Meeting Title: Uttam - Gregory - Omni sync Date: 2026-03-23 Meeting participants: Brylle Girang, Greg Stoutenburg, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:00:10.970 ⇒ 00:00:11.990 Greg Stoutenburg: Hey, B.
2 00:00:12.690 ⇒ 00:00:13.600 Brylle Girang: Hello!
3 00:00:14.670 ⇒ 00:00:15.850 Greg Stoutenburg: Hello.
4 00:00:18.420 ⇒ 00:00:19.920 Greg Stoutenburg: Nice to see you again.
5 00:00:22.270 ⇒ 00:00:23.860 Greg Stoutenburg: Do you work from your kitchen?
6 00:00:24.860 ⇒ 00:00:30.199 Brylle Girang: No, I am temporarily excelled from my office room, because…
7 00:00:30.670 ⇒ 00:00:34.440 Brylle Girang: My uncle is here, and he’s staying.
8 00:00:34.560 ⇒ 00:00:40.650 Brylle Girang: In my room. It’s evening here, so he’s sleeping in my room right now.
9 00:00:40.860 ⇒ 00:00:41.480 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay.
10 00:00:42.410 ⇒ 00:00:45.529 Brylle Girang: So, short answer, yes, I am working from the kitchen.
11 00:00:45.530 ⇒ 00:00:45.870 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
12 00:00:46.280 ⇒ 00:00:49.129 Greg Stoutenburg: But only because you were ejected from your normal workspace.
13 00:00:49.410 ⇒ 00:00:50.510 Brylle Girang: Exactly.
14 00:00:50.510 ⇒ 00:00:51.800 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah. Okay.
15 00:00:51.800 ⇒ 00:00:55.470 Brylle Girang: I should be back, by Wednesday, so…
16 00:00:58.420 ⇒ 00:01:03.690 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, it’s, not having your normal workspace is a… it’s a weird position to be in.
17 00:01:05.110 ⇒ 00:01:11.329 Brylle Girang: Well, it depends. If it’s outside the house, in a coffee shop, it’s… it’s… it’s a boost.
18 00:01:11.990 ⇒ 00:01:20.800 Brylle Girang: If it’s just… if you… if I can see my workspace, and then I’m not there, it’s a huge, huge demoralizer.
19 00:01:20.800 ⇒ 00:01:26.059 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I bet, I bet, right? It’s like, the place you want to be is just right over there.
20 00:01:27.050 ⇒ 00:01:27.700 Brylle Girang: Exactly.
21 00:01:28.950 ⇒ 00:01:31.210 Brylle Girang: Please give Otham a chat.
22 00:01:31.960 ⇒ 00:01:32.770 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay.
23 00:01:34.460 ⇒ 00:01:37.180 Greg Stoutenburg: Why is this not opening up on the main page?
24 00:01:41.670 ⇒ 00:01:45.640 Greg Stoutenburg: Have I just forgotten how everything works? What button do I need to press?
25 00:01:46.220 ⇒ 00:01:49.719 Greg Stoutenburg: In order to see, like, the homepage of this initiative.
26 00:01:51.690 ⇒ 00:01:57.170 Brylle Girang: I… what do you mean, the homepage? So, the one with the status updates?
27 00:01:57.170 ⇒ 00:01:59.459 Greg Stoutenburg: Like this, but back a level.
28 00:02:00.540 ⇒ 00:02:04.749 Brylle Girang: Oh, you can go to Initiatives, at the left sidebar.
29 00:02:05.890 ⇒ 00:02:07.740 Brylle Girang: At the topmost part.
30 00:02:09.110 ⇒ 00:02:13.490 Brylle Girang: There, And then you can search the Omni plan.
31 00:02:13.490 ⇒ 00:02:14.360 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay.
32 00:02:14.830 ⇒ 00:02:17.859 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay, it’s one of these things where it’s like, you can’t get there from here.
33 00:02:19.300 ⇒ 00:02:21.160 Brylle Girang: Sadly, yes.
34 00:02:21.310 ⇒ 00:02:23.890 Brylle Girang: That’s one thing that…
35 00:02:25.530 ⇒ 00:02:27.859 Brylle Girang: Okay, let me give Otam a chat.
36 00:02:35.230 ⇒ 00:02:38.180 Greg Stoutenburg: While he’s joining, I’ll sneak a bite of this granola bar that is lunch.
37 00:02:39.020 ⇒ 00:02:39.820 Brylle Girang: Oh, there.
38 00:02:40.000 ⇒ 00:02:40.669 Brylle Girang: With atmosphere.
39 00:02:40.670 ⇒ 00:02:41.270 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
40 00:02:43.680 ⇒ 00:02:45.470 Greg Stoutenburg: The second I take a bite.
41 00:02:45.470 ⇒ 00:02:48.920 Uttam Kumaran: I know, I need to go eat lunch, too, after this.
42 00:02:49.310 ⇒ 00:02:50.020 Greg Stoutenburg: No.
43 00:02:51.200 ⇒ 00:02:59.200 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, I just wanted to… because I, I feel pretty comfortable with what’s going on the ingestion side, modeling side. Like, again, I think…
44 00:02:59.360 ⇒ 00:03:12.539 Uttam Kumaran: like, Amber, it seems like Amber and Advait already met. I’m not gonna… I’m just… I’m trying not to pay attention to… well, I just can’t, unless you want me to pay attention to what’s going on on this work stream, so I just want to make sure that you’re…
45 00:03:12.790 ⇒ 00:03:16.900 Uttam Kumaran: Feel really good about it, and that they’re taking instruction from you.
46 00:03:17.080 ⇒ 00:03:21.389 Uttam Kumaran: Or… or, like, I don’t know who Amber is really, like, taking instruction from right now, so…
47 00:03:21.390 ⇒ 00:03:26.310 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah. No, yeah, fair and good, and
48 00:03:26.680 ⇒ 00:03:33.659 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, and then let’s just come back to the conflict at the end. So, I met with Amber later in the afternoon on Friday.
49 00:03:33.700 ⇒ 00:03:50.699 Greg Stoutenburg: went through the whole plan, told her, here’s what you need to be doing, here’s how to work with AdBait. It looks like she put in a few hours later in the evening, and then a couple this morning when I was in other things, so I’ve got… so she’s… she’s ahead of me on… she’s delivered some things that I have not reviewed yet for topic creation, but,
50 00:03:51.020 ⇒ 00:03:53.240 Greg Stoutenburg: Unless she’s gone wildly off-plan in the last.
51 00:03:53.240 ⇒ 00:03:57.349 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, that’s, that was, like, my first question, I’m just like, okay, I just didn’t know. Okay, cool.
52 00:03:57.350 ⇒ 00:04:14.150 Greg Stoutenburg: Yep, yeah. Yeah, so that’s that. So, so it’s on me, then, to review, my, my read on, my read on the situation is that Shivani is happy, and understands the plan, and understands where we’re at in terms of things like
53 00:04:14.380 ⇒ 00:04:24.760 Greg Stoutenburg: you know, you can now go in and look at Omni. You should not take what you see in Omni as, you know, the single source of truth at the moment, but we’re heading in that direction.
54 00:04:25.990 ⇒ 00:04:28.140 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, so I think that that’s the case.
55 00:04:30.320 ⇒ 00:04:41.819 Greg Stoutenburg: And yeah, and then I’ve got work of… work from Amber to review. And then the next step is getting in the direction, and this… this is on me, getting in the direction of which… what the dashboards are going to look like for the initial retail work.
56 00:04:42.290 ⇒ 00:04:51.329 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so that’s also, I think, gonna be the next immediate blocker. It seems like they’re gonna get through the topic building pretty quickly. I think there’s also other things you could do around, like.
57 00:04:51.620 ⇒ 00:04:56.860 Uttam Kumaran: The styling, like, whatever, like, things around, like, color palette, the ways that.
58 00:04:56.860 ⇒ 00:04:57.260 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
59 00:04:57.260 ⇒ 00:05:04.269 Uttam Kumaran: For example, things are abbreviated, the naming conventions, but the ultimate thing they’re trying to drive towards is that dashboard and the blobby.
60 00:05:04.270 ⇒ 00:05:04.860 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
61 00:05:05.100 ⇒ 00:05:10.640 Uttam Kumaran: So you’re meet… are you… you’re meeting with them on Wednesday? Do you kind of have… right? Or do you have… or tomorrow, or when?
62 00:05:11.230 ⇒ 00:05:12.089 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, Wednesday?
63 00:05:12.090 ⇒ 00:05:13.930 Greg Stoutenburg: Wednesday sounds right.
64 00:05:13.930 ⇒ 00:05:20.620 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, do you have a sense for, like, what you want to share in that meeting? And I think… yeah, I guess that’s… Yeah.
65 00:05:20.620 ⇒ 00:05:32.329 Greg Stoutenburg: So, from the way the conversation with Shivani went, the understanding is going to be, this is going to be a first glimpse, we’re going to bring people in, show what the lay of the land is as it is at that time.
66 00:05:32.330 ⇒ 00:05:45.300 Greg Stoutenburg: So, heavy on the caveats of, this is not polished work yet, but this is what we’ve managed to get in for your data and replicate some of the spreadsheet reporting that they have been relying on for a while.
67 00:05:47.530 ⇒ 00:05:52.729 Greg Stoutenburg: So, I think this is intended to be a light touch, and I’ll make sure that that’s clear and understood.
68 00:05:53.130 ⇒ 00:05:57.309 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, cool. Yeah, I mean, if… to make… to make this powerful would be…
69 00:05:57.470 ⇒ 00:06:01.820 Uttam Kumaran: If by then, or, like, by sometime tomorrow, you’re like, hey, we have some fe… we have some…
70 00:06:02.050 ⇒ 00:06:04.660 Uttam Kumaran: We have some topics that are good, and like.
71 00:06:05.310 ⇒ 00:06:08.750 Uttam Kumaran: We have some questions that are, like, we hammered, that are actually working.
72 00:06:08.920 ⇒ 00:06:09.350 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
73 00:06:09.350 ⇒ 00:06:11.489 Uttam Kumaran: It’d be nice for that meeting, but…
74 00:06:12.020 ⇒ 00:06:12.360 Greg Stoutenburg: Otherwise.
75 00:06:12.360 ⇒ 00:06:20.900 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, those people on that… those people on the meeting need to sign off on, sort of, the pilot moving to the next thing, so that’s the ultimate task there.
76 00:06:21.270 ⇒ 00:06:28.020 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, and I will, knowing what you’ve told me, and what I’ve then been able to validate personally.
77 00:06:28.020 ⇒ 00:06:29.130 Uttam Kumaran: They’re just gonna say…
78 00:06:29.130 ⇒ 00:06:29.510 Greg Stoutenburg: I’m just gonna say.
79 00:06:29.510 ⇒ 00:06:35.359 Uttam Kumaran: They’re gonna say both things. They’re gonna say, okay, we’re down for you to move slow, and then they’re gonna message you being like, it’s not right.
80 00:06:35.360 ⇒ 00:06:37.429 Greg Stoutenburg: This isn’t right, this isn’t right, yeah.
81 00:06:37.430 ⇒ 00:06:37.879 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, social media.
82 00:06:37.880 ⇒ 00:06:39.289 Greg Stoutenburg: I do that, like, 3 times. Yeah.
83 00:06:39.290 ⇒ 00:06:41.130 Uttam Kumaran: So, I’m like…
84 00:06:41.340 ⇒ 00:06:48.359 Uttam Kumaran: I just… yeah, if the message is not right, the best you can do is, like, yes, we know, and here’s when it will be fixed.
85 00:06:48.360 ⇒ 00:06:48.680 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
86 00:06:48.680 ⇒ 00:07:08.080 Uttam Kumaran: So you always kind of keep calling your shop, but you’re gonna have great progress today, so keep sharing, like, what’s been done, and, like, the more… because… and then, selfishly, the more updates you can send, the less I have to send. Yeah. Because then I will also send stuff, and then it’s like, holy shit, yeah, we’re, like, really doing a lot.
87 00:07:08.080 ⇒ 00:07:13.989 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah. Then we’re all about just getting everything. Yeah, no, the way that I’m… the way that I’m framing it is, when Shivani’s…
88 00:07:14.200 ⇒ 00:07:26.489 Greg Stoutenburg: if Shivani says, oh, this isn’t right, my response is going to be to just take that as it’s, like, feedback on a work in progress, be like, oh yeah, thanks, keep those coming. Yeah. Not, oh god, it’s broken, I’m so sorry, you know what I mean?
89 00:07:26.490 ⇒ 00:07:26.820 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
90 00:07:26.820 ⇒ 00:07:28.869 Greg Stoutenburg: Because it can only be broken if I set it.
91 00:07:28.870 ⇒ 00:07:31.879 Uttam Kumaran: No, and I’ve set the wrong… I’ve set the wrong precedent.
92 00:07:32.130 ⇒ 00:07:39.849 Uttam Kumaran: in fixing things fast, because we just… it was just, like, kind of, like, all over the place for a while. So I would like to pull us back out of that.
93 00:07:39.960 ⇒ 00:07:42.510 Uttam Kumaran: So you’ll have my support there, and…
94 00:07:42.510 ⇒ 00:07:42.870 Greg Stoutenburg: Cool.
95 00:07:42.870 ⇒ 00:07:55.470 Uttam Kumaran: just remind me if I tend… if I’m like, hey, this… this thing came up, like, what I’m… what I’m more interested in is just, like, now that you’re able to communicate with her, that is, like, one thread of communication off.
96 00:07:55.550 ⇒ 00:08:12.470 Uttam Kumaran: Because she just will call me or message us all day, and so I can spread the wealth a little bit. Second is, like, I just wanted to know today that you’re… I… that you feel confident in the plan that Jasmine, Advait, and amber are, like.
97 00:08:12.640 ⇒ 00:08:24.660 Uttam Kumaran: you’re directing what they’re gonna do, and you’re, like, coming through the filter. And then lastly, in that, like, through the pilot, every day or every other day, you’re gonna send a note out, like, those all, I just wanted to be, like.
98 00:08:24.660 ⇒ 00:08:25.280 Greg Stoutenburg: Yep.
99 00:08:25.400 ⇒ 00:08:29.330 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, cool, because then I’m gonna appeal and go do other stuff, so…
100 00:08:29.330 ⇒ 00:08:39.620 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, we’re aligned on that. Jasmine is more the outlier here, because I know she’s just… she doesn’t have that many hours with us right now, and is either
101 00:08:40.400 ⇒ 00:08:42.679 Greg Stoutenburg: Away, or going to be away?
102 00:08:42.919 ⇒ 00:08:47.549 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I think she’s gonna be away. She’s also starting full-time in 2 weeks.
103 00:08:47.550 ⇒ 00:08:48.810 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah. So…
104 00:08:48.810 ⇒ 00:08:59.369 Uttam Kumaran: ultimately, you can work with Robert, or then I can help. I think, really, again, yeah, if you can… if you can codify what pieces you want
105 00:08:59.740 ⇒ 00:09:04.850 Uttam Kumaran: guidance from her on, that would be the best. I would leave as little…
106 00:09:04.980 ⇒ 00:09:10.109 Uttam Kumaran: like, of the, like, high-level decision-making to Amber and Advait, because they just…
107 00:09:10.110 ⇒ 00:09:10.710 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
108 00:09:10.710 ⇒ 00:09:22.779 Uttam Kumaran: Like, I want to give them more of the thing to run with. So, like, if… but also, she should be able to carve out time to give you those dashboard
109 00:09:23.120 ⇒ 00:09:29.619 Uttam Kumaran: requirements. And so that’s kind of, like, what I’m thinking, and I said in my other message in the delivery channel, is like.
110 00:09:29.620 ⇒ 00:09:43.399 Uttam Kumaran: your job is to run the workstream, but your work stream pulls from, like, her service, right? And so you can go to her and be like, hey, I need this from your service, then I can ladder it down to the people, and then we’re, like, kind of, like, in a great spot. I think very similar with default.
111 00:09:43.420 ⇒ 00:09:50.800 Uttam Kumaran: I’m like, okay, you can pull… there’s data modeling, there may be data engineering, there’s also strategy work. You now can pull from those people.
112 00:09:50.890 ⇒ 00:09:58.099 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. And then, just be like, okay, now help me put this plan together so that I can drive it forward. That’s sort of how I’m thinking about it.
113 00:09:58.350 ⇒ 00:10:03.609 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, that’s good, and I think we’re… I think we’re just in sort of a transitional time for how Brainstorm organizes these teams, because.
114 00:10:03.610 ⇒ 00:10:04.030 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
115 00:10:04.030 ⇒ 00:10:12.889 Greg Stoutenburg: So the… the operating model that’s, like, most familiar to me is go… is the one, actually, I think that we’re headed toward.
116 00:10:12.890 ⇒ 00:10:13.820 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
117 00:10:13.820 ⇒ 00:10:28.770 Greg Stoutenburg: I just have to put that hat back on. So basically, it’s product management. It’s product management, and then I’m working with the engineering team, and it’s like, here’s what the feature should look like. Do it. Right, correct. Loop in a designer if you need to, but…
118 00:10:28.770 ⇒ 00:10:33.219 Uttam Kumaran: You’re exactly right, so the… so you’re… you… the CSO role…
119 00:10:33.330 ⇒ 00:10:48.359 Uttam Kumaran: is going to go much towards account management and outcome management. Yeah. Which… which is great, I think. And then you’ll be able… and then the service line owner owns the fact that, like, okay, I need a door, I need this, I need this. Yeah. You put the thing together.
120 00:10:48.360 ⇒ 00:10:48.720 Greg Stoutenburg: Right.
121 00:10:48.720 ⇒ 00:10:52.250 Uttam Kumaran: And then AI fills out every… AI smooths out the gaps, you know?
122 00:10:52.250 ⇒ 00:10:53.079 Greg Stoutenburg: But there…
123 00:10:53.080 ⇒ 00:10:56.509 Uttam Kumaran: So they’re gonna be in charge with, like, who is the person to do it.
124 00:10:56.660 ⇒ 00:11:09.199 Uttam Kumaran: like, what are the details of, like, what is doing it, what is done? Cool. And then, Pranava’s asking me, like, okay, should milestones come before this, but this… I said, like, it’s not… for me, I’m also another stakeholder.
125 00:11:09.610 ⇒ 00:11:10.630 Uttam Kumaran: So…
126 00:11:10.870 ⇒ 00:11:18.360 Uttam Kumaran: let’s say, like, head of delivery, for me, I just need to see that we have that project plan, and that this can pass a project review meeting.
127 00:11:18.640 ⇒ 00:11:18.990 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
128 00:11:18.990 ⇒ 00:11:23.329 Uttam Kumaran: So whether you ask… whether you book a meeting with the SL, whether…
129 00:11:23.610 ⇒ 00:11:36.129 Uttam Kumaran: And I know, I feel like he’s more… he’s more, like, systematic, but whether… whether you, like, propose a timeline and they come in and say something, or you all do it, it doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is that we pass the project review meeting.
130 00:11:36.130 ⇒ 00:11:36.750 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah.
131 00:11:36.750 ⇒ 00:11:42.969 Uttam Kumaran: Which is both, like, a, hey, how does this thing ladder up to that company winning? As well as, like, okay, what are the initiatives
132 00:11:43.210 ⇒ 00:11:44.790 Uttam Kumaran: And how long is it gonna take?
133 00:11:44.970 ⇒ 00:11:51.969 Uttam Kumaran: And then I’m just gonna… I’m just gonna try to be, like, Shivani squared, you know, across the board.
134 00:11:51.970 ⇒ 00:11:52.879 Greg Stoutenburg: So that…
135 00:11:52.880 ⇒ 00:11:56.000 Uttam Kumaran: You don’t get, like… You won’t get jammed later.
136 00:11:56.180 ⇒ 00:11:57.909 Uttam Kumaran: And I think that’s how it’s gonna run.
137 00:11:58.380 ⇒ 00:11:58.970 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
138 00:11:58.970 ⇒ 00:11:59.559 Greg Stoutenburg: Take care, go take it.
139 00:11:59.560 ⇒ 00:12:07.119 Uttam Kumaran: I think it’s helpful. I think it sets the expectations really clear. It gives you more ownership over, like, how do you want to run things.
140 00:12:07.630 ⇒ 00:12:08.729 Uttam Kumaran: Like, day to day.
141 00:12:09.130 ⇒ 00:12:13.499 Uttam Kumaran: And that means I can, like, delete some meetings, and, like, you have more time to be, like.
142 00:12:13.810 ⇒ 00:12:15.840 Uttam Kumaran: Just actually execute things, you know?
143 00:12:15.840 ⇒ 00:12:23.660 Greg Stoutenburg: Good, yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, meetings have been a challenge lately, and I don’t… just, like, just back to this morning, I don’t know… I don’t know…
144 00:12:24.760 ⇒ 00:12:42.389 Greg Stoutenburg: No fingers pointed anywhere. It seems like suddenly I’ve started having more conflicts, both internally, where an internal meeting gets scheduled over with another internal meeting, or internal meetings getting scheduled over client meetings. And that one is especially, like, are we, like, not looking at calendars, or I don’t know what’s happening here.
145 00:12:42.390 ⇒ 00:12:45.039 Uttam Kumaran: I’m serious, so give, so give me your, give me your, like,
146 00:12:45.340 ⇒ 00:12:50.960 Uttam Kumaran: what would you… because I don’t want to be heavy-handed, because I went to Kayla, and I was like, hey, why…
147 00:12:51.170 ⇒ 00:13:03.499 Uttam Kumaran: we shouldn’t book people on Mondays, like, I’m… but she was like, well, I want… other people should be able to manage their own calendars. And so, I guess, what’s your… what’s your perspective? Either… with my options, I’m like, okay, should I be setting up, like.
148 00:13:03.770 ⇒ 00:13:05.849 Uttam Kumaran: calendar rules for people, or I’m like.
149 00:13:05.850 ⇒ 00:13:06.550 Greg Stoutenburg: No.
150 00:13:06.550 ⇒ 00:13:08.890 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I’m kind of more like, you guys just, like.
151 00:13:09.230 ⇒ 00:13:12.179 Uttam Kumaran: Say no, or ditch stuff, or if you… if you want…
152 00:13:12.180 ⇒ 00:13:13.740 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, that’s too much work.
153 00:13:13.740 ⇒ 00:13:15.549 Uttam Kumaran: Orange, let me know, I’ll tell you.
154 00:13:15.780 ⇒ 00:13:32.110 Greg Stoutenburg: No, I think, well, I mean, so I have… I have a general thought, and then I have one, like, for this specifically. The general thought is that if we’ve got, you know, especially Mondays, if we’re gonna have kickoff meetings that are regularly scheduled, we can communicate that with clients, and then, you know, if I’ve got an 11.30 element, or whatever.
155 00:13:32.110 ⇒ 00:13:42.500 Greg Stoutenburg: every week, and Ryan at Eden tries to put a meeting there, I go, hey, sorry, this is when we do this weekly meeting. Okay. So there, I feel like I’ve got… that’s… that’s where I’ll decline a client meeting.
156 00:13:42.510 ⇒ 00:13:50.150 Greg Stoutenburg: To this thing specifically, I actually… I don’t think it’s the best way to have candidates schedule their own meetings, and the reason is.
157 00:13:50.150 ⇒ 00:13:50.530 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
158 00:13:50.530 ⇒ 00:13:54.159 Greg Stoutenburg: We end up having to push back on them. It’s just a lousy candidate experience.
159 00:13:54.480 ⇒ 00:13:55.250 Uttam Kumaran: I know.
160 00:13:55.250 ⇒ 00:14:03.720 Greg Stoutenburg: I actually kind of think that Kayla should be scheduling all of them, and I don’t know, I don’t know, like, maybe Greenhouse does this for people or something, I don’t know. But.
161 00:14:03.720 ⇒ 00:14:06.120 Uttam Kumaran: Kayla should be scheduling in that, like.
162 00:14:06.800 ⇒ 00:14:10.840 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I guess, but tell me how that’s diff… like, one example could be…
163 00:14:11.960 ⇒ 00:14:15.110 Uttam Kumaran: Someone proposes a time, and you have to just go confirm it.
164 00:14:15.480 ⇒ 00:14:16.690 Uttam Kumaran: Kayla could also schedule.
165 00:14:16.690 ⇒ 00:14:17.349 Greg Stoutenburg: to it.
166 00:14:17.350 ⇒ 00:14:19.270 Uttam Kumaran: I guess, like, in what way is it different? Yeah.
167 00:14:19.750 ⇒ 00:14:20.360 Greg Stoutenburg: Well, so I think…
168 00:14:20.360 ⇒ 00:14:23.909 Uttam Kumaran: Meaning, they can’t confirm the thing. They should just say, like, I want to grab time.
169 00:14:23.910 ⇒ 00:14:32.059 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, maybe they can offer suggested times. I mean, I think an ideal candidate experience is, here are 3 time slots we have for you next week. Could you pick.
170 00:14:32.060 ⇒ 00:14:32.940 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
171 00:14:32.940 ⇒ 00:14:35.970 Greg Stoutenburg: On our side, I think…
172 00:14:36.080 ⇒ 00:14:46.620 Greg Stoutenburg: what it needs to mean is things like… so the fact that candidates schedule their own meetings currently means that I can end up with days like today, where there were two. Not the end of the world, but maybe.
173 00:14:46.620 ⇒ 00:14:50.380 Uttam Kumaran: but it’s 2 on a Monday, midday. I’m like, dude, that’s, like, the worst.
174 00:14:50.380 ⇒ 00:15:05.190 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah. Well, and that’s… that’s what happens when there’s just… there’s just independent people grabbing calendar slots, right? There can be a limit, like, like, I said this during a DM, like, could I have, like, just, like, no more than 4 in a week? That seems reasonable for someone in my role.
175 00:15:05.190 ⇒ 00:15:07.110 Uttam Kumaran: I was like, should I…
176 00:15:07.370 ⇒ 00:15:13.580 Uttam Kumaran: Do that, or… but then my pushback would be, why don’t you just configure your default booking link?
177 00:15:13.930 ⇒ 00:15:16.120 Uttam Kumaran: in the way Best for you, right?
178 00:15:16.870 ⇒ 00:15:18.049 Greg Stoutenburg: Can I do that?
179 00:15:18.050 ⇒ 00:15:18.380 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
180 00:15:18.380 ⇒ 00:15:20.319 Greg Stoutenburg: So they can’t book more than 4 in a week?
181 00:15:20.450 ⇒ 00:15:21.060 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
182 00:15:22.050 ⇒ 00:15:24.899 Uttam Kumaran: you could put a max number, I think, of,
183 00:15:25.860 ⇒ 00:15:29.510 Uttam Kumaran: Per week. And then you can also arrange the time.
184 00:15:30.920 ⇒ 00:15:36.600 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay, I didn’t know I could do that. I want to do that.
185 00:15:36.600 ⇒ 00:15:39.150 Uttam Kumaran: Yes. Okay, that’s cause that’s what I thought, I was like…
186 00:15:39.450 ⇒ 00:15:41.559 Uttam Kumaran: Well, I’m like, I think you could… yeah.
187 00:15:41.990 ⇒ 00:15:43.390 Greg Stoutenburg: Cause I was like, got it.
188 00:15:43.610 ⇒ 00:15:45.519 Uttam Kumaran: I was like, should I do global rules?
189 00:15:45.670 ⇒ 00:15:49.619 Uttam Kumaran: And then Kayla was like, well, people should have it. I’m like, yeah, but then why don’t people…
190 00:15:50.130 ⇒ 00:15:51.470 Greg Stoutenburg: Just do that.
191 00:15:51.470 ⇒ 00:15:58.609 Uttam Kumaran: If you’re not doing that, then yeah, I think try that, because you can just say, I don’t do Mondays, I don’t do this, I don’t, like, I think you can just set that up.
192 00:15:58.630 ⇒ 00:16:01.010 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I would probably only take them, like.
193 00:16:01.140 ⇒ 00:16:04.249 Greg Stoutenburg: Thursday and Friday, and no more than 4 in a week.
194 00:16:04.250 ⇒ 00:16:06.470 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, like, for me, I basically said, like.
195 00:16:06.590 ⇒ 00:16:13.910 Uttam Kumaran: I only, like, most of for me, I only try to do external calls after 2PM, like, non-client, non-internal.
196 00:16:14.500 ⇒ 00:16:15.040 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
197 00:16:15.040 ⇒ 00:16:18.070 Uttam Kumaran: And it’s usually, like, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday.
198 00:16:18.440 ⇒ 00:16:19.110 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
199 00:16:19.240 ⇒ 00:16:20.280 Uttam Kumaran: That’s, like, my thing.
200 00:16:20.280 ⇒ 00:16:24.750 Greg Stoutenburg: Anyway… So, so that will help here. I’ll find.
201 00:16:25.530 ⇒ 00:16:32.820 Uttam Kumaran: Right, and then if I could… if I could have you give an ask, if you do it and it works, can you send a note to the Brainforge team, just being like.
202 00:16:33.050 ⇒ 00:16:33.550 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
203 00:16:33.550 ⇒ 00:16:36.590 Uttam Kumaran: Hey, I got jammed here, here’s what I did to fix it, you should try this.
204 00:16:36.780 ⇒ 00:16:37.100 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
205 00:16:37.100 ⇒ 00:16:38.919 Uttam Kumaran: I think that’ll be really helpful.
206 00:16:38.920 ⇒ 00:16:40.520 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, that’d be good. Why…
207 00:16:41.160 ⇒ 00:16:43.680 Greg Stoutenburg: Alright, maybe you can help me do this right now, and then I know everybody’s…
208 00:16:43.680 ⇒ 00:16:44.620 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
209 00:16:44.620 ⇒ 00:16:47.569 Greg Stoutenburg: But, so I found my interview link.
210 00:16:47.870 ⇒ 00:16:51.250 Greg Stoutenburg: But I can’t seem to edit here.
211 00:16:52.560 ⇒ 00:16:54.200 Uttam Kumaran: Hold on.
212 00:16:56.310 ⇒ 00:16:57.920 Uttam Kumaran: The scheduler…
213 00:16:59.460 ⇒ 00:17:00.510 Greg Stoutenburg: Silver.
214 00:17:01.420 ⇒ 00:17:03.149 Greg Stoutenburg: We’re gonna be in settings, maybe?
215 00:17:05.740 ⇒ 00:17:06.270 Greg Stoutenburg: No.
216 00:17:06.270 ⇒ 00:17:08.309 Uttam Kumaran: Let me find yours, good grad.
217 00:17:10.270 ⇒ 00:17:12.199 Uttam Kumaran: Very enforced interview with Greg.
218 00:17:13.060 ⇒ 00:17:15.339 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, I can… I can edit it, you can’t?
219 00:17:15.569 ⇒ 00:17:18.780 Uttam Kumaran: Alright, let me see if you’re… maybe you need to be an admin, I don’t know.
220 00:17:19.660 ⇒ 00:17:21.400 Uttam Kumaran: Users…
221 00:17:22.670 ⇒ 00:17:34.500 Greg Stoutenburg: Because here’s the thing, I don’t want to set global preferences for my user, because, like, I still want to be able to send a link to, like, Nandika or Caitlin, and be like, hey, grab any time Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean I want a candidate to grab any time Wednesday, you know?
222 00:17:34.500 ⇒ 00:17:38.370 Uttam Kumaran: No, so you, so you should create… you should create two calendars.
223 00:17:39.220 ⇒ 00:17:44.770 Uttam Kumaran: like, this is just a recruiting one. You should create one for Greg, Client.
224 00:17:46.190 ⇒ 00:17:46.750 Greg Stoutenburg: Yes.
225 00:17:46.750 ⇒ 00:17:47.380 Uttam Kumaran: Mane.
226 00:17:47.380 ⇒ 00:17:51.950 Greg Stoutenburg: I… I do have that. So I have the default scheduling link specifically for default.
227 00:17:53.440 ⇒ 00:17:59.020 Greg Stoutenburg: that’s just my calendar in general, and that’s why I don’t want to… that’s why I don’t want to change.
228 00:17:59.020 ⇒ 00:18:05.820 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so I would just have two, like, I would just have two event types, and you can just create them right here, in your personal.
229 00:18:05.940 ⇒ 00:18:11.489 Uttam Kumaran: Like, if you go to personal, you can just create another one that’s, like, Greg and client.
230 00:18:11.800 ⇒ 00:18:16.430 Uttam Kumaran: 30-minute meeting. Like, just hover out of this thing. Personal.
231 00:18:17.060 ⇒ 00:18:17.820 Greg Stoutenburg: Where does it say.
232 00:18:17.820 ⇒ 00:18:20.950 Uttam Kumaran: Next of my favorites. Most of my favorites.
233 00:18:20.950 ⇒ 00:18:21.810 Greg Stoutenburg: I’m done.
234 00:18:21.810 ⇒ 00:18:23.700 Uttam Kumaran: Wait, wait, no.
235 00:18:23.700 ⇒ 00:18:24.690 Greg Stoutenburg: Help!
236 00:18:24.940 ⇒ 00:18:25.810 Uttam Kumaran: There, there.
237 00:18:25.810 ⇒ 00:18:27.539 Greg Stoutenburg: Oh, thank goodness. Okay.
238 00:18:28.260 ⇒ 00:18:33.219 Uttam Kumaran: So you could change this to, like… yeah, so you can create another one that’s, like, Greg and client.
239 00:18:35.100 ⇒ 00:18:39.839 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Or, like, just… or, like, basically, and that could be anything with clients.
240 00:18:39.840 ⇒ 00:18:41.429 Greg Stoutenburg: Well, that’s the fault. Yeah.
241 00:18:41.430 ⇒ 00:18:46.069 Uttam Kumaran: All events will have the one that’s yours, and you should be able to edit it now.
242 00:18:47.950 ⇒ 00:18:51.880 Uttam Kumaran: Which is the Greg recruiting one. Or Brainfort, or whatever.
243 00:18:52.050 ⇒ 00:18:53.780 Uttam Kumaran: Brain Forge interview with Greg.
244 00:18:54.050 ⇒ 00:18:55.200 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, here.
245 00:18:56.640 ⇒ 00:18:57.099 Greg Stoutenburg: There we go.
246 00:18:57.100 ⇒ 00:18:58.729 Uttam Kumaran: So, you should be able to edit this now.
247 00:19:01.690 ⇒ 00:19:02.460 Greg Stoutenburg: Not yet.
248 00:19:02.460 ⇒ 00:19:04.100 Uttam Kumaran: Maybe you have to, refresh.
249 00:19:11.160 ⇒ 00:19:14.680 Uttam Kumaran: I think just click into it, it should open up the float, yeah.
250 00:19:15.050 ⇒ 00:19:16.820 Greg Stoutenburg: Cool. Okay, I’ll edit this.
251 00:19:16.820 ⇒ 00:19:26.739 Uttam Kumaran: But this is actually helpful, so maybe, like, what we should do is, like, for everybody, when you come into default, you get a default interview link, and a client link, and an internal booking link.
252 00:19:27.920 ⇒ 00:19:31.510 Uttam Kumaran: Alright, and then those are the three. What other types are there, I guess? That’s probably it.
253 00:19:32.440 ⇒ 00:19:36.660 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, that’s a good idea, and yeah, like… Yeah.
254 00:19:37.430 ⇒ 00:19:41.120 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, like, when I logged on this morning, they’re not… they’re not all there now, but, like.
255 00:19:41.120 ⇒ 00:19:45.380 Uttam Kumaran: No, I saw that you had both, but then I saw that you were moving it, and I’m like, oh, why didn’t you just move it?
256 00:19:46.120 ⇒ 00:19:53.250 Greg Stoutenburg: There were even, like, two other conflicts in addition to these, but a couple meetings got dropped off without me doing anything. I’m like, my goodness.
257 00:19:53.810 ⇒ 00:20:01.039 Uttam Kumaran: No, I’m trying, so… a couple… also a couple things is, yeah, I’m gonna… we’re not gonna do the morning meetings. It’s gonna be…
258 00:20:01.960 ⇒ 00:20:14.759 Uttam Kumaran: they’re gonna be a lot more like, okay, there’s something to discuss, like, it’s a project review, or there’s, like, there’s some issue, or something. I’m gonna meet with you and Pranav separately, then I meet with the service leads, and then I think maybe, like.
259 00:20:15.170 ⇒ 00:20:18.970 Uttam Kumaran: on Mondays, or every other Monday, we all say hi.
260 00:20:19.280 ⇒ 00:20:27.680 Uttam Kumaran: If even needed. So, that way, it’s like, the service leads now have a really defined role, which previously I don’t think it was as defined.
261 00:20:27.820 ⇒ 00:20:31.279 Uttam Kumaran: Your two workflows are also very, very different.
262 00:20:31.700 ⇒ 00:20:39.909 Uttam Kumaran: And, like, I want to kind of just, like, have specific meetings where we’re like, okay, it’s a project review. For them, it’s gonna be some stuff around architecture.
263 00:20:40.100 ⇒ 00:20:41.400 Uttam Kumaran: And like…
264 00:20:42.730 ⇒ 00:20:43.320 Greg Stoutenburg: Cool.
265 00:20:43.320 ⇒ 00:20:44.530 Uttam Kumaran: Other things, yeah.
266 00:20:44.530 ⇒ 00:20:58.530 Greg Stoutenburg: Good, good, good. Yeah, that’s great. I think that’s gonna help us go in the right direction. I do think that Bea’s oversight of these various work streams and, like, the daily updates and stuff like that, and managing that has been really helpful.
267 00:20:58.530 ⇒ 00:20:59.070 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay.
268 00:20:59.390 ⇒ 00:21:02.689 Greg Stoutenburg: So I don’t want to get all the way away from it, but I do agree with the idea.
269 00:21:02.690 ⇒ 00:21:03.650 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
270 00:21:03.650 ⇒ 00:21:08.250 Greg Stoutenburg: the more I look at my calendar, it’s like, anytime I see a meeting that’s daily, I’m like, can I not, like…
271 00:21:08.250 ⇒ 00:21:09.299 Uttam Kumaran: No, so I’m gonna, I’m gonna…
272 00:21:09.300 ⇒ 00:21:10.269 Greg Stoutenburg: Do any of this stuff.
273 00:21:10.610 ⇒ 00:21:19.920 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I’m gonna remove a lot of it. Also, I want you guys… I’m gonna tell this to everybody, if you have meetings, and you’re like, I don’t think this is great, you just tell me.
274 00:21:20.220 ⇒ 00:21:22.070 Uttam Kumaran: Or tell that person. Like, I don’t…
275 00:21:22.070 ⇒ 00:21:22.890 Greg Stoutenburg: Yes.
276 00:21:22.890 ⇒ 00:21:34.960 Uttam Kumaran: fair, and it’s not mean. I think everybody here has a mindset with, like, you’re probably right, you know, or I’ll give them an alternative. I think what I want to try to do also is, like, I want to meet with you and Pranav and do…
277 00:21:34.960 ⇒ 00:21:44.109 Uttam Kumaran: some, like, real CSO, like, how are we discussing some of these project plans, these escalations, and how are we thinking about renewal and expansion?
278 00:21:44.110 ⇒ 00:21:59.099 Uttam Kumaran: Right? So how can you guys make more money there? And then for the SLs, I’m gonna talk a lot about bugs that are coming, that if you guys are like, hey, this service always has issues, standardization, the ability to speed up tasks using AI is all gonna be their world.
279 00:21:59.310 ⇒ 00:22:02.009 Uttam Kumaran: So I want to do more, like, group, where we, like.
280 00:22:02.320 ⇒ 00:22:05.640 Uttam Kumaran: work on something together, you know? .
281 00:22:05.640 ⇒ 00:22:06.240 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
282 00:22:07.010 ⇒ 00:22:15.489 Uttam Kumaran: And I think that’s gonna be a lot better. And then you guys are free to, like, meet with your teams, however. I also am curious, like, if you think we should do something on Friday.
283 00:22:15.750 ⇒ 00:22:20.750 Uttam Kumaran: like… Yeah, I don’t know.
284 00:22:22.850 ⇒ 00:22:26.580 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, but I guess, like, again, I don’t want to book anything recurring, so…
285 00:22:26.770 ⇒ 00:22:29.410 Uttam Kumaran: I want to try to leave it as open as possible.
286 00:22:30.020 ⇒ 00:22:35.779 Uttam Kumaran: And then, like, for example, if on Element, maybe me and you agree, like, okay, let’s go ahead and try to meet, like.
287 00:22:36.000 ⇒ 00:22:40.090 Uttam Kumaran: Wednesday afternoon to confirm the deck every week.
288 00:22:40.090 ⇒ 00:22:42.150 Greg Stoutenburg: the next day. Yeah, something like that would be good.
289 00:22:42.330 ⇒ 00:22:45.479 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, I agree. And then, for this week.
290 00:22:46.080 ⇒ 00:22:54.579 Greg Stoutenburg: I mean, if it’s okay for me, preferably tomorrow. Maybe let’s look at what you wrote up for default milestones and things.
291 00:22:54.580 ⇒ 00:22:58.709 Uttam Kumaran: My point there was, I’m like, do you want to take a crack at it? I can take a crack at it.
292 00:22:58.860 ⇒ 00:22:59.780 Uttam Kumaran: But then…
293 00:23:00.380 ⇒ 00:23:05.419 Uttam Kumaran: I still… I kind of want you to have… have the understanding of, like, the data model and dashboard size.
294 00:23:05.420 ⇒ 00:23:05.940 Greg Stoutenburg: Yes.
295 00:23:06.370 ⇒ 00:23:08.380 Greg Stoutenburg: That’s the bigger work stream, yeah.
296 00:23:08.750 ⇒ 00:23:11.979 Greg Stoutenburg: I could go in anytime and talk through the whole product analytics deal.
297 00:23:11.980 ⇒ 00:23:12.330 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
298 00:23:12.430 ⇒ 00:23:13.240 Greg Stoutenburg: But I…
299 00:23:13.240 ⇒ 00:23:18.080 Uttam Kumaran: That’s why I’m wondering if, like, you want to take a… and… so if you take a look at the… the… that…
300 00:23:18.390 ⇒ 00:23:20.250 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, there’s two things. One is, like.
301 00:23:20.860 ⇒ 00:23:24.539 Uttam Kumaran: If you and me and Pranav want to meet today, I can walk you through that big message I sent.
302 00:23:24.800 ⇒ 00:23:39.439 Uttam Kumaran: And, like, how you could do the quarterly planning stuff. Yeah. Like, I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna do that until, like, either later today, or, like, some other time tomorrow. You also want to go look at that at some point? That has, like, a lot of information on how…
303 00:23:39.880 ⇒ 00:23:42.750 Uttam Kumaran: What to expect when, like, creating the project plan doc.
304 00:23:43.050 ⇒ 00:23:45.700 Uttam Kumaran: And then how we’re gonna go through project reviews.
305 00:23:46.140 ⇒ 00:23:46.490 Greg Stoutenburg: Yes.
306 00:23:46.490 ⇒ 00:23:50.969 Uttam Kumaran: The whole goal this week I want to do is I want to do a project review for every client.
307 00:23:51.890 ⇒ 00:23:57.210 Uttam Kumaran: So I have a couple, you have a couple, Pranav has a couple, Robert has a couple. I want to, like.
308 00:23:57.540 ⇒ 00:24:00.350 Uttam Kumaran: Do the review meeting for as many of those as possible.
309 00:24:00.850 ⇒ 00:24:05.180 Uttam Kumaran: Once we get through those, it’ll be easy for us to plan out the next quarter.
310 00:24:05.910 ⇒ 00:24:08.890 Uttam Kumaran: And then kind of see if we need to edit the review process at all.
311 00:24:10.130 ⇒ 00:24:10.740 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay.
312 00:24:10.740 ⇒ 00:24:16.209 Uttam Kumaran: So that’s… that’s sort of my goal. I have the one ready for CTA and… and Element.
313 00:24:18.610 ⇒ 00:24:25.680 Uttam Kumaran: I think… I think you’re gonna find it’s easy to do them, but where it’s gonna be tough, it may… if you don’t know it, it’s gonna come out in the review meeting.
314 00:24:25.880 ⇒ 00:24:29.630 Uttam Kumaran: You see what I mean? So I’m trying to make it easy for it to, like.
315 00:24:29.850 ⇒ 00:24:34.570 Uttam Kumaran: the form… you don’t have to worry about format, or what it… like, I don’t… that’s what I don’t want to talk about, but…
316 00:24:34.570 ⇒ 00:24:35.130 Greg Stoutenburg: Yep.
317 00:24:35.750 ⇒ 00:24:40.409 Uttam Kumaran: Like, the, the, the… The counterweight is gonna be in the review meeting.
318 00:24:40.710 ⇒ 00:24:45.259 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know how… I was sort of thinking about you yesterday, because I was like, is this how, like, Visa’s defense…
319 00:24:45.930 ⇒ 00:24:47.470 Greg Stoutenburg: Exactly what I’m thinking.
320 00:24:47.470 ⇒ 00:24:51.379 Uttam Kumaran: I like the term defense. I said, I think I said defend today.
321 00:24:51.380 ⇒ 00:24:53.490 Greg Stoutenburg: I thought that was a typo. I was like…
322 00:24:53.490 ⇒ 00:24:55.140 Uttam Kumaran: No, I said def… I said…
323 00:24:55.380 ⇒ 00:24:57.749 Greg Stoutenburg: I did. You say defend, he defend. Yeah.
324 00:24:57.750 ⇒ 00:25:00.629 Uttam Kumaran: I like that. I don’t know whether that’s, like…
325 00:25:00.780 ⇒ 00:25:15.049 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know if there’s any connotations, but I think… I think it should be that, like, you are proposing that this is the thing we do, and you have to defend it against me poking holes, or the client poking holes. In what way can I learn, like, in what way has, like.
326 00:25:15.640 ⇒ 00:25:21.869 Uttam Kumaran: In what way is this different than a typical, like, thesis defense, or is there anything we can learn from that as part of this?
327 00:25:22.360 ⇒ 00:25:25.310 Greg Stoutenburg: I do think so. Yeah, I mean, in a,
328 00:25:25.310 ⇒ 00:25:42.480 Greg Stoutenburg: Actually, it’s funny, Amber and I were just talking about this last week. She said something, and this was nice for her to say, she said… she said, like, something like, you seem quick on your feet when talking with clients, like, calm, but also, like, have answers, like, what’d you do? And I was like, I talked about defending papers. I was like, if you want to… if you want to find out if you’re ready to answer questions.
329 00:25:42.740 ⇒ 00:25:43.120 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
330 00:25:43.120 ⇒ 00:26:07.400 Greg Stoutenburg: You have a philosophy question and answer session, and yeah, I mean, so basically, I think it’s… I think that is a good model to think about it, because the way a typical conference presentation would go is there’s, like, a 20 to 30 minute paper presentation, and then anywhere from 20 minutes to, like, 40 minutes, you’re answering questions and objections. Mostly objections, and unfortunately, very often with the intent to prove you wrong. So, it is, you know, it is a defense.
331 00:26:07.410 ⇒ 00:26:23.990 Greg Stoutenburg: And, if you really know your stuff and, you know, you really thought through it before you presented it, then you’ll be able to answer those questions in a way that are satisfactory, insofar as the questions are good. And the questions aren’t always good. But part of the defense is also being able to identify if the question’s good.
332 00:26:24.320 ⇒ 00:26:29.160 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so that’s what I think, for me, I like… I don’t like inventing new process.
333 00:26:29.280 ⇒ 00:26:36.689 Uttam Kumaran: I like to have it based in something that we’re all can reference, and if the thesis events process is something that has worked for
334 00:26:36.910 ⇒ 00:26:40.479 Uttam Kumaran: forever, then I would like to model this as, like, that light.
335 00:26:40.600 ⇒ 00:26:52.889 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Because that way, also, I’m using AI to help me think through this, and it gives it a grounding in something. Sure. It gives it probably some type of scoring, or the way to think about, like, a… you know, so I think that’s a really… that’s really positive.
336 00:26:52.890 ⇒ 00:26:53.440 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
337 00:26:53.660 ⇒ 00:26:59.009 Greg Stoutenburg: And here’s an example, right? So, I… we reviewed the Element project plan late last week.
338 00:26:59.010 ⇒ 00:26:59.630 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
339 00:26:59.970 ⇒ 00:27:10.739 Greg Stoutenburg: If you ask me a question like, Greg, why did you structure Amber’s time, retail topic, then retail dashboard, then wholesale topic, then wholesale dashboard, and I couldn’t answer that.
340 00:27:11.160 ⇒ 00:27:15.430 Greg Stoutenburg: that would… that would be a signal that, like, I hadn’t really thought through what the roadmap should look like.
341 00:27:15.430 ⇒ 00:27:16.000 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
342 00:27:16.290 ⇒ 00:27:17.340 Greg Stoutenburg: You know what I mean?
343 00:27:17.340 ⇒ 00:27:36.519 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so one thing I’m gonna do for, like, and I’m thinking about us and the people, future CSOs, like, I’m gonna put examples of questions that you can expect, and eventually we’ll put a video of, like, an example review, but it could be questions that are, like, how does Element make money? It could be… it could also be, like.
344 00:27:36.710 ⇒ 00:27:41.450 Uttam Kumaran: like, why is the Omni thing gonna take 3 weeks, like, instead of 1 week?
345 00:27:41.760 ⇒ 00:27:46.459 Uttam Kumaran: This is where I’m not sure… I’ve also… I don’t know whether I want to have SLs in that meeting.
346 00:27:47.580 ⇒ 00:27:49.760 Uttam Kumaran: I actually don’t really… I kinda don’t.
347 00:27:49.900 ⇒ 00:27:54.870 Uttam Kumaran: Because I think it is up to… up to the CSO, but also, like.
348 00:27:55.070 ⇒ 00:28:11.249 Uttam Kumaran: you should be able to go reference the reasoning, and you should push on them to be like, no, no, no, I’m gonna get asked about why this thing’s 3 fucking weeks. Yeah. Like, you need to give me some reasoning, because ultimately, you’re not gonna be able to call on them if a client asks you at the moment, you know?
349 00:28:11.250 ⇒ 00:28:12.020 Greg Stoutenburg: Right. Yep.
350 00:28:12.020 ⇒ 00:28:17.050 Uttam Kumaran: So, that’s kind of how I’m thinking about it. I don’t know if that… is there any corollary to, like.
351 00:28:17.500 ⇒ 00:28:21.320 Uttam Kumaran: Thesis defense on, like, using subject matter experts or something like that?
352 00:28:21.640 ⇒ 00:28:27.440 Greg Stoutenburg: Not really. I mean, so usually in something like a thesis defense, you just are the subject matter expert.
353 00:28:27.440 ⇒ 00:28:32.060 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I would prefer, I’d prefer that, but… Yeah, yeah.
354 00:28:32.060 ⇒ 00:28:38.710 Greg Stoutenburg: I mean, if everybody in the company, if everyone who’s a CSO just runs one workstream, then, I guess you could do.
355 00:28:38.710 ⇒ 00:28:45.509 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah, if you’re like, well, eventually, maybe you’re the… your CSO and you only pull from one service. I could see that eventually, but…
356 00:28:46.010 ⇒ 00:28:46.710 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
357 00:28:46.710 ⇒ 00:28:50.980 Uttam Kumaran: Also, that’s the power for our business, is that someone can come in and buy 10 things.
358 00:28:51.120 ⇒ 00:28:54.809 Uttam Kumaran: And it’s, like, just one person is, like, the core.
359 00:28:55.020 ⇒ 00:28:56.009 Greg Stoutenburg: You know? Yeah.
360 00:28:56.360 ⇒ 00:29:10.390 Uttam Kumaran: So, yeah, I’m… all of this is, like, probably 70% of the way there in the… in all of my messages. Needs to be a little bit tighter, but I think it’s, like, it’s… I’ve thought about it a lot over the last two weeks, it’s starting to, like, really
361 00:29:11.000 ⇒ 00:29:14.779 Uttam Kumaran: be really clear for me. And so that way, at least, there’s no more, like.
362 00:29:15.720 ⇒ 00:29:27.019 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, there’s no more… everybody, including me and you, and the people know, like, what the project plan is. It’s clear for us to look at a project plan, look at linear, and be like, are we off track or on track?
363 00:29:27.070 ⇒ 00:29:36.169 Uttam Kumaran: Those are the common things that when we wake up every day, you ask, is this on track or off track? What did we promise the client? Like, why are we doing the thing? I don’t want those to, like…
364 00:29:36.310 ⇒ 00:29:38.380 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t want those to exist.
365 00:29:38.630 ⇒ 00:29:48.500 Uttam Kumaran: And I want us to be able to quickly be able to answer those. Yeah. And all of… I think with what I’m finding with AI is everything is gonna get,
366 00:29:49.090 ⇒ 00:29:55.459 Uttam Kumaran: Everything is driving towards the plan. It’s less and less and less about the actual execution.
367 00:29:55.700 ⇒ 00:29:59.309 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Everything is around the plan and the presentation.
368 00:29:59.530 ⇒ 00:30:01.890 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Like, if I was to give you the, like.
369 00:30:02.750 ⇒ 00:30:05.579 Uttam Kumaran: Macro view of what’s gonna happen here.
370 00:30:06.100 ⇒ 00:30:06.960 Greg Stoutenburg: Yep.
371 00:30:06.960 ⇒ 00:30:07.319 Uttam Kumaran: You know?
372 00:30:07.320 ⇒ 00:30:15.179 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, and it won’t be long before you can just connect a mart and tell Blobby, build a retail dashboard.
373 00:30:15.800 ⇒ 00:30:18.550 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, hopefully, like, maybe next month. Yeah, hopefully not too long.
374 00:30:18.630 ⇒ 00:30:20.280 Greg Stoutenburg: You know? Yeah.
375 00:30:20.610 ⇒ 00:30:22.299 Uttam Kumaran: 3 weeks, you give me 3 weeks?
376 00:30:26.020 ⇒ 00:30:26.740 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah.
377 00:30:27.330 ⇒ 00:30:29.230 Greg Stoutenburg: We’ll all log off at 2. No, I’m just kidding.
378 00:30:31.180 ⇒ 00:30:34.649 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay, cool, that sounds good. I think I’ve got,
379 00:30:34.940 ⇒ 00:30:42.020 Greg Stoutenburg: I’ve got kind of, like, too much IC stuff to do for the rest of the day, so I think I’d like to ask that we do that review tomorrow.
380 00:30:42.020 ⇒ 00:30:47.509 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I was hoping that we’d try to do at least the first reviews for everything before end of day tomorrow.
381 00:30:48.260 ⇒ 00:30:49.879 Uttam Kumaran: That way, it gives us until…
382 00:30:50.420 ⇒ 00:30:52.279 Uttam Kumaran: It gives us the rest of the week to, like.
383 00:30:53.930 ⇒ 00:30:57.380 Uttam Kumaran: wrap it all up, so you tell me, I was gonna do it towards the end of the day.
384 00:30:58.890 ⇒ 00:31:03.760 Greg Stoutenburg: So, just to clarify, so… what I intended to reference is…
385 00:31:03.890 ⇒ 00:31:07.739 Greg Stoutenburg: you run Pranav and me through…
386 00:31:07.740 ⇒ 00:31:09.040 Uttam Kumaran: this flight. Oh.
387 00:31:09.150 ⇒ 00:31:11.820 Uttam Kumaran: I could also… I was… so I was gonna meet with him…
388 00:31:12.510 ⇒ 00:31:26.519 Uttam Kumaran: I basically said, can you meet, like, later tonight? He’s like, yeah, I’ll just… I call you at 7.30. I could also call you in the morning and explain it to you, or I could record my meeting with him and send it. He just had a one-on with me, I’m gonna be out, so if you want to do that, I can just…
389 00:31:27.240 ⇒ 00:31:28.839 Uttam Kumaran: I’m gonna call them, or…
390 00:31:28.840 ⇒ 00:31:31.820 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s do that, and
391 00:31:32.240 ⇒ 00:31:34.560 Greg Stoutenburg: And then I can… I can run through this.
392 00:31:36.500 ⇒ 00:31:38.610 Uttam Kumaran: I think it should be a lot clearer.
393 00:31:38.710 ⇒ 00:31:39.490 Uttam Kumaran: like…
394 00:31:40.530 ⇒ 00:31:49.039 Uttam Kumaran: And it puts some onus on me to define it really well, and then it gives you clarity that, like, passing this meeting is the checkpoint.
395 00:31:50.070 ⇒ 00:31:56.680 Uttam Kumaran: There will be… there’s a multitude of things that have to go into it. It’s better to have all these documents ready so that you can reference it.
396 00:31:56.970 ⇒ 00:31:57.550 Greg Stoutenburg: Yup.
397 00:31:57.550 ⇒ 00:32:10.269 Uttam Kumaran: Or you could show up and dance, but, like, then… then you probably got it too, you know? Yeah. So that’s sort of… I think it’s helpful for me to… thinking about some of these things as approval releases.
398 00:32:10.450 ⇒ 00:32:18.250 Uttam Kumaran: And then, yeah, I think I would like to hear from both you and Pranav about how to better… how I can set expectations clear for the service leads.
399 00:32:18.690 ⇒ 00:32:23.010 Uttam Kumaran: They’re gonna play a much different part than just, like, what’s been going on so far.
400 00:32:23.350 ⇒ 00:32:30.690 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, okay, sounds good. Yeah, and looking forward to Jasmine being fully onboarded, I think that’s gonna really help a lot, too.
401 00:32:30.690 ⇒ 00:32:33.560 Uttam Kumaran: No, your team also is the star of the show.
402 00:32:33.690 ⇒ 00:32:45.960 Uttam Kumaran: And we’ll continue to be more and more of the star of the show. That’s why we’re bringing on more people there. Yeah. Because ultimately, the presentation of the data and the insights and the strategy is all that ever mattered.
403 00:32:46.100 ⇒ 00:32:52.589 Uttam Kumaran: So, I want there to be less and less focus on modeling and engineering, because…
404 00:32:53.000 ⇒ 00:32:54.880 Uttam Kumaran: AI’s gonna take a lot of that.
405 00:32:55.010 ⇒ 00:32:59.230 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. And… but the stuff that you guys are doing on strategy, it’s… it’s, like, it’s still…
406 00:32:59.380 ⇒ 00:33:03.340 Uttam Kumaran: tons of human behavior things, so I want you guys to really rock it.
407 00:33:03.390 ⇒ 00:33:04.340 Greg Stoutenburg: You know? Yep.
408 00:33:04.340 ⇒ 00:33:05.030 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
409 00:33:05.580 ⇒ 00:33:06.170 Greg Stoutenburg: Yep.
410 00:33:06.820 ⇒ 00:33:11.000 Uttam Kumaran: And then, yeah, tell me any meetings to… to move off your calendar. Yeah.
411 00:33:12.150 ⇒ 00:33:13.440 Greg Stoutenburg: Delete all of them.
412 00:33:13.440 ⇒ 00:33:24.960 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, but there’s gonna be a lot of… I better see some work coming out of everybody. There’s one more meetings. I’m down, dude, I had a great morning today. I got a bunch of shit done. No meetings, so… feel good.
413 00:33:25.100 ⇒ 00:33:26.550 Greg Stoutenburg: Yeah, yeah, great.
414 00:33:27.330 ⇒ 00:33:27.980 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
415 00:33:27.980 ⇒ 00:33:32.780 Greg Stoutenburg: Okay, alright, all sounds good. See you guys. Thanks. Bye.
416 00:33:32.830 ⇒ 00:33:33.440 Uttam Kumaran: Alright, bye.