Meeting Title: Uttam <> Khan Date: 2025-06-18 Meeting participants: Khan Denolan, Uttam Kumaran, 19257868273


WEBVTT

1 00:03:33.540 00:03:34.730 Uttam Kumaran: Hey!

2 00:03:35.120 00:03:36.960 Khan Denolan: Hi! Tom! Good morning!

3 00:03:37.190 00:03:39.159 Uttam Kumaran: Hi! Good evening! How are you?

4 00:03:39.440 00:03:41.700 Khan Denolan: I’m doing good. How are you?

5 00:03:42.070 00:03:44.539 Uttam Kumaran: Good good to hear your voice. How’s everything going.

6 00:03:45.926 00:03:54.653 Khan Denolan: Yes, actually, I’ve just reviewing linear. This is the 1st time I was able to encounter this type of project management.

7 00:03:55.160 00:03:59.319 Khan Denolan: totally. And it’s I’m really loving it. It’s really cool.

8 00:04:00.525 00:04:06.960 Khan Denolan: And so far, what I have noticed is that the team is.

9 00:04:07.410 00:04:11.170 Khan Denolan: I’m just basing it on the projects and

10 00:04:11.610 00:04:15.325 Khan Denolan: the annotations. I think the team is running

11 00:04:16.320 00:04:20.029 Khan Denolan: through a scrum. Methodology. Is that right?

12 00:04:21.039 00:04:24.269 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, for for most of our clients, for some of our clients

13 00:04:24.980 00:04:29.159 Uttam Kumaran: we run sort of one week almost like Kanban type sprints.

14 00:04:29.160 00:04:33.000 Khan Denolan: Oh, okay, alright cool.

15 00:04:33.180 00:04:36.699 Khan Denolan: Okay. Yeah. That’s actually what I have observed so far.

16 00:04:37.980 00:04:44.119 Uttam Kumaran: Nice. So, yeah, have you taken a look in in linear and sort of seen a couple

17 00:04:44.120 00:04:46.390 Uttam Kumaran: yeah projects that you’re involved in.

18 00:04:47.450 00:04:53.677 Khan Denolan: Yes, I actually checked on the documentations. And

19 00:04:54.800 00:04:58.240 Khan Denolan: I click on some links as well. By the way, Fyi.

20 00:04:59.110 00:05:03.830 Khan Denolan: so for me to be able to learn more about

21 00:05:04.691 00:05:10.170 Khan Denolan: the projects and how everything is, you know, functions from A to Z.

22 00:05:10.830 00:05:17.220 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, perfect. So yeah, I think, one, I I you know, as part of sort of this.

23 00:05:17.250 00:05:41.545 Uttam Kumaran: 2 weeks. I wanted to one just align on like your hours. And yeah, just understand, like, you know what your availability is going to be like, so that I can schedule meetings and make sure that we’re kind of like closely aligned. I think primarily you’d be working closely with me. And and one other person, Amber, who is our other project manager who you met?

24 00:05:42.550 00:05:49.589 Uttam Kumaran: And so yeah, just wanted to line on like, if if hours and like sort of in the morning, our time still works, or what works best for you.

25 00:05:49.590 00:05:54.640 Khan Denolan: Okay, hold on, let me open.

26 00:05:56.160 00:05:56.920 Khan Denolan: We’re all time.

27 00:05:56.920 00:05:58.219 Uttam Kumaran: Internally. Yeah, you can share.

28 00:05:58.660 00:06:04.710 Uttam Kumaran: You can share me your calendar or availability. URL, and I can book. But like, yeah, just tell me what’s best.

29 00:06:05.460 00:06:06.640 Khan Denolan: Okay.

30 00:06:07.100 00:06:10.879 Khan Denolan: So just to confirm you. You are at est.

31 00:06:11.530 00:06:12.780 Uttam Kumaran: I’m in Csd.

32 00:06:12.780 00:06:14.620 Khan Denolan: Oh, CST, okay.

33 00:06:17.980 00:06:23.930 Khan Denolan: okay, hold on. CST, so right now, it’s 12 in the afternoon, right.

34 00:06:24.360 00:06:25.090 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

35 00:06:25.730 00:06:36.270 Khan Denolan: Okay, let’s see, actually, I I can be I am available. 10 Am. Your time until 12 noon.

36 00:06:37.047 00:06:43.390 Khan Denolan: The only reason I was not be able to open my calendar today because I did not know that

37 00:06:43.650 00:06:46.110 Khan Denolan: I will immediately start today. I thought.

38 00:06:46.110 00:06:46.820 Uttam Kumaran: No. Yeah.

39 00:06:46.820 00:06:47.570 Khan Denolan: I’m kidding.

40 00:06:48.190 00:06:51.360 Uttam Kumaran: No, that’s also one thing you’ll learn about us as we move very.

41 00:06:51.360 00:06:52.320 Khan Denolan: That’s all.

42 00:06:52.320 00:07:03.139 Uttam Kumaran: So we’re, we’re a small group. So it’s a yeah, so yeah, okay. And and so you said, basically like, 10 to 12.

43 00:07:03.560 00:07:15.409 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool. Yeah. I’m sort of aiming hopefully for like 2 to 4 HA day. I think you’ll you could kind of let me know as you take on tasks, how long things are going to take, and and then we can sort of.

44 00:07:15.470 00:07:35.729 Uttam Kumaran: you know, go from there, I guess, like maybe where I wanted to start was just to sort of talk about kind of areas of support right now. So I don’t know. Maybe if you want to take some notes in in notion on your end. You can share with me, and we can try to talk about like, I think, sort of immediate help that I think we can collaborate on.

45 00:07:36.610 00:07:39.860 Khan Denolan: Okay, hold on.

46 00:07:41.460 00:07:48.110 Uttam Kumaran: And then, of course, I think we can start to create tickets for for these as well in in.

47 00:07:51.093 00:07:53.219 Khan Denolan: You’re actually cutting in and out.

48 00:07:54.390 00:07:56.610 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, sorry. Sorry! How about how about now?

49 00:07:56.610 00:07:57.730 Khan Denolan: Yeah, that’s good.

50 00:07:58.810 00:08:05.550 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah. So after, after we after we sort of do things in after.

51 00:08:07.460 00:08:08.070 Khan Denolan: You got.

52 00:08:08.070 00:08:15.149 Uttam Kumaran: If we sort of write down everything in motion, we can probably work to create tickets from in linear and have it

53 00:08:15.490 00:08:18.939 Uttam Kumaran: have it for just wanted to go for a quick walk.

54 00:08:22.260 00:08:25.930 Khan Denolan: I apologize to Tom, you you were actually cutting in and out.

55 00:08:26.580 00:08:27.599 Uttam Kumaran: How is this? Now?

56 00:08:27.970 00:08:29.670 Khan Denolan: Yes, that’s good.

57 00:08:30.100 00:08:39.390 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Okay, yeah, no. I was just saying that, like, we’ll, we’ll sort of have stuff in notion. And then after we sort of align. We can create tickets for everything.

58 00:08:39.929 00:08:41.989 Khan Denolan: Oh, okay, yeah, it’s cool.

59 00:08:42.549 00:09:04.844 Uttam Kumaran: Perfect. So yeah, I think that the couple of things that you know immediately, I think, where we’re struggling a lot is, I’m actually currently the project manager for 4 teams right now. So I project, manage our marketing team, our AI team and those are both supporting our

60 00:09:05.389 00:09:20.849 Uttam Kumaran: like marketing is all internal. And then our AI team actually supports 3 different projects. So we have 2 external projects and one internal project so really I could use. I really could use your help on both of the external projects

61 00:09:20.969 00:09:30.909 Uttam Kumaran: to start. And then I think we can also consider longer term. Basically your support on our internal AI and internal marketing projects as well.

62 00:09:31.563 00:09:41.259 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe just a couple of sort of the rituals that I really would love some help with. So did you notice the 2 clients off the record and pool part.

63 00:09:41.260 00:09:43.109 Khan Denolan: Yes, to go. Yes.

64 00:09:44.630 00:10:04.750 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So maybe I’ll tell you a little bit about both of them. So off the record is a sort of community company. They run events, and we’re actually working directly with their CEO, whose name is Craig, on creating automations for him. So we build automation to help him track his event attendees

65 00:10:05.065 00:10:20.200 Uttam Kumaran: building automations to help alert him, on which attendees are referring more people to their events. Things like that. So we have several tickets for him, and then pool parts is An is an e-commerce Pool Supply Company. So, like swimming pools, they sell pool, related supplies.

66 00:10:20.200 00:10:42.329 Uttam Kumaran: They also are building an AI Chatbot that we’re building for them. So they have several tickets related to that, and you must have seen you know the kind of the couple of people you’ve probably seen. Their names are like Casey and Miguel. Both of them are are AI engineers on our team. Really really smart. You’ll end up meeting them. But their work kind of go contributes directly to those 2 clients.

67 00:10:44.120 00:10:44.930 Khan Denolan: Okay.

68 00:10:49.070 00:10:51.470 Uttam Kumaran: So any questions, so far.

69 00:10:53.270 00:11:01.620 Khan Denolan: Yes. Do you have any documenting or standard operating procedure that I can check

70 00:11:01.810 00:11:08.060 Khan Denolan: for me to, of course, learn how everything works or how.

71 00:11:08.060 00:11:08.660 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I guess.

72 00:11:08.660 00:11:11.680 Khan Denolan: Start being processed. For example, how are

73 00:11:12.678 00:11:15.539 Khan Denolan: clients are being on boarded, etc, etc.

74 00:11:16.110 00:11:18.540 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we do have some of that. I can get that to you.

75 00:11:18.540 00:11:19.110 Khan Denolan: Okay.

76 00:11:19.550 00:11:28.289 Khan Denolan: this is where I think I think Amber would be most helpful. She sort of leads a lot of this, so certainly you can. You can note that down as action items, and we can get that to you.

77 00:11:28.540 00:11:29.110 Khan Denolan: Okay.

78 00:11:31.356 00:12:00.590 Uttam Kumaran: And so really, I think short term is like I would love a lot of help to almost try to hand off a fair amount of my my project management sort of responsibilities. Which include sort of running our like, basically keeping track of tickets. Do helping me produce like weekly weekly or twice a week, sort of sprint summaries like, what are we planning this week? And then at the end of the week. We say, what do we get done

79 00:12:01.196 00:12:06.073 Uttam Kumaran: both of those clients? We’re running like one week sprints for. So

80 00:12:06.760 00:12:24.630 Uttam Kumaran: it’s actually like, it’s not like 2 weeks friends we don’t have like grooming or anything. We have one. We have one kind of kickoff meeting on Monday, and then we usually I just sort of keep track of tickets during the week. And then on Friday, I send out like an update email, typically like Thursday evening to Friday morning.

81 00:12:25.930 00:12:26.630 Khan Denolan: Okay.

82 00:12:27.820 00:12:35.629 Uttam Kumaran: So I think that the couple like really concrete initial tasks, and I can share with you how I do this is to help me put together the

83 00:12:35.730 00:12:43.970 Uttam Kumaran: this, the current sprint sort of progress for both pool parts and for off the record.

84 00:12:44.500 00:13:05.649 Uttam Kumaran: So we do have templates on how we do this? And I can get you that we we usually say, Hey, here’s what. Here’s what our goal was. Here are the things that here the tickets that we completed. And here’s a high level of like. Why, why, those tickets were important and like what they achieved and the results. And then here’s what we’re working on next.

85 00:13:06.151 00:13:19.080 Uttam Kumaran: So we I do have some templates for that. Also, like we we use. We use AI very heavily, so I’ll show you how to use Chat Gpt, and we have some prompts to help you produce that.

86 00:13:19.470 00:13:22.470 Uttam Kumaran: And so ideally, it’s it’s mainly just like

87 00:13:22.840 00:13:31.330 Uttam Kumaran: helping me say, Hey, hey, Tom, I’ve produced our weekly summary for off the record. Can you review it? And then I’ll send it from my email.

88 00:13:34.365 00:13:38.316 Khan Denolan: Okay, wow, it’s cool.

89 00:13:39.090 00:13:50.459 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I’ll show you that you you may like the AI stuff. It’s really, really cool, and then we’re kind of even going farther. So I’ll you’ll see that we’re using AI and everything here. So I think you’ll enjoy it.

90 00:13:51.371 00:13:59.981 Khan Denolan: Yes, I’m actually excited I’m starting to, you know. Feel the adrenaline rush.

91 00:14:00.590 00:14:01.420 Uttam Kumaran: Ha! Ha! Ha!

92 00:14:03.380 00:14:07.620 Uttam Kumaran: Cool! So how do you feel about those info sort of tasks?

93 00:14:08.410 00:14:10.255 Khan Denolan: Hmm yes,

94 00:14:11.400 00:14:19.807 Khan Denolan: actually, I I have. I can see that for the past hour that I’ve been reading or exploring this linear app.

95 00:14:20.660 00:14:26.000 Khan Denolan: I can see that I already have at least 10% of the knowledge out of

96 00:14:26.650 00:14:37.510 Khan Denolan: how things work. Maybe as soon as I’ll be able to converse with amber for more detailed approach.

97 00:14:37.510 00:14:37.960 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

98 00:14:37.960 00:14:43.279 Khan Denolan: And of course, seeing that sop, then it will be easier for me to

99 00:14:43.990 00:14:47.800 Khan Denolan: work. Or is it here for me to adapt on things.

100 00:14:50.030 00:15:04.959 Uttam Kumaran: Totally, and like you have some that we’re trying to accomplish. But then yes, I do think, get more familiar with that

101 00:15:05.220 00:15:06.410 Uttam Kumaran: where we’re from.

102 00:15:07.880 00:15:13.727 Uttam Kumaran: I guess my question. Be like, I think eventually I also want to

103 00:15:18.470 00:15:24.849 Khan Denolan: Sorry, Tom, you’re cutting in and out again sound like static.

104 00:15:28.050 00:15:28.590 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

105 00:15:29.160 00:15:29.980 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, no.

106 00:15:31.650 00:15:32.010 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

107 00:15:32.010 00:15:35.850 Khan Denolan: Sure if it’s with your connection or Internet connection, or.

108 00:16:59.890 00:17:01.080 19257868273: Hi thought, can you hear me?

109 00:17:01.604 00:17:03.010 Khan Denolan: Yes, I can hear you now.

110 00:17:04.430 00:17:12.019 19257868273: Okay, perfect. Sorry I think I could also start to get your help on with a

111 00:17:12.390 00:17:13.290 19257868273: where did I?

112 00:17:19.280 00:17:20.970 19257868273: full? And for the next up.

113 00:17:21.470 00:17:23.300 Khan Denolan: And sorry you’re really.

114 00:17:23.300 00:17:24.460 19257868273: Way we can start to plan.

115 00:17:24.460 00:17:25.180 Khan Denolan: Loyalty.

116 00:17:26.550 00:17:27.700 19257868273: Oh, really still.

117 00:17:27.700 00:17:29.670 Khan Denolan: Yes, yes, it’s still.

118 00:17:31.210 00:17:32.190 19257868273: okay. Sorry.

119 00:17:32.910 00:17:33.630 19257868273: See?

120 00:17:34.960 00:17:36.430 19257868273: Not getting any better.

121 00:17:37.550 00:17:41.019 Khan Denolan: Yes, that’s better. Hopefully, it will not cut off again.

122 00:17:42.200 00:17:48.360 19257868273: Okay, yeah. I was just saying, like, I just need some need some help with like, ticket grooming related activities.

123 00:17:48.360 00:17:52.840 Khan Denolan: Hmm, okay, really.

124 00:17:52.840 00:17:55.470 19257868273: So this is like making sure every ticket has.

125 00:17:57.040 00:18:03.229 19257868273: You know all the description, acceptance, criteria, labels, points, assignees.

126 00:18:03.782 00:18:09.179 19257868273: All of that. And I assume you’re kind of familiar with with doing some of that.

127 00:18:11.080 00:18:17.237 Khan Denolan: Yes, I had experience working on tickets. But I’m going to check if that’s the same

128 00:18:18.000 00:18:20.050 Khan Denolan: tickets that we’re talking about here.

129 00:18:21.420 00:18:23.300 19257868273: Like Jira tickets is the same thing.

130 00:18:24.280 00:18:31.530 Khan Denolan: Okay, okay. So just to confirm, hold on.

131 00:18:36.076 00:18:40.770 Khan Denolan: I’m actually looking at linear app right now. If you.

132 00:18:40.770 00:18:44.429 19257868273: The linear is the same thing as Asana or Jira, same.

133 00:18:44.430 00:18:52.409 Khan Denolan: It is so. If so, currently, for example, I’m at pull parts to go.

134 00:18:55.450 00:18:56.120 Khan Denolan: Okay.

135 00:18:56.290 00:19:02.490 Khan Denolan: So you’re so in term in so you have mentioned tickets is that the

136 00:19:02.620 00:19:08.399 Khan Denolan: pool 1? 0, 1, for example, is that are those tasks that you’re referring to.

137 00:19:08.400 00:19:14.670 19257868273: Yes, those are. Those are tasks, and you can see in the tickets you’ll see who it’s assigned to and what the task is.

138 00:19:14.670 00:19:16.410 Khan Denolan: Hmm, correct.

139 00:19:18.230 00:19:20.049 Khan Denolan: Let’s see. Okay.

140 00:19:34.220 00:19:35.210 Khan Denolan: okay.

141 00:19:37.800 00:19:45.540 19257868273: But you you’re used. You’ve done like sort of created tickets, and like assigned tickets before.

142 00:19:47.068 00:19:53.510 Khan Denolan: Majority of my experience was actually with Asana and sharepoint

143 00:19:56.870 00:19:59.340 19257868273: But don’t they have tickets as well.

144 00:19:59.510 00:20:04.399 Khan Denolan: Yes, they do. But it’s more of, you know, it’s very

145 00:20:05.300 00:20:11.160 Khan Denolan: user, friendly, and where it’s literally feeding everything on different information in front of you.

146 00:20:11.530 00:20:17.300 Khan Denolan: So linear is actually a very new tool for me. But I’m going to check.

147 00:20:17.300 00:20:38.589 19257868273: But I guess, like, are you? But you’re familiar with the concept of like tickets for work, right? Like people take on tickets. Okay, but it’s the same. It’s the same thing. There’s no difference like it’s tickets have, like, you know, a certain amount of work related to them. There’s assigned this points like, I just wanna confirm you’re you’re like familiar with that in terms of project management.

148 00:20:38.590 00:20:40.200 Khan Denolan: Yes, I am so.

149 00:20:40.960 00:20:41.500 19257868273: Okay.

150 00:20:41.500 00:20:44.336 Khan Denolan: Okay. So I understand that you would like me to

151 00:20:44.830 00:20:54.979 Khan Denolan: check the grooming would also want me to update this tickets or ping necessary people who are assigned to these tickets or start working on this ticket.

152 00:20:54.980 00:21:07.349 19257868273: Yeah. So it’s just like all the typical like, sort of sprint rituals, which is just like making sure tickets are up to date things like making sure that tickets that are past due. There’s a ping, hey? Who’s working on this.

153 00:21:07.350 00:21:07.800 Khan Denolan: Hmm.

154 00:21:07.800 00:21:20.469 19257868273: Can I get an update for this? This will take some time like it’ll take, you know. I just wanted to share sort of the scope of things that we basically need help with ideally my role. I would like to shift to more like

155 00:21:20.780 00:21:35.440 19257868273: like conversating directly with the client. But everything around making sure tickets are groomed ready for the next sprint, and tickets that are in the current sprint are getting done. That’s what really I need need more help with.

156 00:21:35.440 00:21:37.740 Khan Denolan: Hmm, okay. Yeah. Understood.

157 00:21:39.740 00:21:40.960 Khan Denolan: Okay.

158 00:21:57.330 00:21:58.514 19257868273: So tell me

159 00:21:59.480 00:22:24.819 19257868273: any other questions you have so far, I mean, I can connect with amber like I’m I’m pretty low on time. So I’m happy to connect you with Amber. You can ask all questions not like sort of our project management process. I think she’ll give you a good overview of linear and anything you need but I just want to confirm, like, you sort of have a good. You sort of have some sense of like the types of things we’re we’re looking for, at least in the next week or 2.

160 00:22:25.640 00:22:35.740 Khan Denolan: Yes, I actually have already an understanding how it works, but I would like to confirm it with Amber. Further. To make sure that I’m

161 00:22:36.980 00:22:41.110 Khan Denolan: I’m really getting it, or I’m I’m going to do it right.

162 00:22:41.540 00:22:44.400 Khan Denolan: not just assuming how things work.

163 00:22:44.870 00:22:46.480 Khan Denolan: Okay, I’m going to check her.

164 00:22:46.480 00:22:46.940 19257868273: And then.

165 00:22:46.940 00:22:51.630 Khan Denolan: Schedule. Tomorrow night I’ll send a slack message.

166 00:22:53.640 00:23:02.470 19257868273: Cool. Yeah, you can send a slack message to her directly in the project management channel, or anywhere. And she can give you that overview.

167 00:23:02.970 00:23:10.220 19257868273: and then, yeah, I can start to just loop you into things. And so, yeah, I think the the 1st like sort of short term objectives are to produce

168 00:23:10.440 00:23:14.050 19257868273: those sprint summaries this week, just like what.

169 00:23:14.050 00:23:14.530 Khan Denolan: Okay.

170 00:23:14.867 00:23:26.002 19257868273: And again, we have the formats already. So, and you can use sort of help. How they I help you with that. So what do we get done? What’s coming up next?

171 00:23:26.670 00:23:30.289 19257868273: you know. That’s that’s the sort of stuff we want to. Then send an email to the client for.

172 00:23:33.280 00:23:33.950 Khan Denolan: Yeah, that’s.

173 00:23:33.950 00:23:34.880 19257868273: Okay, cool. And then.

174 00:23:34.880 00:23:35.730 Khan Denolan: For that I am.

175 00:23:35.730 00:23:36.490 19257868273: This notion.

176 00:23:38.620 00:23:40.290 Khan Denolan: Okay. Okay. Perfect. Great.

177 00:23:41.700 00:23:51.519 19257868273: And then for this notion, Doc, do you mind just sending me the notion on slack? And then I can just review it really quick, and then I can make sure amber has that as well.

178 00:23:52.060 00:23:56.300 Khan Denolan: Okay, yes, I’ll just need to.

179 00:23:56.920 00:23:58.390 Khan Denolan: What do you call this?

180 00:23:59.620 00:24:06.679 Khan Denolan: To summarize it because I just literally just read it. Write everything off.

181 00:24:08.310 00:24:09.382 19257868273: Okay, no worries.

182 00:24:09.910 00:24:11.020 19257868273: That’s fine.

183 00:24:11.020 00:24:11.759 Khan Denolan: All right.

184 00:24:12.440 00:24:17.130 Khan Denolan: So yes, thank you for meeting me today, Tom. I’ll be checking with amber.

185 00:24:18.430 00:24:22.570 19257868273: Okay, okay, perfect. Thank you. So much. Welcome to welcome to the team. Yeah.

186 00:24:22.570 00:24:24.340 Khan Denolan: Thank you as well.

187 00:24:24.610 00:24:25.120 Khan Denolan: Thank you.

188 00:24:25.120 00:24:26.869 19257868273: Okay. Alright, bye.