13.410 Amber Lin: Yeah.
214 00:29:13.580 ⇒ 00:29:14.610 Amber Lin: Told?
215 00:29:14.850 ⇒ 00:29:21.650 Uttam Kumaran: And even for me, like I I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t want to go make a hire before we understand
216 00:29:21.800 ⇒ 00:29:26.849 Uttam Kumaran: what’s happening and like for me. It’s important to understand, like what’s happening and not happening
217 00:29:26.980 ⇒ 00:29:35.419 Uttam Kumaran: and like what needs to happen, or what is like a nice to have right. And that’s the that’s the push and pull like I will have as a leader where
218 00:29:35.790 ⇒ 00:29:56.509 Uttam Kumaran: it’s gonna be pain. It’s still gonna be painful for a little bit longer. So we’re not gonna be able to plug all holes. We just can’t sync right? And so this the push and pull is, gonna be for me to hear from both of y’all on. These are the things that like. If we don’t do this, then it’s like we might as well scrap it versus.
219 00:29:56.610 ⇒ 00:30:17.050 Uttam Kumaran: This would be very, very nice, but like we could still live without it. And that’s that’s the that’s the trade offs that I make as a leader before knowing when to go pull the trigger on a new person, and then for that new person, I want to know that they don’t need all. They don’t just plug holes. They’re plugging like the next 6 or 7 holes that are coming right. And so that’s where I think
220 00:30:17.260 ⇒ 00:30:30.959 Uttam Kumaran: my expertise help, for like this 1st layer. But I think this sort of very calculated what’s happening. What’s not happening? What needs to happen? Is gonna help me find that next person. Which I’m confident
221 00:30:31.160 ⇒ 00:30:35.149 Uttam Kumaran: we can do and I’m confident we’ll have the budget to go do so
222 00:30:35.320 ⇒ 00:30:45.395 Uttam Kumaran: just needs to be as calculated as as we can do it, but it’s not gonna be perfect for a little bit. And we’re certainly like missing some stuff. But
223 00:30:45.940 ⇒ 00:30:49.260 Uttam Kumaran: it’s a it’s a lot better compared to where it was, for sure.
224 00:30:50.590 ⇒ 00:30:53.009 alexanderlubka: That’s good to hear. Yeah, I think that’s a great
225 00:30:53.480 ⇒ 00:31:02.099 alexanderlubka: next step is just like figuring out what’s going on. And then, you know, once you have a relatively stable environment to bring in a new project manager, we’ll just set them up more for success.
226 00:31:02.470 ⇒ 00:31:09.050 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, okay, cool. I guess. Amber, any more questions.
227 00:31:10.080 ⇒ 00:31:15.580 Amber Lin: I will leave all the specific questions in our next meeting. Once I get onto all the information.
228 00:31:17.340 ⇒ 00:31:22.889 Amber Lin: I guess just last question of any tips or any advice for me. Currently.
229 00:31:23.010 ⇒ 00:31:28.689 Amber Lin: as you see, I am in the midst of managing all these projects, trying to help with
230 00:31:29.330 ⇒ 00:31:35.289 Amber Lin: organizational strategy as well. So what would be like an advice you have for me for now.
231 00:31:35.976 ⇒ 00:31:45.869 alexanderlubka: Yeah, organization is key. Like, if in this, in a scenario like that, like I, I’d be curious to see like how you’re managing each project like.
232 00:31:45.950 ⇒ 00:32:08.254 alexanderlubka: you know, how are you? Are you keeping it all straight, you know? Are there issues with like meetings? Are you having like overlaps with the meetings you can’t go to because you have so many clients like making sure your calendar is okay, making sure you have time to like, you know, breathe too, and and do have some heads down time, because it could be, you know, overwhelming. If you have back to back meetings with different clients, you don’t have a chance to get your head right between
233 00:32:08.500 ⇒ 00:32:21.620 alexanderlubka: between that so making sure you have like space for that and if you don’t like, you know, asking for for help when you need it. If there’s anybody on the team that can help with that. If there’s anybody that buy you time in certain things. So I think those
234 00:32:22.230 ⇒ 00:32:28.770 alexanderlubka: those can help you. If you’re in a scenario where you have a bunch of clients, and it’s just like craziness.
235 00:32:31.490 ⇒ 00:32:42.660 Amber Lin: I see I’ve had. I I think a few weeks ago I had even more craziness because I was pming our internal projects, and then we realized it did not work, so it was almost taking care of them now.
236 00:32:42.980 ⇒ 00:32:45.919 alexanderlubka: Yeah, you definitely gotta prioritize your time in a scenario like that.
237 00:32:46.695 ⇒ 00:32:47.200 Amber Lin: Okay.
238 00:32:47.230 ⇒ 00:33:12.900 alexanderlubka: If there’s like a internal project that, like, you know, like you said like Tom could take it over like you don’t have the capacity right now it priority or client projects are the 1st priority. So and making sure they’re happy, and they’re getting what they need. So if there’s other things that you’re working on, that you don’t have the time for, or you can’t deliver at the quality that you, you know everybody would expect. Then, making sure people are aware of that and getting as much leverage as you can to get the space you need. So you can focus on client projects.
239 00:33:14.540 ⇒ 00:33:29.120 Amber Lin: Sounds good, and I’ll keep compiling my list of questions as I work daily, and then I will get that information. The questions list of questions to you, and we’ll probably book a meeting, I think. Next week I would say.
240 00:33:29.740 ⇒ 00:33:30.590 alexanderlubka: Yeah. Sure.
241 00:33:32.080 ⇒ 00:33:33.799 Amber Lin: Early enough, or is that too late?
242 00:33:35.170 ⇒ 00:33:36.370 alexanderlubka: No, whatever works for you.
243 00:33:36.640 ⇒ 00:33:39.710 alexanderlubka: I’m usually like, yeah, I’m gonna be available, probably
244 00:33:39.820 ⇒ 00:33:42.660 alexanderlubka: after 6 or 6 o’clock East Coast time.
245 00:33:42.660 ⇒ 00:33:43.280 Amber Lin: Okay.
246 00:33:43.616 ⇒ 00:33:48.513 alexanderlubka: So yeah, anytime after that, or feel free to book me. It’s all your time. So
247 00:33:50.820 ⇒ 00:33:53.147 Uttam Kumaran: Amber, I’ll let you lead that so
248 00:33:53.820 ⇒ 00:33:54.670 Uttam Kumaran: Totally.
249 00:33:55.370 ⇒ 00:33:56.310 Amber Lin: Sounds good.
250 00:33:56.310 ⇒ 00:34:06.840 alexanderlubka: Yeah. So where should I? I got these 2 links like, where should I start poking around to like start learning about? You know, kind of what you’re working on, or the projects that are going on like, is there somewhere? I can. I can start.
251 00:34:07.868 ⇒ 00:34:28.819 Amber Lin: Why don’t I? I can ask you to all the internal channels, and then the external client channels, if okay with that. So I was gonna just scroll through of what’s happening. And then I will add you to linear and notion, which is where we keep most of our most of our stuff.
252 00:34:29.020 ⇒ 00:34:35.590 alexanderlubka: Okay, I think I’m I think I’m in linear notion. I have accounts now, or I’m logged into those
253 00:34:37.580 ⇒ 00:34:39.830 alexanderlubka: marine. Marianne is that her name.
254 00:34:39.830 ⇒ 00:34:41.059 Uttam Kumaran: Marianne, yeah.
255 00:34:41.060 ⇒ 00:34:44.469 alexanderlubka: She sent me a bunch of links, and so I’m in lotion and linear. Now.
256 00:34:45.420 ⇒ 00:34:51.729 Amber Lin: Awesome. I’ll I’ll make sure that you’re in the different linear teams that.
257 00:34:52.850 ⇒ 00:35:00.979 alexanderlubka: Yeah, I’m I’m on slack. I have a my email address. Now, I have notion I got the near. So Google spaces whatever.
258 00:35:01.898 ⇒ 00:35:12.339 alexanderlubka: So feel free to send some stuff my way, and how I can just get a better understanding of like what’s going on and what you may need, and how we can start coming up with a plan for some next steps.
259 00:35:12.960 ⇒ 00:35:17.469 Amber Lin: What is the best way to reach you? Is it email, or is it slack.
260 00:35:18.473 ⇒ 00:35:21.220 alexanderlubka: Yeah, I got. I put them both on my phone so either should be fine.
261 00:35:21.410 ⇒ 00:35:26.740 Amber Lin: Okay, sounds good, that’s all from me. Anything utham that you wanted to ask.
262 00:35:27.190 ⇒ 00:35:34.980 Uttam Kumaran: No, I’m pumped. I I appreciate the time. And you know, I think across the board and the company we’re thinking of like this sort of like
263 00:35:35.320 ⇒ 00:35:39.549 Uttam Kumaran: coaching strategy, but also just like having people who have seen this
264 00:35:39.820 ⇒ 00:35:44.470 Uttam Kumaran: at like a both, a very specific level, but like at a very high level. So I’m excited. I think
265 00:35:44.640 ⇒ 00:35:47.969 Uttam Kumaran: this is like the perfect resource for you, Amber, and then
266 00:35:48.420 ⇒ 00:35:52.979 Uttam Kumaran: again. It’s helping me think about like who the next person. How do we actually grow this function? So?
267 00:35:53.130 ⇒ 00:35:57.969 Uttam Kumaran: And we set the groundwork, and then we can make the next hire. That’ll be the 1st like big milestones. I think.
268 00:35:59.410 ⇒ 00:36:12.550 alexanderlubka: Yeah, that sounds great. We’ll take a look at what’s what we got we’ll prioritize. What makes sense? I’ll take a look and amber if you wanna like, if it’s starting next week, or whenever if you want us to like a regular with me, so we could just sync, you know, weekly.
269 00:36:12.550 ⇒ 00:36:13.710 Amber Lin: I would love that.
270 00:36:13.710 ⇒ 00:36:15.210 alexanderlubka: Yeah, that happened.
271 00:36:18.940 ⇒ 00:36:25.889 alexanderlubka: And is there anybody else on the team I should meet or talk to that would relate to this kind of stuff, or.
272 00:36:25.890 ⇒ 00:36:29.480 Amber Lin: Probably with Robert, especially Robert’s manager, Eden.
273 00:36:29.690 ⇒ 00:36:35.937 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think maybe Amber, we can just include Robert on the next call that you have with with Alex.
274 00:36:36.650 ⇒ 00:36:42.619 Uttam Kumaran: I think that’s probably it. I mean, I think after you maybe meet Amber. It could be nice to talk to one of the engineers. I mean.
275 00:36:44.280 ⇒ 00:36:48.940 Uttam Kumaran: But that’s probably like it on the project management side, like
276 00:36:49.990 ⇒ 00:36:53.660 Uttam Kumaran: it’s not that huge. It’s not a huge proof.
277 00:36:54.630 ⇒ 00:36:55.580 alexanderlubka: Yeah, that makes sense. Just like.
278 00:36:55.580 ⇒ 00:36:56.240 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
279 00:36:56.240 ⇒ 00:37:01.990 alexanderlubka: Eventually, once I get up to speed on this stuff, love to hear their perspective on like how it’s going with partnering with project.
280 00:37:02.160 ⇒ 00:37:03.000 Amber Lin: Yeah. Yeah.
281 00:37:03.790 ⇒ 00:37:13.950 Amber Lin: And it’s better that someone else asks them. Because if I I try to ask them. But most people can’t tell you to your face, so would love to ask them.
282 00:37:15.270 ⇒ 00:37:19.939 alexanderlubka: That. That’s a Bridgewater thing. If you wanna if you wanna do that, that’s radical transparency.
283 00:37:19.940 ⇒ 00:37:21.420 Uttam Kumaran: That’s what I was telling her about.
284 00:37:21.420 ⇒ 00:37:24.051 Amber Lin: Gosh! I was hearing about some crazy stuff.
285 00:37:24.380 ⇒ 00:37:31.620 Uttam Kumaran: I was like, Yeah, there, I was, like, these guys are insane, like I’m about. I kinda like, I’m a fan, but I don’t know it’s not like that.
286 00:37:31.870 ⇒ 00:37:37.020 alexanderlubka: It’s definitely a different culture where you got it. Everything comes out. We have. Have you heard of dots.
287 00:37:38.042 ⇒ 00:37:40.760 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, I read about it.
288 00:37:40.760 ⇒ 00:37:45.139 alexanderlubka: Yeah, it’s like amber. It’s like our internal tool, where we can give feedback
289 00:37:45.280 ⇒ 00:37:50.129 alexanderlubka: to anybody about anything. And it’s public to the entire company.
290 00:37:51.760 ⇒ 00:37:54.470 Uttam Kumaran: He can be like this person talked way too much in a meeting.
291 00:37:55.030 ⇒ 00:38:04.559 Uttam Kumaran: and like you just like send it, I mean, like, I don’t know. I’m like I’m kind of down, but it’s not that, like some people may not find it. That healthy.
292 00:38:04.560 ⇒ 00:38:14.450 alexanderlubka: It’s sometimes it can not be the healthiest. But it definitely, it’s fast failing, and it like it brings everything out into the open so you could just like deal with it and move on, and just go on to the next thing.
293 00:38:14.450 ⇒ 00:38:15.220 Amber Lin: Yeah.
294 00:38:15.220 ⇒ 00:38:16.409 alexanderlubka: Thing to be said about that.
295 00:38:17.720 ⇒ 00:38:20.650 Uttam Kumaran: We’re good. We’re pretty transparent, like. I don’t think we
296 00:38:20.790 ⇒ 00:38:29.590 Uttam Kumaran: about both what’s working what’s not working. I think that’s also something. I think the Pm. Function can get better at, which is just like retros like the iteration cycles.
297 00:38:29.780 ⇒ 00:38:51.290 Uttam Kumaran: you know, trying something, failing, figuring out what failed. Moving forward. We just have to. We have to be faster than our clients are right and like, if we make a mistake, we have to. We have to eat that and and move as as quick or as quicker than our clients. You, I mean. Nice thing is, our clients don’t do any of this. For the most part, we’re in a much better place on like actually giving feedback and
298 00:38:51.780 ⇒ 00:38:55.090 Uttam Kumaran: being transparent internally so. But.
299 00:38:55.550 ⇒ 00:39:00.940 alexanderlubka: Yeah, I’d love to learn more about the clients eventually. Amber. If that could be part of like what you send me, I’d love to learn like
300 00:39:01.380 ⇒ 00:39:15.720 alexanderlubka: how you’re interfacing with them like, are they? Are you proposing, like different meetings or ceremonies, that they want to be a part of? Do they not? Are they? Some of them interested in it? Some of them are not interested in it like I’d be curious to hear like how you’re engaging with them
301 00:39:15.980 ⇒ 00:39:17.580 alexanderlubka: on a project manager, level.
302 00:39:18.740 ⇒ 00:39:19.359 Amber Lin: Okay.
303 00:39:20.020 ⇒ 00:39:33.849 alexanderlubka: And like, if you’ve like tried certain things with them, it just didn’t go well, or you propose things that they really liked, if like if they I don’t know like if you’re doing sprint reviews with them and like, if some like that or some don’t like that like things like that I’d love to learn like just how you’re working with them.
304 00:39:34.960 ⇒ 00:40:04.800 Amber Lin: Okay, sounds good. I don’t have too big of a database or historical data to draw from. It’s only been 2, 3 months for me but I’ll give you all that I can think of, and I’m excited because this really covers so much about the business, because there’s client service. And then there’s how we treat our own employees. And also eventually, this also ties in our projects, even profitable. So there’s a lot of stuff that’s floating around in my mind that I love for us to just PIN down.
305 00:40:04.800 ⇒ 00:40:27.500 alexanderlubka: Yeah. And then, like, you know, I’d love to hear more about like your previous like, not right now. But whenever we meet, but like more about your previous project management experience like, how is it? How that transfer over to here like, how’s it? How’s it going here? Are you happy with this kind of stuff like, where do you want to go next in Pm. Or if you don’t want to go to Pm. Next, after being inundated with 7 clients. And now we ever want to do this ever again. So just like love to learn about what you’re like, you know your
306 00:40:28.120 ⇒ 00:40:29.469 alexanderlubka: and like where you want to go next.
307 00:40:29.650 ⇒ 00:40:33.250 Amber Lin: Sounds great. I I love to talk about those stuff
308 00:40:34.660 ⇒ 00:40:38.069 Amber Lin: ready. I’ll book. I’ll send that over to you. Okay.
309 00:40:38.070 ⇒ 00:40:39.220 alexanderlubka: Awesome sounds, great.
310 00:40:39.730 ⇒ 00:40:40.959 Uttam Kumaran: See you talk soon.
311 00:40:40.960 ⇒ 00:40:42.220 Amber Lin: Where your holiday.
312 00:40:42.360 ⇒ 00:40:43.470 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, bye.
313 00:40:43.840 ⇒ 00:40:44.690 Amber Lin: Bye.