Meeting Title: Amber and Uttam Weekly Sync Date: 2025-10-07 Meeting participants: Uttam Kumaran, Amber Lin
WEBVTT
1 00:01:08.910 ⇒ 00:01:09.789 Amber Lin: Hi, Bev!
2 00:01:10.450 ⇒ 00:01:11.540 Uttam Kumaran: Hello?
3 00:01:11.990 ⇒ 00:01:14.070 Amber Lin: Long time no talk, how are you?
4 00:01:14.070 ⇒ 00:01:17.450 Uttam Kumaran: I’m good. How are you?
5 00:01:17.890 ⇒ 00:01:23.480 Amber Lin: Let’s keep talking more often. I know, it’s just every, every time on Friday, it’s our meeting, because our.
6 00:01:23.480 ⇒ 00:01:24.290 Uttam Kumaran: I know.
7 00:01:24.290 ⇒ 00:01:26.810 Amber Lin: Last meeting, I’m like, oh, we already had so.
8 00:01:26.810 ⇒ 00:01:30.539 Uttam Kumaran: No, we could do… let’s… I’m now… I’m now getting more free time.
9 00:01:31.170 ⇒ 00:01:34.420 Uttam Kumaran: And we should just keep talking more often, so that’s…
10 00:01:34.690 ⇒ 00:01:38.650 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, you can just put it on my calendar, and of course, I’ll tell you if I can’t make it, but I’m…
11 00:01:38.650 ⇒ 00:01:42.280 Amber Lin: Yeah, and you can always move them around, like, I…
12 00:01:42.280 ⇒ 00:01:48.719 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and it’s actually helpful because you’re on PST, so, like, I always… like, I don’t want to take up more of your time later in the day, but…
13 00:01:49.120 ⇒ 00:01:55.899 Uttam Kumaran: I’m always free later in the day, and because of Asia folks I can’t meet later in the day, I’m usually, like, pretty open.
14 00:01:56.130 ⇒ 00:02:00.830 Amber Lin: I see. Okay, then I’ll move it outside of our Friday times, I’ll find a different time.
15 00:02:00.830 ⇒ 00:02:07.809 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we should just do it, like, Thursday. I mean, usually in the beginning of the week is what I’m thinking about, like, now that I’m spending a lot of time on delivery, I just…
16 00:02:07.810 ⇒ 00:02:08.250 Amber Lin: Huh.
17 00:02:08.250 ⇒ 00:02:17.559 Uttam Kumaran: had a great conversation with Vixel about, like, kind of new roles we need, and yeah, I’m starting to think more high level, about things, so it’s… but…
18 00:02:17.680 ⇒ 00:02:21.889 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so… and still thinking about our day-to-day stuff, so yeah, it’s…
19 00:02:21.890 ⇒ 00:02:22.220 Amber Lin: Hmm.
20 00:02:22.220 ⇒ 00:02:23.530 Uttam Kumaran: I’m happy to keep chatting with.
21 00:02:24.580 ⇒ 00:02:33.090 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and I, you know, I still think a lot about, like, how do I get you out of PM stuff? Like, every week, I’m like, I don’t… I have…
22 00:02:33.350 ⇒ 00:02:37.400 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know, I just think, like, it’s gonna happen naturally. I have a kind of…
23 00:02:37.400 ⇒ 00:02:52.800 Amber Lin: I don’t think it’s possible within this year, like, I just… I think it’s just what it’ll have to be, and I’m happy to be here. I had to think about it, but at this point, I think I’m pretty happy to be here. I can tell you about what I’ve been thinking about recently.
24 00:02:52.800 ⇒ 00:02:53.990 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, please.
25 00:02:53.990 ⇒ 00:02:56.110 Amber Lin: Yeah, and I think,
26 00:02:56.440 ⇒ 00:03:05.839 Amber Lin: So when first Justin joined, and then I had a big accidental crisis, okay, what am I gonna do, right? I told you about that. Yes.
27 00:03:06.520 ⇒ 00:03:13.130 Amber Lin: afterwards, after I moved off the responsibilities, one, recently I feel a lot…
28 00:03:13.490 ⇒ 00:03:17.940 Amber Lin: better, it’s a lot easier, because it’s…
29 00:03:18.040 ⇒ 00:03:31.899 Amber Lin: simple. Like, there’s still the full… like, it still requires the same amount of hours, because there’s more on the PM side I need to do, but mentally, it’s the same model applied to all the
30 00:03:31.900 ⇒ 00:03:38.079 Amber Lin: all the teams, so it’s a lot mentally simpler to handle. Yes.
31 00:03:38.510 ⇒ 00:03:44.739 Amber Lin: Which is nice, because there’s stuff on the PM side that I know that I’m not doing that well.
32 00:03:45.140 ⇒ 00:03:56.050 Amber Lin: And I had a accidental crisis, because I was like, oh no, where is the upward mobility? What am I gonna do if I don’t do these managed
33 00:03:56.420 ⇒ 00:03:58.510 Amber Lin: burial stuff. I was like…
34 00:03:58.510 ⇒ 00:04:00.390 Uttam Kumaran: But we talked about this.
35 00:04:00.390 ⇒ 00:04:14.829 Amber Lin: I know, I know, but I was like, I worked for 7 months, and I was talking to Nico about this, and she was like, you will be working until you’re 60, and you have worked 6 months.
36 00:04:14.890 ⇒ 00:04:24.069 Amber Lin: And it… there’s a lot of time to gain the experience and then do that. It’s like, okay, that… that makes… that makes more sense. I think…
37 00:04:24.070 ⇒ 00:04:31.790 Uttam Kumaran: You know, you’ve done a lot of managerial stuff, like, you’ve done a lot of things here that I don’t think… I feel like you may think is.
38 00:04:31.790 ⇒ 00:04:32.989 Amber Lin: Yeah, I know.
39 00:04:32.990 ⇒ 00:04:34.710 Uttam Kumaran: Very abnormal.
40 00:04:34.710 ⇒ 00:04:39.780 Amber Lin: I’ve done it, I was just like, oh, I don’t get to do more of it, but I know I will.
41 00:04:39.780 ⇒ 00:04:50.570 Uttam Kumaran: Also, if you feel a crisis, you should just call me. I mean, of course, like, I’m a little bit biased, but, like, I could tell that you were probably thinking that, which is why I’ve tried to preempt some stuff, but also, like.
42 00:04:50.760 ⇒ 00:04:54.210 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t think you’re… I mean, I don’t… one is, like.
43 00:04:54.380 ⇒ 00:04:58.709 Uttam Kumaran: I, as usual, I want to make whatever commitment we can to you, because I think.
44 00:04:59.250 ⇒ 00:05:12.130 Uttam Kumaran: you’re pivotal to this business, so… but I also think it’s, like, one, I have some new things to share about kind of how we’re gonna do the PM role. I actually think there’s actually probably a clear path
45 00:05:12.350 ⇒ 00:05:21.029 Uttam Kumaran: after the one meeting I had about how to… about getting you actually out of some of this stuff by the end of the year. So, like, that’s still my objective, so I’m still, like.
46 00:05:21.030 ⇒ 00:05:21.760 Amber Lin: Yeah.
47 00:05:21.760 ⇒ 00:05:24.909 Uttam Kumaran: doing that. There’s probabilities to everything, but…
48 00:05:25.360 ⇒ 00:05:36.729 Amber Lin: Yeah, and part of the reason why I just… like, I thought about it, and I realized it wasn’t that big of an issue is that I know we will transition out, like, I have that confidence, and it’s not even gonna be…
49 00:05:36.890 ⇒ 00:05:42.810 Amber Lin: such a long time frame. It’s not going to be, say, 3 years until we…
50 00:05:42.810 ⇒ 00:05:51.000 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, I know. People do the same thing for 5 years, and then their job is like, oh, you still, like, kind of don’t make the cut.
51 00:05:51.390 ⇒ 00:05:53.759 Uttam Kumaran: Corporate world is so brutal, so…
52 00:05:54.100 ⇒ 00:05:57.739 Uttam Kumaran: I know, it’s like, we set the expectation that we move fast, so when we…
53 00:05:58.020 ⇒ 00:06:00.389 Uttam Kumaran: Start to slow, or things start to…
54 00:06:00.640 ⇒ 00:06:18.920 Uttam Kumaran: calm down, it can feel weird. The other thing is, I feel like when you told me, you told me, like, okay, there’s two things, right? There’s being challenged, and there’s being really busy. I would rather you have really challenging problems, but plenty of time to do it, right? Like, that’s the sweet spot, you know? And that’s, like, what I’m hoping.
55 00:06:18.920 ⇒ 00:06:36.749 Amber Lin: on point, because I was talking to Nico about other parts of my life, too, and it’s because I think I’m so used to having the very, very intense commitment paralleled with very, very intense reward of learning this.
56 00:06:36.750 ⇒ 00:06:57.600 Amber Lin: Like, I like that part, but that’s only when I go from 0 to 10, and even with… Nico’s trying to get me to play games with her, and I can play for the first 10 hours, and then I get bored, because I know it’s hard to improve, and I don’t want to do it, because the reward is slower.
57 00:06:57.600 ⇒ 00:07:01.449 Amber Lin: So, that’s a problem that I know I have across…
58 00:07:01.450 ⇒ 00:07:13.779 Uttam Kumaran: Also, like, do you feel like you kind of… because this is what I feel, people in my life tell me a very similar thing, and then they tell me I’m, like… I basically, like, set myself up for failure, because I go really all-in on things, and…
59 00:07:14.010 ⇒ 00:07:27.049 Uttam Kumaran: But then I… I kind of feel like, yeah, but then I usually accomplish a lot, so… like, some… like, you know, because some people are like, oh, you should, like, kind of, like, relax, or don’t go 100 miles an hour on something, and…
60 00:07:27.180 ⇒ 00:07:38.940 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t like listening to those people. Those people haven’t done anything. So, I tend to actually like when we get to go full steam on stuff, but the problem is, I put myself in a jam because I burn out.
61 00:07:38.940 ⇒ 00:07:40.070 Amber Lin: And I, like…
62 00:07:40.070 ⇒ 00:07:42.680 Uttam Kumaran: That’s the thing to really be mindful of, you know?
63 00:07:43.240 ⇒ 00:07:45.800 Amber Lin: Yeah, and I think it’s,
64 00:07:45.830 ⇒ 00:08:05.189 Amber Lin: part of it is not bringing out, not going 100%, and part of it is… I think I… I… where I find motivation needs more… I’m investigating where I find motivation, because if I find challenge in the work, I… I’m motivated to work.
65 00:08:05.260 ⇒ 00:08:24.480 Amber Lin: Like, yeah. For sure. I realized I find more challenge in the 0 to 10 than the 10 to 20, or even… I don’t think I’ve gone from 10 to 100 yet. So, I think a part of the reason why I was demotivated for a bit with just doing the PM work was like, oh…
66 00:08:25.020 ⇒ 00:08:34.310 Amber Lin: I don’t want to acknowledge that there’s more work and hard challenges to be faced when I already have, say, 10.
67 00:08:34.460 ⇒ 00:08:42.829 Amber Lin: But it’s hard to acknowledge, and once I acknowledge it, it’s like, okay, if I accept that there’s more challenges, the work becomes more interesting.
68 00:08:42.830 ⇒ 00:08:48.470 Uttam Kumaran: And I’m… But also, this is what I tried to… this is what I tried to explain also, is that…
69 00:08:48.680 ⇒ 00:08:49.000 Amber Lin: Hmm.
70 00:08:49.000 ⇒ 00:08:52.020 Uttam Kumaran: In the project management world, like…
71 00:08:52.670 ⇒ 00:08:55.029 Uttam Kumaran: It… this… it’s all pretty clear.
72 00:08:55.150 ⇒ 00:08:55.950 Uttam Kumaran: like…
73 00:08:56.480 ⇒ 00:09:12.120 Uttam Kumaran: you know, you, you do your… all these rituals, and then you… like, the path is pretty clear, like, I feel like we already knew a lot of the answers, right? We’ve had that PMO thing written. That’s when Alex was like, can we review it? I’m like, I don’t want to review it. We’ve already seen it. Like…
74 00:09:12.120 ⇒ 00:09:12.890 Amber Lin: Yeah.
75 00:09:12.890 ⇒ 00:09:20.070 Uttam Kumaran: The problem we’re having is not that we haven’t written this down, it’s that we have to do it, and we have to have the hours and the day to do it, and the safety to do it.
76 00:09:20.070 ⇒ 00:09:20.790 Amber Lin: Yeah.
77 00:09:20.790 ⇒ 00:09:21.570 Uttam Kumaran: So…
78 00:09:21.820 ⇒ 00:09:24.829 Uttam Kumaran: So that’s why I was like, I’m not talk… I don’t want to talk about this, like, that’s not…
79 00:09:25.080 ⇒ 00:09:29.719 Uttam Kumaran: It’s not… that’s… if you can help kind of come in and do it, then that’s one thing, but, like.
80 00:09:30.180 ⇒ 00:09:45.300 Uttam Kumaran: Otherwise, we’re just gonna be like, yeah, we’re not doing this still. Like, so I’m not… I’m really privy to that. But my point about you staying as a PM long-term is I think your mind just works too fast. You’re gonna figure this world out, and I did the same thing in my career.
81 00:09:45.300 ⇒ 00:09:46.350 Amber Lin: Upward.
82 00:09:46.350 ⇒ 00:09:49.759 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, it’s not, it’s not like the most glamorous role, dude, it’s, it’s like…
83 00:09:49.760 ⇒ 00:10:07.570 Amber Lin: I really like random, spontaneous things. I like figuring out the pattern, and I don’t want to do the pattern. So, it’s hard for me to commit a system 1, 2, 3, 4, and doing it over and over and over again, and that’s why I was thinking about
84 00:10:07.600 ⇒ 00:10:08.920 Amber Lin: like, in…
85 00:10:08.940 ⇒ 00:10:18.880 Amber Lin: not this year, but maybe in, like, 2-3 years. I don’t think I’ll continue to be a PM, but it’s nice to… I do want to have a…
86 00:10:18.880 ⇒ 00:10:30.579 Amber Lin: do it well, because I’m doing it okay, or maybe good right now, I’m not doing it great, and right now, I see it as an opportunity to learn to do it great, and then after that, I’ll probably…
87 00:10:31.000 ⇒ 00:10:39.470 Amber Lin: look into the current services we have and see if I can have some skills there that I can expand into, because I think that will be…
88 00:10:40.090 ⇒ 00:10:45.430 Amber Lin: Some… a little bit more creative, and… building?
89 00:10:45.430 ⇒ 00:10:48.459 Uttam Kumaran: The creative part of our business is that there’s, like.
90 00:10:48.460 ⇒ 00:10:48.929 Amber Lin: Come on.
91 00:10:48.930 ⇒ 00:10:55.190 Uttam Kumaran: 10 more things that we don’t know how to do that I have to go learn how to do. For example, I just got off this call with Vixel.
92 00:10:55.620 ⇒ 00:10:57.810 Uttam Kumaran: I have to go bring up, like.
93 00:10:57.940 ⇒ 00:11:02.789 Uttam Kumaran: I have to go, okay, so we learned that we need solution architects, and we actually need
94 00:11:03.040 ⇒ 00:11:07.150 Uttam Kumaran: We actually need our PMs to be slightly technical.
95 00:11:07.490 ⇒ 00:11:08.790 Amber Lin: And so…
96 00:11:09.060 ⇒ 00:11:21.650 Uttam Kumaran: That’s… so one thing is, like, I’m like, okay, cool, so I think the plan to move you to Chief of Staff is actually very, very still in play, and actually, probably where I need your help is for you to go find your replacement with me.
97 00:11:22.530 ⇒ 00:11:23.160 Amber Lin: Hmm.
98 00:11:23.330 ⇒ 00:11:39.500 Uttam Kumaran: And, like, I think that’s a good challenge, because we have to go… I have to go engineer another recruiting process to go find, like, a PM that can truly… like, that is gonna be the person that they outlined on this call, which… I don’t think it’s me, I don’t think it’s you or Rico.
99 00:11:39.800 ⇒ 00:11:51.409 Uttam Kumaran: And that’s not a ding on you, because there’s nothing you could have done, but it’s actually, like, okay, this company needs… like, we finally defined the role well. Like, right now, we… the company has failed you because we set the expectation
100 00:11:51.600 ⇒ 00:12:09.049 Uttam Kumaran: we didn’t set expectations, and then now that we have expectations, it’s clear that we can’t… we’re not supporting you to get there. Like, we’re not training you up on all the data side and stuff like that. And so, what I think is still fair is that I still think having you… one, given… given your…
101 00:12:09.320 ⇒ 00:12:16.439 Uttam Kumaran: curiosity, and given your ability to gonna go 0-1, I still think the Chief of Staff role is, like, the best place to be.
102 00:12:16.610 ⇒ 00:12:18.279 Amber Lin: Because I have…
103 00:12:18.280 ⇒ 00:12:35.229 Uttam Kumaran: two or three of these areas every week where we have to go figure out, okay, how do we build a great solution architect organization? Okay, what does that mean? Call everybody I know who has ever been related to a solution architect and grill them until we get a thesis that we can run with, right?
104 00:12:35.230 ⇒ 00:12:35.770 Amber Lin: Yeah.
105 00:12:35.770 ⇒ 00:12:43.769 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, we need to do allocations. Okay, learn, like, figure, like, how do we do this? And create a recurring… like, those are the things for me that’s actually…
106 00:12:44.180 ⇒ 00:12:46.180 Uttam Kumaran: really exciting about our business, like.
107 00:12:46.180 ⇒ 00:12:52.190 Amber Lin: Yeah, and I totally agree. I think I just like doing things that I don’t know.
108 00:12:52.350 ⇒ 00:12:53.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
109 00:12:53.020 ⇒ 00:12:56.259 Amber Lin: And I don’t like doing things that I already know.
110 00:12:58.240 ⇒ 00:13:00.450 Uttam Kumaran: The key roles in our business are gonna be…
111 00:13:00.690 ⇒ 00:13:05.540 Uttam Kumaran: You know, we’re gonna have engineering, we’re gonna have some level of, like.
112 00:13:05.720 ⇒ 00:13:08.429 Amber Lin: Project management, like, agile project management.
113 00:13:08.430 ⇒ 00:13:12.770 Uttam Kumaran: We’re gonna have solution architecture, right? So this is, like, Henry, Awash.
114 00:13:13.310 ⇒ 00:13:13.880 Amber Lin: Like…
115 00:13:13.880 ⇒ 00:13:16.210 Uttam Kumaran: Those people are going to become more solution architects.
116 00:13:16.210 ⇒ 00:13:17.529 Amber Lin: We also have…
117 00:13:17.820 ⇒ 00:13:18.860 Uttam Kumaran: sales.
118 00:13:19.190 ⇒ 00:13:22.840 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So that’s a whole different world. We, of course, have marketing.
119 00:13:23.090 ⇒ 00:13:26.360 Uttam Kumaran: We also have recruiting, we have operations.
120 00:13:26.540 ⇒ 00:13:31.360 Uttam Kumaran: And we have AI. Those are all the… those are all the characters in the cast, you know?
121 00:13:31.760 ⇒ 00:13:32.470 Amber Lin: Hmm.
122 00:13:34.120 ⇒ 00:13:40.870 Uttam Kumaran: And this is why, like, I really think a Chief of Staff role, one, at any moment, one of those characters is struggling.
123 00:13:41.170 ⇒ 00:13:45.360 Uttam Kumaran: And so, they’re either struggling to evolve, or they’re struggling to even understand
124 00:13:45.660 ⇒ 00:13:49.170 Uttam Kumaran: If what they do is important, and how to do it sustainably.
125 00:13:49.220 ⇒ 00:13:53.669 Amber Lin: Right? Second is, we have to figure out what’s next. Like, what… do we need other characters?
126 00:13:53.790 ⇒ 00:14:01.950 Uttam Kumaran: do we need to cut, like, certain characters, or cut certain parts of the play? Like, that’s, for me, that’s what I’m thinking a lot about, which is, like.
127 00:14:02.740 ⇒ 00:14:09.380 Uttam Kumaran: Doing kind of, like, a time study. Understanding, okay, we’re spending money in all these areas, I wanna go…
128 00:14:09.480 ⇒ 00:14:22.060 Uttam Kumaran: area of responsibility by area of responsibility, and look at ROI, and then can we just cut 50% of them, right? So we focus all of our time on the highest ROI things. Those are interesting challenges that, like.
129 00:14:22.630 ⇒ 00:14:25.990 Uttam Kumaran: it’s… it would be so hard for me to do. Like, I can’t…
130 00:14:26.320 ⇒ 00:14:28.359 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t have the time to do it, you know?
131 00:14:29.090 ⇒ 00:14:33.240 Uttam Kumaran: But those are, like, real company optimization, company engineering problems that…
132 00:14:34.090 ⇒ 00:14:36.799 Uttam Kumaran: like, I would love to hand off, because I think those are, like.
133 00:14:36.800 ⇒ 00:14:37.650 Amber Lin: Yeah.
134 00:14:37.650 ⇒ 00:14:41.610 Uttam Kumaran: You know, those are really interesting challenges, and like, that’s our edge.
135 00:14:42.090 ⇒ 00:15:03.469 Amber Lin: And I know there’s a need, so I’m pretty… I’m pretty confident that we will transition, and it’s mostly for me, I was just struggling to find motivation for the current period, because I know we will transition eventually, because there is a need, and I think I’ve managed to find the cause, and managed to find some motivation
136 00:15:03.470 ⇒ 00:15:07.579 Amber Lin: for now, and I think that’s… that will be okay. Having some…
137 00:15:07.830 ⇒ 00:15:12.930 Amber Lin: less items to distract me is… is nice, and I need.
138 00:15:12.930 ⇒ 00:15:21.520 Uttam Kumaran: But also, similarly, boredom can kill. Like, this is also where, like, I’m really aware of that. So, if you’re still, like, hey… like, I know this week we…
139 00:15:21.710 ⇒ 00:15:26.210 Uttam Kumaran: The biggest thing we move forward, and… Was the allocation problem?
140 00:15:26.210 ⇒ 00:15:30.980 Amber Lin: Yeah, and I like doing the current work now, because I know there’s areas.
141 00:15:30.980 ⇒ 00:15:31.520 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
142 00:15:31.520 ⇒ 00:15:37.139 Amber Lin: better, and Ma… I will let you know if I’m bored, and you can very obviously tell when I’m bored.
143 00:15:37.560 ⇒ 00:15:50.350 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and so that’s… but also, if you’re like, hey, every month, I want to… every week, we want to take on… because this is what I kind of do with the AI… I’m kind of trying to do with the AI team, where I’m like, every week, let’s try to tackle, like, one small thing to ship that makes us better.
144 00:15:50.380 ⇒ 00:15:59.370 Uttam Kumaran: And if you think that could be interesting, and that may be something that would take, like, an hour or two of free time here and there, and that just keeps you…
145 00:16:00.080 ⇒ 00:16:06.300 Uttam Kumaran: motivated, and let’s do that. Like, I want to make sure you’re still… like, that’s the thing, that’s something that I can totally solve.
146 00:16:06.570 ⇒ 00:16:07.660 Uttam Kumaran: Man…
147 00:16:08.600 ⇒ 00:16:13.699 Uttam Kumaran: I have a hundred things on our backlog, and I’ll always have stuff like that that we need to do.
148 00:16:13.920 ⇒ 00:16:18.020 Uttam Kumaran: you know, that I’m either gonna do alone, or I’m not gonna do at all.
149 00:16:19.530 ⇒ 00:16:26.659 Amber Lin: Yeah, and I think if we keep our weekly, or I think if we keep it bi-weekly, I can give you a pulse check of if I have.
150 00:16:26.660 ⇒ 00:16:27.090 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
151 00:16:27.090 ⇒ 00:16:35.479 Amber Lin: want to do more things, because right now, I want to get my projects better. So that’s something that occupies me.
152 00:16:35.720 ⇒ 00:16:42.019 Amber Lin: Because breaking the status quo needs some thinking, because I’m very used to just doing it how it is.
153 00:16:42.280 ⇒ 00:16:42.840 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
154 00:16:42.990 ⇒ 00:16:49.209 Amber Lin: Yeah. Yeah. That’s all. I just wanted to give you an update on my mental progress.
155 00:16:49.210 ⇒ 00:16:54.869 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. And I also wanted… I know we already sent in the application for E-Verify, right?
156 00:16:54.870 ⇒ 00:16:56.439 Amber Lin: Is there an update on that?
157 00:16:56.780 ⇒ 00:17:04.569 Amber Lin: Well, the government shut down. Yeah, Robert told me that this morning. I was like, I don’t think it’s gonna, that’s gonna happen.
158 00:17:04.579 ⇒ 00:17:09.309 Uttam Kumaran: No, but they said… they said they’ll… they’ll honor anything that happens during this period, so…
159 00:17:10.849 ⇒ 00:17:14.419 Uttam Kumaran: But yeah, that’s all there. Rico checks on that, like, every day, so…
160 00:17:14.420 ⇒ 00:17:16.529 Amber Lin: Yeah, awesome. Sounds good.
161 00:17:16.920 ⇒ 00:17:21.220 Amber Lin: And I don’t need it until, like, mid-October… November.
162 00:17:21.380 ⇒ 00:17:27.320 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay. Yeah, I mean, I… they’re predicting that this will last for another 3 weeks, so that’s what the…
163 00:17:27.609 ⇒ 00:17:29.939 Uttam Kumaran: That’s what the odds are right now, so we’ll see.
164 00:17:30.170 ⇒ 00:17:31.080 Amber Lin: Okay.
165 00:17:32.130 ⇒ 00:17:46.170 Amber Lin: Guys, I’m just prepping for my out of office. Oh, and I’m also out until Wednesday, because Monday’s a holiday, but I was thinking maybe I can come on for half a day for Monday, just to kick things off. I feel like that will make their lives more fun.
166 00:17:46.170 ⇒ 00:17:49.650 Uttam Kumaran: I think Monday’s a federal holiday, I don’t think we’re gonna do any meetings.
167 00:17:49.820 ⇒ 00:17:51.070 Amber Lin: Oh, okay.
168 00:17:51.070 ⇒ 00:17:57.939 Uttam Kumaran: like, I’m gonna move… I mean, it’s a good reminder, I should… I should… I should think about that, but I was just gonna probably…
169 00:17:58.700 ⇒ 00:18:01.970 Uttam Kumaran: cancel stuff for Monday, or move it to… I was gonna move it all to Tuesday, basically.
170 00:18:02.770 ⇒ 00:18:05.439 Uttam Kumaran: And then maybe we could do another sync…
171 00:18:05.440 ⇒ 00:18:05.800 Amber Lin: Basically.
172 00:18:06.250 ⇒ 00:18:18.199 Amber Lin: I can come on Tuesday for half a day, I just think it’s… it’s better that way. My parents are gonna leave after… I think they’re leaving on Thursday, so I just want to spend as much time with them as possible.
173 00:18:18.550 ⇒ 00:18:23.520 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, that’s fine. I mean, up to you, like, I… I want it… I… I definitely want to…
174 00:18:23.680 ⇒ 00:18:27.590 Uttam Kumaran: Honor people’s out of office, but also
175 00:18:28.300 ⇒ 00:18:32.099 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, like, I’m not gonna say… I’m not gonna say hell no.
176 00:18:32.100 ⇒ 00:18:36.510 Amber Lin: It is helpful, I’ll see… I’ll see what I can do, because it…
177 00:18:36.510 ⇒ 00:18:37.040 Uttam Kumaran: Sure.
178 00:18:37.040 ⇒ 00:18:41.630 Amber Lin: Even, like, a few hours, a few meetings, I think will help the projects run better.
179 00:18:42.190 ⇒ 00:18:58.760 Uttam Kumaran: And then, to give you a sense of, sort of, like, what’s… like, how I’m thinking about delivery overall, like, one is, I think we’re gonna re… I don’t know if you’ve… we’re… we started thinking about this, like, strategist role, and I put some time, thoughts to paper on that, and basically it’s, like.
180 00:18:58.920 ⇒ 00:19:03.230 Uttam Kumaran: for me, every step of the way, I’m like, okay, how do you replace me and Robert? And the next piece
181 00:19:03.370 ⇒ 00:19:10.529 Uttam Kumaran: I originally thought this was, like, an undefined role, but it’s seemingly more defined. It’s actually just, like, a solution architect, but, like.
182 00:19:10.870 ⇒ 00:19:13.490 Uttam Kumaran: A good solution architect, someone who can actually
183 00:19:13.860 ⇒ 00:19:28.769 Uttam Kumaran: do some of the commercial and, like, talking side. So, I think the way our projects are gonna go is we’re gonna have engineer, we’re gonna have, like, a very agile technical PM, and then we’re gonna have solution architect, and…
184 00:19:29.050 ⇒ 00:19:36.219 Uttam Kumaran: that’s gonna be sort of the future, so I think kind of two things that we’re gonna try to buy stores is, one, I have to go get us
185 00:19:36.900 ⇒ 00:19:39.799 Uttam Kumaran: Either… I think Henry is down to do it.
186 00:19:40.050 ⇒ 00:19:45.550 Uttam Kumaran: I’m gonna see who else in the company is interested in doing, sort of, like, technical solution architecture.
187 00:19:46.180 ⇒ 00:19:46.810 Amber Lin: Hmm.
188 00:19:47.300 ⇒ 00:19:51.620 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t think Sam… Is super interested in doing that.
189 00:19:52.110 ⇒ 00:19:53.129 Uttam Kumaran: I didn’t get more interested.
190 00:19:53.130 ⇒ 00:19:54.380 Amber Lin: interested in doing it.
191 00:19:54.380 ⇒ 00:19:58.669 Uttam Kumaran: I think it’s interested in engineering management and, like, Building. Continue to build.
192 00:19:58.670 ⇒ 00:20:00.460 Amber Lin: So, like, this is where, like.
193 00:20:00.460 ⇒ 00:20:03.529 Uttam Kumaran: I think I… it’s my job to sort of get him
194 00:20:03.760 ⇒ 00:20:08.829 Uttam Kumaran: more client work, so that’s one thing. And then the second piece is, like,
195 00:20:09.360 ⇒ 00:20:13.709 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think I’m gonna start to put together what is the…
196 00:20:13.820 ⇒ 00:20:23.830 Uttam Kumaran: job description for, like, a… basically for, like, a U replacement, and then I think we can just go both find… find one or two of these people.
197 00:20:25.420 ⇒ 00:20:28.940 Uttam Kumaran: to go do that. The other thing is also, we want to start to think about
198 00:20:29.080 ⇒ 00:20:32.050 Uttam Kumaran: A company-wide incentive program, so…
199 00:20:33.010 ⇒ 00:20:37.129 Uttam Kumaran: I just need… this is another math problem that I probably need your help with, which is, like.
200 00:20:37.380 ⇒ 00:20:42.449 Uttam Kumaran: Looking through scenario analysis of, like, Cost of sales, and then…
201 00:20:43.250 ⇒ 00:20:46.770 Uttam Kumaran: We’re thinking of some… like, basically, okay, if we hit…
202 00:20:47.110 ⇒ 00:21:03.879 Uttam Kumaran: if we hit a certain amount of bookings, we get this percentage. If it’s 20% above, like, we’re basically trying to think of, like, I’m like, one, I want everybody in the company to get some type of incentive, so they… we just drive towards a number. Second is, on… for people who are on a project.
203 00:21:04.600 ⇒ 00:21:09.060 Uttam Kumaran: I want there to be some amount of, like, incentive program.
204 00:21:09.210 ⇒ 00:21:16.519 Uttam Kumaran: But it’s a… it’s just a math problem that we have to… I just need to see the numbers in front of me and, like, a forecast to be able to lock that in.
205 00:21:17.890 ⇒ 00:21:19.500 Uttam Kumaran: I think that will help motivate…
206 00:21:20.570 ⇒ 00:21:24.399 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think that’ll help motivate everybody to… to sell, basically.
207 00:21:24.720 ⇒ 00:21:27.849 Uttam Kumaran: And to prevent churn. It’s like, hey.
208 00:21:28.360 ⇒ 00:21:35.820 Uttam Kumaran: there’s, like, X amount of thousands of dollars on the line, you know? We should try to… we should try to figure this out. So that’s, like.
209 00:21:35.960 ⇒ 00:21:40.530 Uttam Kumaran: that’s something that we can work on. But I… I generally have, like, rough benchmarks.
210 00:21:40.680 ⇒ 00:21:49.069 Uttam Kumaran: But I’m also willing to be pretty aggressive with it, because every hour that Robert and I are outside of clients, we’re able to sell quite a bit more business.
211 00:21:49.850 ⇒ 00:21:54.900 Uttam Kumaran: and so I’m… I’m trying to think about how do we set the incentive programs So that…
212 00:21:55.500 ⇒ 00:22:01.000 Uttam Kumaran: engineers can start to step up a little bit more. Everybody in the… on a project steps up a bit more.
213 00:22:01.130 ⇒ 00:22:05.369 Uttam Kumaran: And it helps us attract more talent as well, and everybody makes more money, and then…
214 00:22:05.570 ⇒ 00:22:08.189 Amber Lin: Does Lyxo have any pointers on that?
215 00:22:08.190 ⇒ 00:22:11.550 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so I just talked to them, I’ll, I’ll,
216 00:22:11.850 ⇒ 00:22:15.530 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll put… I’ll put together some document with everything that they shared with me, and then.
217 00:22:15.530 ⇒ 00:22:16.090 Amber Lin: Okay.
218 00:22:16.090 ⇒ 00:22:24.609 Uttam Kumaran: Vishnu from that team is also a really, really great resource on, like, how to structure. I got two different opinions on, like, how we could do it, but…
219 00:22:24.720 ⇒ 00:22:26.740 Uttam Kumaran: We have to look at the numbers.
220 00:22:27.660 ⇒ 00:22:31.240 Uttam Kumaran: And then… Basically say, okay, we can afford to do this.
221 00:22:32.330 ⇒ 00:22:34.269 Uttam Kumaran: And then, basically, again, it’s like.
222 00:22:35.340 ⇒ 00:22:46.849 Uttam Kumaran: the… every single dollar we put into the business either delivers work or sells additional work. So if, for example, if we put a dollar into the incentive program and it gets us three out, that’s a great ROI.
223 00:22:47.470 ⇒ 00:22:50.610 Uttam Kumaran: So if we put in a dollar into the center program and we don’t get anything out.
224 00:22:51.020 ⇒ 00:22:57.240 Uttam Kumaran: Alright, so that’s the tough part. So, one thing is we just have to structure the incentives very, very…
225 00:22:57.870 ⇒ 00:23:02.760 Uttam Kumaran: Like, in a smart way. But that’s… it’s just an… it’s just a math problem.
226 00:23:03.500 ⇒ 00:23:04.809 Uttam Kumaran: For us to figure out.
227 00:23:06.400 ⇒ 00:23:07.540 Amber Lin: Makes sense.
228 00:23:08.580 ⇒ 00:23:11.209 Amber Lin: Okay, that’s all from my side.
229 00:23:11.820 ⇒ 00:23:12.170 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
230 00:23:13.070 ⇒ 00:23:15.979 Amber Lin: Yeah, good chat. I’ll get to, like, Thursdays, moving forward.
231 00:23:15.980 ⇒ 00:23:17.819 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, that’s fine.
232 00:23:17.820 ⇒ 00:23:19.150 Amber Lin: Yeah, alright.
233 00:23:19.370 ⇒ 00:23:21.009 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, thank you.
234 00:23:21.260 ⇒ 00:23:22.300 Amber Lin: Thank you!
235 00:23:22.300 ⇒ 00:23:23.590 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, talk to you soon.
236 00:23:23.590 ⇒ 00:23:24.300 Amber Lin: Bye.