Meeting Title: Engineering Leads Sync Date: 2025-08-04 Meeting participants: Awaish Kumar, Uttam Kumaran


WEBVTT

1 00:18:49.310 00:18:50.580 Uttam Kumaran: I wish.

2 00:18:52.946 00:18:53.353 Awaish Kumar: Hello!

3 00:18:54.530 00:18:55.737 Uttam Kumaran: Hey! How are you?

4 00:18:56.590 00:18:58.156 Awaish Kumar: I’m good. How about you?

5 00:18:59.190 00:19:03.234 Uttam Kumaran: I am good. My schedule is crazy today.

6 00:19:09.330 00:19:13.090 Awaish Kumar: So I’ve been like sales meetings today.

7 00:19:13.580 00:19:14.320 Awaish Kumar: No.

8 00:19:15.445 00:19:20.980 Uttam Kumaran: No, it’s all internal meetings. So Mondays, I’m planning on just doing updates.

9 00:19:24.540 00:19:30.809 Uttam Kumaran: So everybody so like marketing sales, operations, recruiting. And then

10 00:19:30.940 00:19:44.429 Uttam Kumaran: engineering updates. So I’m trying to just like, do as we could do as many of those on Monday as possible, I think will be best. And we’re starting to structure everything like sort of with meeting notes and agendas, which is going to be better, I think.

11 00:19:46.280 00:19:49.339 Uttam Kumaran: sort of like similar to how we’re running the managers, meetings.

12 00:19:56.185 00:19:56.679 Awaish Kumar: But

13 00:19:57.420 00:20:04.480 Awaish Kumar: I just you told me you told about like Mondays, are for external work, and my Tuesdays are for internal.

14 00:20:04.910 00:20:13.530 Uttam Kumaran: No opposite opposite Mondays, for internal Tuesday is all external.

15 00:20:13.790 00:20:14.710 Awaish Kumar: Okay. Okay.

16 00:20:15.030 00:20:15.840 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

17 00:20:21.370 00:20:22.130 Uttam Kumaran: so far.

18 00:20:23.684 00:20:24.980 Awaish Kumar: How have been.

19 00:20:27.960 00:20:29.390 Uttam Kumaran: And I said, How’s the day been.

20 00:20:30.250 00:20:35.730 Awaish Kumar: Oh, yeah, like, when it’s been tough it wasn’t just

21 00:20:36.310 00:20:47.569 Awaish Kumar: hidden meetings, and then some internal haven’t delivering things to watch Dave. And and I need, yeah.

22 00:20:48.540 00:20:48.970 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

23 00:20:49.480 00:20:57.693 Awaish Kumar: It’s not finalizing the Nope like

24 00:21:00.140 00:21:03.370 Awaish Kumar: like emr communication. And all of that.

25 00:21:03.970 00:21:04.395 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

26 00:21:05.230 00:21:11.929 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I need to review the Emr stuff you sent me. But yeah, I see you kind of like running around. So that’s good. I mean.

27 00:21:12.060 00:21:14.809 Uttam Kumaran: I think we’re unblocking everybody. So

28 00:21:15.400 00:21:19.260 Uttam Kumaran: it’s helpful. I’m glad Vashtev is starting to take on more stuff. So

29 00:21:19.854 00:21:36.750 Uttam Kumaran: yeah, I wanted to kind of introduce this new process to you. Like, you know, I want to start to have spend time with you more discussing, you know, engineering leadership. And you know hopefully, me and you can be on the same page on, like, how do we want to build?

30 00:21:36.940 00:21:46.099 Uttam Kumaran: You know, great engineering team across AI and data? And you know, I just wanna also be able to share with you like how I think about things and then

31 00:21:46.340 00:21:52.599 Uttam Kumaran: basically start to impart on you like how best to manage different folks and talking through issues.

32 00:21:52.780 00:22:09.194 Uttam Kumaran: I think the managers meetings, you know, we’re gonna talk through like larger company initiatives. But for this meeting. I wanna just focus solely on the engineering team, you know. I’ll probably continue to be involved in these. But over time, I think, as we add more senior engineering folks. We can.

33 00:22:10.340 00:22:17.369 Uttam Kumaran: you know. We’ll just have more people involved in in sort of thinking about these things. And so roughly, I think you saw how I broke up.

34 00:22:19.669 00:22:25.899 Uttam Kumaran: how I kind of broke up the process right? So what do you think about sort of the structure? Maybe before we get into this.

35 00:22:26.400 00:22:35.659 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, it’s it’s good. I try to like, add more tables and things wherever needed.

36 00:22:36.360 00:22:37.330 Awaish Kumar: So yeah.

37 00:22:37.330 00:22:37.970 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

38 00:22:37.970 00:22:40.660 Awaish Kumar: Like the structure, like, I just added few tables.

39 00:22:41.640 00:22:43.370 Awaish Kumar: Okay? As well.

40 00:22:45.380 00:22:49.910 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think. Probably probably the only thing I I

41 00:22:50.390 00:22:59.780 Uttam Kumaran: want to just make sure we spend as much time. You know me, and you can review, like basically add up in any notes or thoughts, Async. And then this meeting can be pretty.

42 00:22:59.780 00:23:01.329 Awaish Kumar: Are you away from my.

43 00:23:01.330 00:23:07.150 Uttam Kumaran: No. But I think for today, mainly just wanna make sure we cover any like core topics.

44 00:23:07.890 00:23:09.070 Awaish Kumar: Are you away from your mic.

45 00:23:09.762 00:23:11.840 Uttam Kumaran: Had this results.

46 00:23:13.610 00:23:16.259 Uttam Kumaran: I had a few months there as well.

47 00:23:18.610 00:23:19.270 Awaish Kumar: It, too.

48 00:23:19.500 00:23:19.930 Uttam Kumaran: So I know.

49 00:23:19.930 00:23:22.630 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, I can’t. I can’t hear you properly.

50 00:23:23.380 00:23:26.900 Uttam Kumaran: We have talent, engineering, excellence, engineering productivity.

51 00:23:27.330 00:23:31.250 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we have each of these sort of 4 through 7.

52 00:23:31.960 00:23:34.920 Uttam Kumaran: And then we can talk through.

53 00:23:35.550 00:23:37.649 Uttam Kumaran: You know any of the other items.

54 00:23:39.590 00:23:43.060 Uttam Kumaran: I feel like, you know, compared to like a typical product company.

55 00:23:43.230 00:23:47.370 Uttam Kumaran: You know, we may have a hard time doing like engineering efficiency

56 00:23:47.630 00:23:57.529 Uttam Kumaran: and stuff, just because it’s gonna be a little bit difficult to measure everything. And a lot of our stuff is also communication. But I think it’ll get better over time.

57 00:23:58.410 00:23:59.170 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

58 00:24:02.330 00:24:05.860 Uttam Kumaran: So probably I wanted to start with just one thing. I I think the

59 00:24:05.970 00:24:12.130 Uttam Kumaran: the 1st thing I wanted to start with was just about how

60 00:24:12.678 00:24:16.030 Uttam Kumaran: I think I want to start talking about.

61 00:24:16.130 00:24:30.359 Uttam Kumaran: you know, engineering management. The one book that I haven’t read yet, although it’s been on my list. Is this book on engineering management? I I listed it there, do you? Wondering if you if you see it there.

62 00:24:30.910 00:24:32.459 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, I just saw the meeting.

63 00:24:35.180 00:24:45.010 Uttam Kumaran: So yeah, I think that’s maybe that’s something that we could both read together and discuss. I have it. I have it here with me in

64 00:24:45.680 00:24:46.820 Uttam Kumaran: you know, in

65 00:24:48.140 00:24:54.120 Uttam Kumaran: in person, but I’d be happy to get you the Pdf. Or whatever you tell me what what’s best.

66 00:24:54.770 00:25:04.120 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, like, I don’t know I’m I’m unable to access this kindle Amazon. Yeah end of year. So

67 00:25:04.730 00:25:10.140 Awaish Kumar: if if there’s just downloaded Pdf, that would be nice, otherwise I will find customers.

68 00:25:10.930 00:25:19.969 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, I can find the download for you. But I think this would be good. Maybe what we can do is we can both read it and then read it over the next few weeks, and we could discuss, as we go.

69 00:25:22.780 00:25:23.310 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

70 00:25:24.150 00:25:27.999 Uttam Kumaran: It’s 1 of them. I remember when this book came out, it’s 1 of the more

71 00:25:28.470 00:25:34.929 Uttam Kumaran: famous books about basically engineering management, but like mainly just how to manage, and I think it’ll be good for us to.

72 00:25:35.090 00:25:37.359 Uttam Kumaran: or read and reflect on that together.

73 00:25:39.600 00:25:40.360 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

74 00:25:44.670 00:25:48.449 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool. And then, yeah, maybe next I wanted to talk through just like

75 00:25:49.990 00:25:53.049 Uttam Kumaran: people or tell me what you talk through next.

76 00:25:55.040 00:26:02.100 Awaish Kumar: Okay, like. Right now, I’m I’m only like

77 00:26:02.420 00:26:06.350 Awaish Kumar: on a 1 on one level. I’m just talking to maybe any and

78 00:26:08.140 00:26:15.119 Awaish Kumar: like only any. I think, like the Luke is no longer here. And then, Kyle, I’m I’m unable to

79 00:26:15.290 00:26:21.569 Awaish Kumar: schedule any time with him, but so far

80 00:26:22.302 00:26:28.159 Awaish Kumar: the people I’ve worked with the demnadi Vashnav amber, like.

81 00:26:28.990 00:26:35.840 Awaish Kumar: I think, like, if everyone is motivated only

82 00:26:36.040 00:26:39.129 Awaish Kumar: thing I’m concerned about taking the ownership

83 00:26:40.580 00:26:46.980 Awaish Kumar: of the things, and like, when when to like

84 00:26:47.170 00:26:53.887 Awaish Kumar: pushing it to the like finish line. Apart from that, like, there are technical enough to like

85 00:26:55.800 00:26:57.120 Awaish Kumar: finish the dust.

86 00:26:57.910 00:27:03.109 Awaish Kumar: Yeah. But yeah, but the that like

87 00:27:03.420 00:27:09.657 Awaish Kumar: taking the responsibility of finishing it. If something is not like snowflakes itself.

88 00:27:10.860 00:27:15.779 Awaish Kumar: as an example, the connection wasn’t working. Yeah, like everybody just left it on me

89 00:27:16.700 00:27:18.839 Awaish Kumar: until I fix it. It’s it’s just wrong.

90 00:27:20.020 00:27:20.790 Awaish Kumar: Yeah.

91 00:27:22.520 00:27:29.279 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think one thing I probably want to talk through is like, yeah, one. It would be great to have you start to have, like regular

92 00:27:29.500 00:27:35.120 Uttam Kumaran: meetings with everybody on data. Look, it doesn’t have to be every week.

93 00:27:35.240 00:27:36.929 Uttam Kumaran: But I do think that

94 00:27:38.000 00:27:42.320 Uttam Kumaran: I think what we’ll learn through the manager’s book is that it’s helpful to have those touch points

95 00:27:42.430 00:28:00.410 Uttam Kumaran: for me. It’d be great to hear from you about every single person, and then I could help you say, Okay, do we need to make a decision or change what people are doing like? I can help at that level. But I would like to see. You know, you get a little bit more involved in understanding.

96 00:28:00.530 00:28:10.529 Uttam Kumaran: You know the Kyle’s goals and goals, even the folks that are doing well, you know, I I feel like it’s

97 00:28:11.010 00:28:12.360 Uttam Kumaran: it’s

98 00:28:17.540 00:28:25.570 Uttam Kumaran: right. I would enjoy that. You spend time with them as well, because we want them to start to move up and take on more things, you know.

99 00:28:27.050 00:28:34.410 Awaish Kumar: So like, like on the data side, we only have Kayote Vashti, and any right now.

100 00:28:36.260 00:28:40.100 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, so ideally.

101 00:28:40.100 00:28:41.740 Awaish Kumar: Like I.

102 00:28:42.850 00:28:47.010 Uttam Kumaran: For those 4, it’d be great to. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.

103 00:28:47.360 00:28:57.929 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, you were. You also were telling about overseeing of the engineering floating across the departments.

104 00:28:58.070 00:29:03.590 Awaish Kumar: So I don’t know. Like, if if you want me to also have a 1 on one with different team members

105 00:29:05.030 00:29:12.300 Awaish Kumar: like from AI or Fi team. And, for example, like when we are in managers meeting also.

106 00:29:13.135 00:29:16.820 Awaish Kumar: It’s just that meeting when we get context of other departments.

107 00:29:17.100 00:29:22.489 Awaish Kumar: So it’s it’s it becomes really hard to say anything like when you ask for feedback

108 00:29:22.650 00:29:30.100 Awaish Kumar: without any context to what they were doing the whole week. So I’m not like we don’t. We don’t know like what to say.

109 00:29:33.580 00:29:34.949 Uttam Kumaran: I see what so like if we have

110 00:29:34.950 00:29:36.189 Uttam Kumaran: so what do you think is like.

111 00:29:36.190 00:29:37.200 Awaish Kumar: For example.

112 00:29:37.720 00:29:43.690 Awaish Kumar: even just like meeting with Hannah or just a manager on a 1 on one level. So we know it.

113 00:29:44.030 00:29:50.089 Awaish Kumar: Cross departmental like what? What? At a high level, what they are doing, and how they’re approaching.

114 00:29:50.200 00:29:56.859 Awaish Kumar: So at at least when we are in the meetings. And there’s a blocker. We, we have some context, and there might have some feedback.

115 00:29:58.530 00:30:06.090 Uttam Kumaran: I see. Okay, yeah. One of the things I’ve been reading about is sort of like, yeah, there probably should be a leads meeting that happens

116 00:30:06.200 00:30:09.289 Uttam Kumaran: outside of like when me and Robert come to me.

117 00:30:09.540 00:30:10.330 Uttam Kumaran: You know.

118 00:30:11.820 00:30:12.519 Awaish Kumar: Thank you.

119 00:30:13.570 00:30:14.999 Uttam Kumaran: Is that sort of what you’re.

120 00:30:15.660 00:30:16.700 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, I’ve been work.

121 00:30:16.830 00:30:22.730 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, I was more like one on one with, for example, Amber. Understand more about what she’s doing.

122 00:30:22.840 00:30:25.819 Awaish Kumar: one on one with Hannah, for example, on the to understand.

123 00:30:25.820 00:30:29.289 Uttam Kumaran: I would totally. I would totally encourage that. Yeah, I mean.

124 00:30:29.590 00:30:32.070 Uttam Kumaran: I think that’s a great idea. I think one is

125 00:30:32.480 00:30:38.680 Uttam Kumaran: I want it’d be great for you to. I think you and Amber in particular, need to be very close, because

126 00:30:39.130 00:30:42.809 Uttam Kumaran: engineering and project management. That’s the whole delivery squad right.

127 00:30:43.220 00:30:46.139 Awaish Kumar: And so I think that would be very important to have.

128 00:30:46.410 00:30:49.960 Uttam Kumaran: I think, with with Hannah I also think it could be helpful

129 00:30:50.080 00:30:58.760 Uttam Kumaran: mainly just to get a sense, for like, is there anything she needs like case studies or demos, or things that could be prioritized

130 00:30:59.020 00:31:03.360 Uttam Kumaran: on the AI side. This is where I’m gonna kind of see if Sam can fill in.

131 00:31:03.470 00:31:07.570 Uttam Kumaran: So I think one of the things on my plate is going to be to see whether Sam can

132 00:31:07.700 00:31:09.290 Uttam Kumaran: start to fill in

133 00:31:09.943 00:31:15.543 Uttam Kumaran: as sort of leading the AI side, both leading the the people, but also leading

134 00:31:16.610 00:31:21.170 Uttam Kumaran: leading in terms of like

135 00:31:21.330 00:31:28.080 Uttam Kumaran: the roadmap there. So I don’t like. I don’t want to put that also on your plate for now.

136 00:31:28.450 00:31:37.299 Uttam Kumaran: Unless you’re interested in in sort of meeting with them. But I know you have a lot going on. So I want you to focus on the things that you can control. You know.

137 00:31:38.140 00:31:40.050 Uttam Kumaran: this would be my feedback.

138 00:31:40.710 00:31:45.379 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, I like not on an individual level. But I would love to at least meet with

139 00:31:46.040 00:31:53.330 Awaish Kumar: someone lead leading the team like to just to understand the architecture and things. What? What is going on.

140 00:31:53.330 00:31:56.401 Uttam Kumaran: That would. That would be probably Sam.

141 00:31:58.900 00:31:59.275 Awaish Kumar: Nope.

142 00:32:01.120 00:32:07.090 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, I would say, try to grab some time with with Sam to do that. I think that’d be. I think that’d be that’d work out. Well.

143 00:32:10.110 00:32:11.090 Awaish Kumar: Okay. Yeah.

144 00:32:15.060 00:32:15.740 Uttam Kumaran: Oh.

145 00:32:17.560 00:32:22.107 Uttam Kumaran: so one thing I want to go through today is maybe let’s just go through each of the

146 00:32:22.870 00:32:29.019 Uttam Kumaran: the team. Because one thing I want to talk. I want to talk a little bit about Annie, and try to see how I can.

147 00:32:29.430 00:32:31.419 Uttam Kumaran: how we can support her a little bit.

148 00:32:33.600 00:32:36.460 Uttam Kumaran: Let me just pull up this notion on my side.

149 00:32:36.700 00:32:42.378 Uttam Kumaran: So one thing that i 1 thing that I’m proposing is that

150 00:32:43.466 00:32:47.629 Uttam Kumaran: we get Annie a little bit of like an analytics engineering coach.

151 00:32:47.800 00:32:53.609 Uttam Kumaran: And I actually have someone in mind that I think could be really positive for her to pair with.

152 00:32:53.790 00:32:58.590 Uttam Kumaran: I would like if you can facilitate sort of the conversation between them, though.

153 00:33:00.710 00:33:02.549 Uttam Kumaran: So maybe if I can

154 00:33:03.380 00:33:09.629 Uttam Kumaran: make that introduction, and then you can sort of help. I think my overall. My thought process is that

155 00:33:09.860 00:33:17.380 Uttam Kumaran: sometimes we’re just gonna try to bring in external coaches, like, I know. Remember, we tried to bring in Mike. It didn’t work out. He was. He had.

156 00:33:17.600 00:33:21.899 Uttam Kumaran: He was sort of low on time, but I want to try to bring in

157 00:33:22.100 00:33:26.740 Uttam Kumaran: more specialized coaches for our team when when possible.

158 00:33:28.660 00:33:40.130 Uttam Kumaran: one of which is like an analytics engineer coach, which it would be Brian. He’s he’s kind of analytics, engineer, general data engineering, the general analysts work. So one thing I can put here

159 00:33:41.950 00:33:44.350 Uttam Kumaran: on the dock is that I could put Annie.

160 00:33:44.530 00:33:54.639 Uttam Kumaran: I think couple of things that come to mind when I think about her is like, I think she is, has like the talent, but lacks

161 00:33:55.848 00:33:59.790 Uttam Kumaran: like the resources on how

162 00:34:00.070 00:34:12.919 Uttam Kumaran: I think also partly I when I if I come in and help her, she gets on blocked by a lot of things, but I think, having her have like maybe one or 2 h coaching sessions a week could be really important.

163 00:34:13.429 00:34:15.440 Uttam Kumaran: and I would like to facilitate that

164 00:34:17.360 00:34:22.429 Uttam Kumaran: So I don’t know. Do you have? If you ever met off my friend friend of mine, Brian, before

165 00:34:23.750 00:34:24.989 Uttam Kumaran: Brian, pay.

166 00:34:26.206 00:34:27.360 Awaish Kumar: No no.

167 00:34:27.723 00:34:32.090 Uttam Kumaran: Brian, pay me me and him work together that we work before

168 00:34:32.520 00:34:35.769 Uttam Kumaran: and he’s actually the one that hired me for my 1st job

169 00:34:37.230 00:34:42.570 Uttam Kumaran: and really, really talented Dbt analytics engineer. He works at spotify

170 00:34:42.971 00:34:47.130 Uttam Kumaran: but he he was said he was okay. And I was thinking, maybe we could set up like

171 00:34:47.800 00:34:51.530 Uttam Kumaran: one or 2 h session coaching sessions for Annie

172 00:34:52.152 00:35:05.259 Uttam Kumaran: to meet with him, and then maybe you can be there as well. Just to like review all her out. Basically, one thing would be to review all open work.

173 00:35:05.550 00:35:16.739 Uttam Kumaran: Second, is to like, maybe work together like pacing pair program.

174 00:35:19.420 00:35:21.020 Uttam Kumaran: Okay program.

175 00:35:24.200 00:35:26.600 Uttam Kumaran: And then 3 would be to get

176 00:35:27.610 00:35:31.750 Uttam Kumaran: in depth, code, review and architecture.

177 00:35:34.310 00:35:38.189 Uttam Kumaran: So next step is like, would you mind if I like.

178 00:35:38.450 00:35:43.780 Uttam Kumaran: I think what would be helpful for me is for you to sort of try to label like what the

179 00:35:44.540 00:35:46.690 Uttam Kumaran: what the structure of that could be.

180 00:35:46.880 00:35:58.070 Uttam Kumaran: but I’m happy to make an introduction to Brian, and and set up the 1st version. Set up the 1st meeting this week. To do that I would. I do think it would be great for it to come from you, though.

181 00:35:59.550 00:36:00.320 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

182 00:36:01.630 00:36:05.799 Uttam Kumaran: Like the main place. I see this is like, look, we noticed that

183 00:36:06.030 00:36:14.119 Uttam Kumaran: you’re able. You’re we want you to take on more work. But we also notice that we want to continue to help your professional development, and we want to pair you with a coach.

184 00:36:14.549 00:36:17.959 Uttam Kumaran: And that’s Brian. And we want to propose that we have.

185 00:36:18.750 00:36:21.290 Uttam Kumaran: like these 2 1 h sessions a week.

186 00:36:22.200 00:36:25.069 Uttam Kumaran: you know, and and I think that would be a great place to start.

187 00:36:27.290 00:36:27.920 Awaish Kumar: You, too.

188 00:36:28.080 00:36:31.739 Awaish Kumar: Okay? So you you would like me to Co. Communicate that with any.

189 00:36:32.880 00:36:39.289 Uttam Kumaran: Well, I guess this is where I I was. Gonna ask you like, do you want to communicate that with her and me in a group chat.

190 00:36:40.120 00:36:42.339 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, that’s okay. I can really help.

191 00:36:43.090 00:36:47.099 Uttam Kumaran: I think that would be great, and then I’m happy to. Then.

192 00:36:47.290 00:36:51.150 Uttam Kumaran: as long as she says she’s good with it, then I’m happy to make an introduction

193 00:36:51.460 00:36:55.939 Uttam Kumaran: to Brian, and then all 4 of us can work to get set up.

194 00:36:57.990 00:36:59.090 Awaish Kumar: Okay, sure.

195 00:37:00.060 00:37:04.760 Uttam Kumaran: So Brian is actually in slack. So maybe what we can do is

196 00:37:10.330 00:37:13.319 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe you can send a message to the 4 of us.

197 00:37:15.130 00:37:15.750 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

198 00:37:18.300 00:37:20.739 Uttam Kumaran: So this is at right.

199 00:37:23.620 00:37:27.589 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, if you want me to review the message, you let me know, but I think it’d be great for

200 00:37:27.710 00:37:29.579 Uttam Kumaran: for you to send.

201 00:37:29.730 00:37:50.359 Uttam Kumaran: Note to Brian any sharing that we are establishing this analytics engineering coaching program with Ryan?

202 00:37:50.840 00:37:55.789 Uttam Kumaran: Or is whatever I sent there

203 00:37:57.970 00:38:03.040 Uttam Kumaran: and then confirm time for 1st one this week.

204 00:38:04.022 00:38:11.499 Uttam Kumaran: Ideally, I will also start. I like, maybe we can also start a channel for just the coaches.

205 00:38:13.240 00:38:21.080 Uttam Kumaran: like. Maybe it could be me. You and Brian, like start engineering coach coaches channel

206 00:38:21.510 00:38:25.279 Uttam Kumaran: with Brian that way we can. The 3 of us can discuss.

207 00:38:25.610 00:38:33.660 Uttam Kumaran: Brian is. Brian is a great Dvt modeler, and he’s actually very patient. So I think you’ll be great to spend time with her and help her on block on whatever she needs.

208 00:38:35.050 00:38:41.629 Awaish Kumar: Okay? And yeah, in the suggestion, like, when in the point number 3, what do you mean here? Like

209 00:38:42.050 00:38:45.319 Awaish Kumar: architect like? She’s not doing any modeling so far.

210 00:38:46.410 00:38:55.270 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Well, I think she does have like Github code. She’s pushing right in sequel that she’s writing. So someone to kind of give her specific feedback on that could be good.

211 00:38:55.730 00:39:02.749 Uttam Kumaran: but ideally she can come. If she she had ideally, I would hope that she can come to these sessions prepared with

212 00:39:03.180 00:39:07.339 Uttam Kumaran: all the work on her plate that she can basically walk through with. Brian.

213 00:39:09.170 00:39:13.700 Awaish Kumar: Okay, so would you like me to just send a

214 00:39:14.060 00:39:22.299 Awaish Kumar: like message like as in with sharing with everything or everyone? Or should I just meet with.

215 00:39:22.790 00:39:24.749 Awaish Kumar: I need to like.

216 00:39:26.140 00:39:26.870 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, it has.

217 00:39:26.870 00:39:27.269 Awaish Kumar: That’s right.

218 00:39:27.270 00:39:36.950 Uttam Kumaran: It depends on it depends on how you want to do it, like you can feel free to call her. I mean the biggest thing I want to share with her is that she’s we’re gonna we want to have her take on more stuff.

219 00:39:37.320 00:39:43.259 Uttam Kumaran: and we want to invest in her. And like, I think one way is like we want to connect her with someone that can help her.

220 00:39:43.440 00:39:48.329 Uttam Kumaran: help coach her and be a resource for her. So that’s what I would like to convey to her.

221 00:39:49.670 00:39:50.330 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

222 00:39:53.390 00:39:58.570 Awaish Kumar: like I with all of us, I would like to share a message where

223 00:39:59.250 00:40:05.899 Awaish Kumar: to share this news with her, but like more like telling her about come like.

224 00:40:06.020 00:40:09.399 Awaish Kumar: prepare for this meeting, and like more details about

225 00:40:10.880 00:40:13.750 Awaish Kumar: to go in what to expect and what all

226 00:40:14.320 00:40:18.620 Awaish Kumar: yeah. Prepare for like that should be separate message on.

227 00:40:19.750 00:40:20.520 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

228 00:40:26.750 00:40:28.069 Awaish Kumar: Okay. I’ll do that.

229 00:40:29.480 00:40:30.140 Uttam Kumaran: Great.

230 00:40:31.030 00:40:42.350 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, this way. It’s like, Look me, and you can continue to spend. But I want you to start having an overview of everybody, and then we’ll start plugging in people with coaches where possible, and me and you still coach, you know, but, like

231 00:40:42.620 00:40:47.180 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t, it’s an extra 2 h off of your time per week.

232 00:40:47.560 00:40:53.580 Uttam Kumaran: That, I think is gonna be hard, you know, and if it works for Annie, then maybe we can pair Brian with someone else, too.

233 00:40:57.160 00:40:57.665 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

234 00:41:00.924 00:41:05.165 Uttam Kumaran: Okay? And then probably my only other feedback is on.

235 00:41:07.520 00:41:10.539 Uttam Kumaran: is on Kyle that I think we need to.

236 00:41:11.190 00:41:13.290 Uttam Kumaran: I think we’ll need to

237 00:41:13.450 00:41:22.999 Uttam Kumaran: also continue to watch his growth. I think kind of the main feedback I’ve gotten from folks on the team. Is that the speed? And then his like resourcefulness.

238 00:41:23.920 00:41:29.749 Uttam Kumaran: you know. So we need to. Just I think we need to find some way for him to, for us to start to measure

239 00:41:30.120 00:41:35.709 Uttam Kumaran: like, especially this month, that he’s able to start to solve problems himself. And he’s being proactive

240 00:41:36.030 00:41:41.539 Uttam Kumaran: versus waiting for folks on the team. That’s really like the feedback that I see.

241 00:41:43.090 00:41:47.740 Awaish Kumar: Okay, should I?

242 00:41:50.180 00:41:50.969 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so I’m just gonna.

243 00:41:50.970 00:41:51.610 Awaish Kumar: Culturalize

244 00:41:54.640 00:42:01.020 Awaish Kumar: for example, I’m trying to push, was Dave to use more like cursor id or any I.

245 00:42:01.750 00:42:05.250 Awaish Kumar: So far he hasn’t been using so.

246 00:42:07.975 00:42:11.849 Uttam Kumaran: So one thing we need to think about is like, how do we get everybody to use that.

247 00:42:15.960 00:42:17.690 Awaish Kumar: So like we have to.

248 00:42:19.462 00:42:23.049 Awaish Kumar: I encourage people to adopt the Api.

249 00:42:25.050 00:42:25.515 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

250 00:42:33.370 00:42:37.820 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, should we do like a cursor session with everybody next week?

251 00:42:40.910 00:42:41.550 Awaish Kumar: Hmm.

252 00:42:44.430 00:42:48.329 Uttam Kumaran: Or like, how do you? We should. We could do like an AI engineering session next week.

253 00:42:49.330 00:42:51.390 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, we can, we can do that.

254 00:42:52.230 00:42:55.780 Uttam Kumaran: So what would you want to cover there like cursor?

255 00:42:56.450 00:42:56.940 Awaish Kumar: Yeah. Go ahead.

256 00:42:56.940 00:42:59.690 Uttam Kumaran: I can go over like perplexity for search.

257 00:43:01.540 00:43:09.509 Awaish Kumar: I would like to it to be a kind of a mini project where we have a problem and we solve it using AI.

258 00:43:10.050 00:43:17.929 Awaish Kumar: And I asked some like, have some prompts where you tell the customer to do this, and then at the end of it, we have solved something

259 00:43:25.850 00:43:33.139 Awaish Kumar: kind of workshop like where you exactly. They know. If there’s some problem, then how to approach that up.

260 00:43:34.650 00:43:36.090 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So maybe I can.

261 00:43:36.470 00:43:42.519 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe I can ask Sam or someone if they want to set up a workshop.

262 00:43:46.570 00:43:50.360 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, so maybe, do you want to just grab an hour for next week for everybody.

263 00:43:52.090 00:43:55.410 Awaish Kumar: Okay, how much.

264 00:43:57.780 00:43:59.280 Uttam Kumaran: For all engineering.

265 00:44:03.470 00:44:05.149 Awaish Kumar: Where should I?

266 00:44:05.480 00:44:07.480 Awaish Kumar: Should? We have some?

267 00:44:08.350 00:44:11.169 Awaish Kumar: Okay, I will put it in action items.

268 00:44:12.887 00:44:13.929 Uttam Kumaran: Yes. Okay. Okay.

269 00:45:50.360 00:45:53.580 Awaish Kumar: What about what about like this point? Number 6?

270 00:45:58.570 00:46:03.260 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. So AI, yeah. So AI efficiency automation. Yeah, this is great

271 00:46:03.790 00:46:14.200 Uttam Kumaran: open rules and pipeline health. Okay, that’s fine. Not too much for cross team collaboration. Yeah, I mean, the best, the most important cross team collaboration right now is like

272 00:46:14.430 00:46:16.300 Uttam Kumaran: the productivity, right?

273 00:46:18.720 00:46:22.490 Uttam Kumaran: That that’s like, kind of pretty yeah.

274 00:47:40.480 00:47:41.430 Awaish Kumar: Who do.

275 00:47:42.110 00:47:42.880 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.

276 00:47:43.610 00:47:44.240 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

277 00:47:46.330 00:47:52.000 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so these 3 are fine. And then, yeah, I guess, like, maybe I like, I like 7.

278 00:47:52.799 00:47:56.389 Uttam Kumaran: So any sort of incidents that we want to like, talk about.

279 00:48:01.910 00:48:03.430 Awaish Kumar: Not very long.

280 00:48:04.760 00:48:05.420 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

281 00:48:09.300 00:48:12.126 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, probably the only one was

282 00:48:16.760 00:48:22.240 Uttam Kumaran: the like, we had all that issue on rail.

283 00:48:22.530 00:48:26.470 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I don’t know. Maybe that was like whatever we already kind of discussed. It.

284 00:48:29.270 00:48:30.800 Awaish Kumar: Can you show me the real.

285 00:48:35.335 00:48:37.154 Uttam Kumaran: Like issue with real

286 00:48:38.040 00:48:40.869 Uttam Kumaran: like. Amy had an issue connecting rail and everything.

287 00:48:42.800 00:48:45.019 Awaish Kumar: That that’s for internal work only.

288 00:48:45.400 00:48:45.970 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

289 00:48:45.970 00:48:46.540 Awaish Kumar: You know.

290 00:48:48.420 00:48:52.190 Awaish Kumar: Yeah. But the prop, the thing is that like.

291 00:48:52.320 00:48:55.090 Awaish Kumar: if it it’s not working, and then like

292 00:48:55.650 00:48:58.090 Awaish Kumar: to just leave it right? So.

293 00:49:03.700 00:49:04.380 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

294 00:49:05.800 00:49:12.590 Awaish Kumar: Like the the more putting more efforts on like trying with AI Google searches.

295 00:49:13.920 00:49:15.569 Awaish Kumar: I don’t know like how

296 00:49:15.810 00:49:22.810 Awaish Kumar: how the new folks are working like before. AI. I used to like we need to dive in step.

297 00:49:22.810 00:49:27.430 Uttam Kumaran: People. Yeah, stack overflow. Yeah, that’s fine.

298 00:49:27.430 00:49:29.979 Uttam Kumaran: Want to have like the coaching meetings, because

299 00:49:30.300 00:49:33.760 Uttam Kumaran: at least we have one other checkpoint that can meet with people, you know.

300 00:49:34.800 00:49:35.480 Awaish Kumar: Anything.

301 00:49:36.480 00:49:37.650 Awaish Kumar: It’s young.

302 00:49:38.570 00:49:46.360 Awaish Kumar: That would be a nice discussion, like if you’re stuck, how you are, how you are going to no.

303 00:49:46.360 00:49:47.050 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

304 00:49:48.060 00:49:48.970 Awaish Kumar: Welcome, result.

305 00:49:48.970 00:49:53.399 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe we should. Maybe we should talk about that in the workshop, too. It’s like how to

306 00:49:53.510 00:49:56.629 Uttam Kumaran: use AI to clear roadblocks.

307 00:50:04.320 00:50:05.190 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

308 00:50:21.320 00:50:27.119 Uttam Kumaran: yeah. Team health. Yeah, maybe we can try to test the survey or something. You can have. Rico. Do one

309 00:50:28.760 00:50:30.500 Uttam Kumaran: like an anonymous survey.

310 00:50:31.750 00:50:32.770 Awaish Kumar: Okay, yeah.

311 00:50:39.150 00:50:43.890 Awaish Kumar: I don’t know a survey, and I don’t know. In my previous company they used to build the

312 00:50:44.020 00:50:51.590 Awaish Kumar: click, live proficiency with some like behavioral questions and things like that.

313 00:50:52.780 00:50:54.879 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we can also consider that

314 00:50:55.210 00:50:56.889 Uttam Kumaran: I know we were thinking about it.

315 00:51:04.350 00:51:12.120 Uttam Kumaran: So maybe one thing I’ll I’ll think about is like engineering team survey.

316 00:51:20.000 00:51:23.940 Awaish Kumar: Should we put it? Put it in like the table.

317 00:51:25.540 00:51:30.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and then, ideally, like, ideally, this gets.

318 00:51:31.920 00:51:33.050 Awaish Kumar: A score.

319 00:51:33.400 00:51:38.868 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so engineering team survey book meeting for all engineering. And then I’ll also put here

320 00:51:40.120 00:51:45.040 Uttam Kumaran: send message to you a. The.

321 00:51:45.700 00:51:47.340 Awaish Kumar: About, coaching.

322 00:51:47.610 00:52:00.050 Uttam Kumaran: And then, as Brian schedule the 1st coaching meeting this week.

323 00:52:03.060 00:52:10.059 Uttam Kumaran: plus Brian to prepared with meeting agenda.

324 00:52:21.080 00:52:21.930 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.

325 00:52:46.860 00:52:51.940 Uttam Kumaran: yeah. So look. So this is gonna be AI workflows

326 00:52:56.200 00:53:00.050 Uttam Kumaran: and how to clear are blocked.

327 00:53:03.680 00:53:09.680 Uttam Kumaran: So this is something, I think. Yeah, we can try to do something across all of engineering once a month or so, you know.

328 00:53:45.660 00:53:46.615 Uttam Kumaran: Okay,

329 00:54:19.690 00:54:21.243 Uttam Kumaran: okay, great.

330 00:54:22.430 00:54:26.657 Uttam Kumaran: I feel like these are pretty good. So one thing that I’m gonna work on today is, let me

331 00:54:27.000 00:54:29.199 Uttam Kumaran: Let me find out how to get you this book.

332 00:54:29.420 00:54:31.050 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe we can split up

333 00:54:31.260 00:54:40.349 Uttam Kumaran: the chapters and then consider reading it. I think. Also, for next week, I’m gonna I’m gonna ask Sam to join this so it can give us perspective on the AI team.

334 00:54:42.440 00:54:43.110 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

335 00:54:43.950 00:54:45.460 Uttam Kumaran: And then, yeah, what else?

336 00:54:47.790 00:54:49.200 Awaish Kumar: No, no.

337 00:54:49.600 00:54:52.129 Uttam Kumaran: How do you feel about this? Do you want to meet more often.

338 00:54:55.520 00:54:56.440 Awaish Kumar: Come on.

339 00:54:56.850 00:55:00.509 Awaish Kumar: Yeah, I I think like it would be nice, because

340 00:55:01.390 00:55:05.739 Awaish Kumar: it it has been long time since we had any one on ones as well.

341 00:55:05.740 00:55:06.470 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

342 00:55:07.270 00:55:11.850 Awaish Kumar: So it would be nice to have some collection.

343 00:55:12.790 00:55:14.589 Awaish Kumar: Okay, let’s do that.

344 00:55:15.240 00:55:21.869 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, you know, you know me. I’m I until until people ask it’s it’s like, Okay, I’m just sort of

345 00:55:22.290 00:55:24.539 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, I know not. Everybody’s like

346 00:55:24.760 00:55:37.560 Uttam Kumaran: I would love to meet with everybody, but I only have limited time, so I’m happy to meet more often. I mean, I want to meet with the people like you and your have the most leverage in the company. So tell me when you want to do another call like, let’s

347 00:55:37.670 00:55:41.949 Uttam Kumaran: let’s plan on having 2 sessions a week for a while, and then we can decide what we want to do.

348 00:55:43.990 00:55:45.680 Awaish Kumar: Okay. Yeah. Sure.

349 00:55:46.620 00:55:48.630 Uttam Kumaran: Do you want to put that in the actions as well.

350 00:55:50.970 00:55:52.730 Awaish Kumar: Okay, let let me do that.

351 00:56:00.180 00:56:01.400 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, maybe.

352 00:56:01.850 00:56:02.460 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

353 00:56:03.100 00:56:06.989 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe it’s Thursday, and then eventually it could be something so.

354 00:56:09.540 00:56:10.250 Awaish Kumar: Steve.

355 00:56:11.654 00:56:12.019 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.

356 00:56:12.020 00:56:13.530 Uttam Kumaran: Thursday seems fine, right?

357 00:56:16.910 00:56:18.689 Uttam Kumaran: You can find the time. Thursday.

358 00:56:19.280 00:56:20.010 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

359 00:56:25.860 00:56:27.810 Uttam Kumaran: Let’s include Sam there

360 00:56:32.310 00:56:38.510 Uttam Kumaran: and then. Maybe I can give a little bit update on the AI team. So Mustafa and Casey are doing really well.

361 00:56:38.760 00:56:41.969 Uttam Kumaran: I think honestly, Mustafa probably has.

362 00:56:42.300 00:56:45.940 Uttam Kumaran: The software could honestly start doing some data stuff, too, if we needed help.

363 00:56:47.690 00:56:51.740 Uttam Kumaran: Probably the only struggle I’m having is with Miguel. We’ve already talked about it, so

364 00:56:51.850 00:56:55.700 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not sure at this point whether he’s gonna be joining back with us.

365 00:56:58.130 00:56:59.709 Uttam Kumaran: I will know by Wednesday.

366 00:56:59.890 00:57:03.140 Uttam Kumaran: but as of now, I’m I’m assuming, probably not.

367 00:57:04.980 00:57:10.409 Uttam Kumaran: which is okay. I I don’t. I think we have enough people right now to take on the capacity we have. So

368 00:57:10.550 00:57:11.620 Uttam Kumaran: that’s fine.

369 00:57:13.260 00:57:14.130 Awaish Kumar: Okay.

370 00:57:17.720 00:57:22.120 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, great.

371 00:57:23.480 00:57:25.770 Uttam Kumaran: Anything else we want to discuss.

372 00:57:27.275 00:57:30.184 Awaish Kumar: I don’t have anything else right now.

373 00:57:32.300 00:57:33.160 Awaish Kumar: Nope.

374 00:57:34.220 00:57:38.859 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, perfect. Yeah. If you can send a note to Annie and us, I can get.

375 00:57:38.980 00:57:45.090 Uttam Kumaran: I met, I texted with Brian today. I told him I’d let him know so soon as you do that I can circle back with him, and then, yeah, perfect.

376 00:57:45.960 00:57:47.150 Awaish Kumar: Okay. Sure.

377 00:57:47.670 00:57:52.710 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, thanks, Aisha, appreciate it. This is good. I’m glad we’re we’re sort of back on the cadence.

378 00:57:54.240 00:57:56.230 Awaish Kumar: Okay. Thank you.

379 00:57:56.230 00:57:56.929 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, thank you.

380 00:57:58.420 00:57:59.689 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Okay, bye.