1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:07,359 I think Luke put it best at the roast a few years ago when he said, "Why the are you here?" 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:10,960 That's a two-part answer. I'm speaking today because of the recent community 3 00:00:08,639 --> 00:00:14,400 outcry demanding change. I'm here because I agree with the community. We 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,920 do have a lot of work to do. Before we talk about that, while I wish I was on 5 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:21,279 better terms, I just want to say I'm very glad to meet you all. I have spent 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:24,640 the last couple decades on the corporate side, but my educational background is 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:28,240 in computer science. My first role in the tech industry was as a writer at 8 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:31,840 NASA. My history building gaming PCs goes even further back to when I built 9 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:36,239 Acceleron 300 A rig because everyone assured me it was guaranteed to 10 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:39,840 overclock to 450 MHz. I guess my trip didn't really get the memo. In any case, 11 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:43,120 it feels really good to be back on most days. I'm only 6 weeks into the job, but 12 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:48,160 in that time I've seen a lot. I've looked at some budgeting, some team building and operations, but my main 13 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:53,120 focus has been to be a fly on the wall and gain an understanding of what's going right and what's going wrong. 14 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:56,239 There's a lot of both. I've asked the team to unflinchingly address both the 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:01:00,640 concerns that have been raised and how we intend to fix them with the money 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:05,600 we'll make from our sponsor. Just kidding. I was asked for 17 00:01:02,879 --> 00:01:09,760 unflinching and here it is. Lus is a human gas molecule. You've been telling 18 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:14,560 him for years and I've been telling him for years. Staying relevant on YouTube 19 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:18,640 is hard for everyone. But we aren't fighting for survival anymore and we 20 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:22,240 don't need to run at this pace. In fact, in some ways, it's our efforts to keep 21 00:01:20,479 --> 00:01:26,479 doing more and keep doing better that have created our current situation. My 22 00:01:24,799 --> 00:01:31,200 background is in managing a pharmacy where the small details matter a lot. 23 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:35,360 And basically, I agree with the community. So, I'm putting my foot down. 24 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:38,960 Effective immediately, all YouTube video production is on pause. And our teams 25 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:43,280 are going to be spending this entire next week focusing on long-term workflow 26 00:01:41,119 --> 00:01:47,600 changes to make our content better in a lasting way. This means for the first 27 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:52,079 time in over 12 years, LTT will be missing not just one daily upload, but 28 00:01:50,079 --> 00:01:55,920 many. But improving to the degree that we want and need is going to take more 29 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:59,280 than a week. So, I'll be working with Taran and Coen to manage our sponsor 30 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:03,840 commitments and the financial hit of both this housekeeping week and a 31 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:08,000 reduction in our LTT upload schedule, at least for now, while we get our house in 32 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:11,200 order. But before anyone gets concerned that we're going to cut investments into 33 00:02:09,599 --> 00:02:15,040 the well-being of our personnel and our future capabilities, I can assure you 34 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:19,200 that I've read the criticisms that we weren't willing to spend $500 to test a 35 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:23,200 product. And as the one that manages the finance, I can tell you that couldn't be 36 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:26,480 further from the truth. Lionus made a clear and egregious judgment error 37 00:02:24,879 --> 00:02:30,959 regarding retesting a product he felt was impractical. That was wrong, and 38 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:34,879 I've told him so. He allowed his personal feelings on the matter to cloud 39 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:38,239 his judgment. And I want to stress that our organization is committed to our 40 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:42,959 ongoing investments in making our content better and we will do better as 41 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:47,920 a team. Why don't I let our chief money spender take it from here? 42 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:50,800 Hi, I'm Gary, head of Labs. First off, 43 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:55,040 we've made some mistakes, too many. We're hoping that it's how we deal with 44 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:59,760 it moving forward that will define who we are. And regardless, it's clear that 45 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:03,360 we need to serve you better. So, our team will be spending our week 46 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:07,840 publishing living documents for our testing standards and opening them up to 47 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:13,040 feedback from the community and our peers in the industry should they wish 48 00:03:10,239 --> 00:03:17,360 to participate. We will also task part of the team with going back through 49 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:22,080 every video with Labs data to ensure accuracy, make full corrections, and if 50 00:03:20,319 --> 00:03:28,480 there are any fundamental issues with the workflow design or results, pull or 51 00:03:24,959 --> 00:03:30,319 replace that video outright. I don't 52 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:36,959 agree with every criticism that's been leveled at my team, but for my part, I 53 00:03:34,319 --> 00:03:42,319 need to own what we've done wrong and lay out our action plan for how to move 54 00:03:38,959 --> 00:03:44,720 forward. Before I do that, one point I 55 00:03:42,319 --> 00:03:49,360 do need to address here is that Lionus misspoke when he said we retest for 56 00:03:46,799 --> 00:03:53,840 every video. We retest for every project. When we used the same data for 57 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:59,120 our RX7600 and RTX 4060Ti videos, we knew in 58 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:03,519 advance that these cards would release two days apart and designed a broad test 59 00:04:01,599 --> 00:04:08,159 suite that accounted for all the numbers we would need to make those two videos 60 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:13,680 and ran everything at once with no BIOS or driver changes. In fairness, Linus, 61 00:04:10,799 --> 00:04:19,600 the project to video ratio is normally 1 one, but the devil's in the details. 62 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:24,240 Now, let's talk about what's coming. We will release our current markbench 63 00:04:21,199 --> 00:04:26,400 harnesses as open source items so that 64 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:31,120 the community can audit the code around our test integrations. We will do a vlog 65 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:36,160 style video on flow plane about our testing from start to finish so you can 66 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:42,080 see how the sausage is actually made. We will open a new community forum post 67 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:44,880 asking for transparency suggestions and 68 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:49,440 more importantly we will follow up. We will start placing our testing project 69 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:54,720 number in the credits. So we are always open about the data set that was used 70 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:57,280 for the benchmark results and there is a 71 00:04:54,720 --> 00:05:02,320 lot more still to come ranging from test variation percentages per workbench to 72 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:07,520 each benchmark we utilized in the videos among others. It's going to be a busy 73 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:11,360 week of not making videos. Same goes for us. I'm James, head of the 74 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:15,199 writing department. We are extremely grateful for everything the lab has done 75 00:05:13,039 --> 00:05:19,360 and continues to do to make our jobs easier. But the actual testing is not 76 00:05:17,919 --> 00:05:24,080 the biggest source of our recent struggles. It's the human factor. There 77 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:28,080 have been times when an internal video review caught an incorrect graph, 78 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:33,840 resulting in new versions of the graph being created only for those new graphs 79 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:38,560 to not be put in the video. Just about every error that has appeared 80 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:42,800 in a video in the past year has directly resulted in a process change designed to 81 00:05:41,039 --> 00:05:47,039 prevent that specific issue from ever happening again. But this kind of 82 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:51,520 problem pops up, create a new process, whack-a-mole, isn't working. We'll be 83 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:55,520 using our time to take feedback from our team on all of our processes and comb 84 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:59,039 through all of our pending projects for areas where we can improve as we move 85 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:04,160 forward with our reduced upload schedule. You'll see some of these videos go up during our time off. We 86 00:06:02,639 --> 00:06:08,000 already have multiple videos that are scheduled for release, but my main 87 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:11,680 message to the team is that we want to spend this time working on interdep 88 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:16,880 department communication and cleaning up our house. What we won't be doing is 89 00:06:14,319 --> 00:06:19,840 sanitizing things too much. We know that some of our best videos are centered 90 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:24,240 around Lionus and other members of the team just goofing around with tech and 91 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:29,360 having fun. That is not going to stop, but others like GPU and CPU releases 92 00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:33,520 certainly require all the rigor we can muster. Those launches don't happen as 93 00:06:31,759 --> 00:06:38,240 often these days, so it will take some time before you see the full payoff of 94 00:06:35,919 --> 00:06:42,560 our continuous improvement, but it has already started happening. Not only did 95 00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:48,240 the community love our 4060 review, but our team found it less stressful to put 96 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:50,000 out. Have we had a flawless victory? No. 97 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:54,319 But since these last reviews, we've onboarded a dedicated visualization 98 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:58,080 person whose full-time job it is to create graphs that are correct, 99 00:06:55,840 --> 00:07:01,759 digestible, and accessible. We've done serious development on our automatic 100 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:06,560 specs database thing so that our visualizations pull the correct info in 101 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:10,479 every time. And we'll soon be announcing the details of a new crowdsourced 102 00:07:08,319 --> 00:07:14,560 factchecking system for both LT and TechQuiki so that our contents 103 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:19,039 correctness satisfies even our most discerning community members. 104 00:07:16,479 --> 00:07:22,960 I'm Ed, a head of our production team. We have some of the most comprehensive 105 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:26,960 documentation and processes in the company. From automations to keep 106 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:31,680 project information accurate to communication procedures to standards 107 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:35,360 for how loud videos can be. Those systems have helped with the video edit 108 00:07:33,199 --> 00:07:38,960 side of things, but I've seen some examples where we've failed to see the 109 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:43,680 forest for the trees and allowed well-edited but erroneous content to 110 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:47,599 slip through the cracks. So, for our part, we'll be spending our time looking 111 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:52,080 at how we can improve communication to help the team address anything that 112 00:07:49,039 --> 00:07:54,000 seems off as soon as possible. A 113 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:58,400 personal task for me will be putting the finishing touches on some cool ways we 114 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:02,879 can make small edits that avoid the slap dash text on screen corrections whenever 115 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:07,840 possible. As for how we catch those bugs, that's not my department, so I'm 116 00:08:05,919 --> 00:08:12,879 throwing it over to Nick. Hold on, hold on. I'm mostly on the 117 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:17,120 product side. ltstore.com. What? Somebody had to say it. But the 118 00:08:15,039 --> 00:08:22,400 theme of today's video is transparency and accountability. You might not see me 119 00:08:19,759 --> 00:08:26,879 NVIDIA credits, but I still serve as a last line of defense in reviewing most 120 00:08:24,319 --> 00:08:31,759 LT videos before they are published. I typically check for security links and 121 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:34,880 inappropriate or NSFW jokes, but there are times when I catch a factual error 122 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:39,200 or a weird graph that doesn't really tell the full story. To be clear, we 123 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:43,360 also have checks for technical aspects from our writing team and in some cases 124 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:47,600 the lab. But our processes for ensuring those checks happen and following up 125 00:08:45,279 --> 00:08:52,480 these findings haven't been perfect and our corrections are often made quickly. 126 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:55,760 So while we take this time to reflect, I'll be focused on helping build a set 127 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:59,360 of guidelines for our pre-release reviews and trying to set up a system 128 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:04,640 that allows our team to take a finer look at every aspect of our videos every 129 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:08,000 single time. And maybe with time, everyone here will be so aligned with 130 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:11,440 our mission that my input is no longer needed. And I can focus my full 131 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:16,480 attention on making little widgets that you don't need, but definitely want, 132 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:19,680 like this retro themed screwdriver. Errors in our supporting assets like 133 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:23,680 tables and grass chip away our credibility. So continuing to improve 134 00:09:21,839 --> 00:09:27,120 our process issues to minimize errors will remain a top priority under my 135 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:31,760 leadership. I guarantee there will be future mistakes. We are human. But next 136 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:34,880 week, we'll be creating and publishing a clear policy for correction handling. 137 00:09:33,519 --> 00:09:40,160 And I'll be working with the community management team to be prompt and transparent with corrections that are as 138 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,959 visible as possible. I think what happened with the punish mouse is a 139 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:46,560 perfect example of the kind of breakdown that should never happen again. Last 140 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:49,440 Friday, Lionus was notified of the issue a couple hours before the wine show 141 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:54,080 where he discussed the errors of the video and ShortCircuit and apologized unequivocally. But while we recut the 142 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:59,040 video to remove the misleading information, no one closed the loop and dealt with a ton-deaf and frankly 143 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:02,160 unapologetic correction in the pin comment. Our mission is to get the 144 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:07,600 information to the community, which includes having a degree of humility about our mistakes, even if it makes us 145 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:11,040 look less than perfect. The other side of my job as CEO is keeping the lights 146 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:14,720 on, ensuring our staff is well taken care of, and putting dollars into some 147 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:18,240 fun stuff like watering and cooling a PC with a pool. And that's through 148 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:22,000 sponsorships, affiliate programs, paid subscriptions, or merchandise sales. One 149 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:25,120 thing that's not negotiable with me, ownership or the business team on 150 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:29,279 sponsored content is we need to maintain control of the creative. I was on a call 151 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:32,240 with a potential partner recently. They asked for a cream puff piece. What's the 152 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:35,680 cream puff piece? That's when they're like, "How much money do we have to give 153 00:10:33,839 --> 00:10:39,360 you just so that you tell the story that we want?" Before I can jump in and say 154 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:43,440 anything, just because I'm in shock at this point in time, Nick turns over and 155 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:48,399 says, "No, absolutely not." I started laughing a little bit. I just said, 156 00:10:45,279 --> 00:10:50,079 "Hey, Nick, there's probably a more um a 157 00:10:48,399 --> 00:10:53,839 better way to handle that." um where we could just uh soften up a little bit. 158 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:56,959 But the truth is, I don't disagree with them. We've had many rocky periods of 159 00:10:55,600 --> 00:11:00,240 sponsors where they're not happy with the content or the conclusions and 160 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:04,320 because they couldn't affect the editori editorial bends. This has and continues 161 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:07,839 to have significant negative impacts on revenue. I think we're pretty 162 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:10,800 transparent on how, where, and why we make our money. And one of our strategic 163 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:14,240 pillars is to make sure that we can maintain editorial independence. This 164 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:18,240 has included on multiple occasions saying goodbye and good luck to sponsors 165 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:21,839 ranging from thousands of dollars a year to hundreds of thousands of dollars a 166 00:11:19,839 --> 00:11:25,279 year over remaining independent and doing right by the LT community. While 167 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:29,680 we were deciding if we were a good fit for each other, I was very pleased to see the integrity of the team here based 168 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:33,760 on the deals that these guys have walked away from. I think one thing that we've 169 00:11:32,160 --> 00:11:36,480 done a poor job of, however, is publishing these standards where a 170 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:41,200 community can see them. That's something I'll be improving upon. And so will I. I'm Colton, the head of 171 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:45,440 business development, which includes departments like HR, procurement, 172 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:49,040 logistics, events, and sales and marketing. Sponsorships specifically are 173 00:11:47,519 --> 00:11:52,240 an area where Lionus has more limited oversight than he used to, and in my 174 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:55,920 opinion, we haven't done a great job conveying that. It's up to my team to 175 00:11:54,079 --> 00:11:59,600 vet incoming sponsor requests and deal with issues that you, our viewers, have 176 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:04,240 with our brand partners. One way we do that is using our LMG sponsor discussion 177 00:12:02,079 --> 00:12:07,920 sub forum online as techtips.com to create a dialogue between our business 178 00:12:05,839 --> 00:12:10,800 team and the community. It's obvious from some of the issues we're seeing 179 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:14,800 that we need to be more communicative when we're actively working with brands 180 00:12:12,399 --> 00:12:18,639 to rectify issues. Most content creators can attest to the fact that brands 181 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:23,279 sometimes take forever to respond to messages or address problems. A perfect 182 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:26,880 example is Anchor, not removing Linus tech tips from their Amazon pages, even 183 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:30,720 though we've been asking to be removed since our partnership with them ended 184 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:34,320 months ago. We work hard to push for accountability, but we also understand 185 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:38,959 that these businesses are either large with lots of moving parts or small with 186 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:42,720 limited resources. So things can take time, but you shouldn't be waiting in 187 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:47,200 the dark. It's critical for us to get the sponsorship piece right because real 188 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:50,639 talk, you guys are the boss. If you're not happy with brands we work with, you 189 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:54,240 won't engage with our sponsors and suddenly we won't be able to support all 190 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:58,240 the cool stuff we're currently able to do. Moving forward then, you can expect 191 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:01,440 weekly updates in the sub forum on issues that need addressing, and we'll 192 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:05,200 also include an up-to-date list of product verticals that are off limits 193 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:09,360 for our channels. We hope this will enable us to make better calls 194 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:12,959 consistently from here on out, all while maintaining our longtime commitment to 195 00:13:10,959 --> 00:13:17,680 transparency. Finally, I want to apologize to Bill Labs for auctioning 196 00:13:14,639 --> 00:13:19,440 off their monoblock at LTX 2023. Our 197 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:23,680 processes failed when I was selecting items to include in the charity auction. 198 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:26,959 But then it was compounded because when the issue was brought up to me via 199 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:31,120 email, even though I replied two hours later apologizing and offering to pay 200 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:35,760 for the component, I forgot to actually include our contact in that email. So it 201 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:40,800 went to our procurement team instead of Bill Labs. Side note, that same team, 202 00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:46,000 God bless them, didn't ask our event team who won the silent auction items 203 00:13:42,959 --> 00:13:47,839 and proceeded to email everyone asking, 204 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:52,480 "We don't need any of that. Certainly not for tax purposes. I clearly need to 205 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:56,800 spend some of my week training the team unless I actually get fired for real 206 00:13:54,079 --> 00:14:00,240 this time." Moving forward, we'll be implementing a more rigid process for 207 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:04,079 separating items that need to go back and which ones we'll be holding on to 208 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:07,920 for future testing. This might ring a little hollow coming from one half of 209 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:13,839 the Wanchow team that brought you Trust Me Bro in the privateeering incident 210 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:16,079 among others, but we need to be better 211 00:14:13,839 --> 00:14:20,320 about our communication. Now, I have no intention to like kill the silly humor 212 00:14:18,079 --> 00:14:25,199 or be less open with people. I don't want anything to be less fun, but we do 213 00:14:22,959 --> 00:14:29,360 need to be respectful and conscious of the impact of our words. We should be 214 00:14:27,519 --> 00:14:33,600 proud of the work that we do, but we shouldn't negatively compare ourselves 215 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:37,120 to our fellow tech reviewers. When issuing corrections, we need to 216 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:41,760 apologize. We need to respect people's time and their money. I said after the 217 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:46,720 last round of this that you don't win by screaming loudly, or drama hard. You win 218 00:14:44,639 --> 00:14:52,240 by fixing problems, improving, and becoming a hard target. We're still up a 219 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:58,240 lot, and we need to own that, fix it, and move on. Not be defensive or sherk 220 00:14:54,959 --> 00:14:59,839 blame. That being said, I'm not really 221 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:04,880 on the production side of things these days. What my teams and I are working 222 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:10,800 hard on is to support the other teams in other ways. Reintegrating into LMG has 223 00:15:07,839 --> 00:15:14,639 been somewhat terrifying. One of my team's jobs is to take over management 224 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:19,760 of the infrastructure. And while I have brought an experienced team member into 225 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:21,680 the fold, it needs a lot of work. So 226 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:26,399 far, we've mostly just been focused on documenting what we even have. And most 227 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:31,519 of our initial steps beyond that will be improving overall stability rather than 228 00:15:28,959 --> 00:15:35,600 flashy video worthy projects. Any production interruptions due to shoddy 229 00:15:33,279 --> 00:15:41,760 infrastructure additional burden to the other teams and our goal is 69s. 230 00:15:39,519 --> 00:15:45,839 We will also continue to maintain and develop our inventory system which with 231 00:15:43,839 --> 00:15:51,279 better processes should be able to help keep things like billet's prototype from 232 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:53,279 being mishandled, misplaced, and misused 233 00:15:51,279 --> 00:15:56,800 in the future. And the foundational work we're doing on reliable data management 234 00:15:54,959 --> 00:16:01,920 and storage should enable teams like the editors and the engineering folks in the 235 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:07,120 lab to move faster and more confidently with lower risk of errors thanks to new 236 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:11,519 tools like our specs database. Among my other unmentioned and unrelated 237 00:16:08,959 --> 00:16:17,279 responsibilities is keeping Lionus from driving off various cliffs, which I have 238 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:19,279 failed at a number of times. 239 00:16:17,279 --> 00:16:26,639 And let's face it, he's going to fail again. Hey, it's me. I'm chief vision 240 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:30,079 officer now, but realistically I'm not going to be able to hide behind my 241 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:34,240 recent demotion here. I was the one at the head of the company for each and 242 00:16:32,079 --> 00:16:39,279 every mistake that our community has rightly brought to our attention. And 243 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:45,040 once again, I made things worse by allowing myself to respond emotionally. 244 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:47,440 It's honestly really hard when people 245 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:52,160 take an internal process error and then they run that all the way to Lionus is a 246 00:16:50,639 --> 00:16:56,480 thief and wants to auction someone else's intellectual property to the 247 00:16:53,759 --> 00:17:00,959 highest bidder or accuses me of trying to brush something under the rug just 248 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:06,959 because I do think it's important to get all the details before declaring me to 249 00:17:03,279 --> 00:17:08,720 be a lowown liar straight up piece of we 250 00:17:06,959 --> 00:17:13,760 were slow shipping back the GPU that Billet Lab sent us. There's no way 251 00:17:10,559 --> 00:17:15,839 around it. That's our bad. But the delay 252 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:22,000 in communication, the one that prompted the post that you guys just saw, it was 253 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:23,919 less than two business days. The second 254 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:29,360 that I was made aware of the situation on the 14th. I emailed Billet Labs and I 255 00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:34,400 explained what happened. I even included Colton's attempt at apologizing and 256 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:38,960 offering no questions asked full compensation for their stated value of 257 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:43,360 the product which happened on the 10th before we were under any pressure to do 258 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:48,080 so and without Colton even bothering to check with me or Ivonne before just 259 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:52,480 saying go for it. He knows that our internal policy is to do the right 260 00:17:49,679 --> 00:17:57,360 thing. So he tried. Bless him. I guess his job is 261 00:17:54,640 --> 00:18:01,200 safe for another day. And I I'm sorry. I guess I've actually gotten a little bit 262 00:17:58,559 --> 00:18:06,080 emotional here again. So, I'm going to stop there. Um because whatever is being 263 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:12,000 said about me and whatever is being said about the team should never have allowed 264 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:14,880 my feelings to distract from any valid 265 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:20,080 criticism of our work. My decision, for example, to not bother retesting the 266 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:25,840 monoblock, that was obviously wrong, and my lame response on the forum was a huge 267 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:32,160 and unnecessary blunder. I owe you guys better and I'm sorry for my part. First, 268 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:37,200 I'm going to be working through the other members of the exec team for any 269 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:40,880 crisis communication moving forward. And second, I'm going to spend my week 270 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:44,799 working with the other teams to develop a system of processes that will help our 271 00:18:42,799 --> 00:18:48,880 company fulfill my vision of being a world-class tech media organization. I'm 272 00:18:47,039 --> 00:18:53,840 also going to be spending my week just refocusing guys on what matters most, 273 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:58,559 which is bringing you guys the best damn content that we can make. It's been over 274 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:05,520 10 years. Good lord, it's been almost 15. Um, but I still love tech. I love my 275 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:09,200 team and even though our relationship's a little rocky right now, I love this 276 00:19:07,919 --> 00:19:14,160 community and everything that it stands for. None of that has changed and none 277 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:18,000 of it is going to. During my interview, one line from Linus that stood out to me 278 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:21,280 was, "I need somebody to come in who I know will be respectful in my life's 279 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:24,880 work." That's when the gravity is asking for Don and me for the first time. I'm 280 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:28,880 by no means influenced through our social media guy, but suddenly I'm 281 00:19:26,799 --> 00:19:34,240 accountable not only to Linus and Avon and the entire staff at LMG, but most 282 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:37,120 importantly to the entire LMG audience. I'm fortunate to be inheriting a 283 00:19:35,679 --> 00:19:40,960 wonderful team that is passionate and has a ton of energy who shares the same 284 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:44,240 goal. We celebrate our wins together and when we make mistakes, we also share the 285 00:19:42,559 --> 00:19:47,440 responsibility. I'll be coaching the team on the kinds of deep state 286 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:51,919 corporate stuff that I think I'm reasonably good at. Budgeting, team 287 00:19:49,919 --> 00:19:55,919 building, relationship management, business development, operational 288 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:59,760 processes, all things I consider to be essential by skills rather than the 289 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:03,120 tactics of some sort of weird Illuminati conspiracy. We need to be a more 290 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:08,480 welloiled machine with better accountability as we've gotten more complicated internally with how 291 00:20:05,919 --> 00:20:11,360 technical writing editing teams all have to coordinate. There are still going to 292 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:15,520 be deadlines, due dates, and time limited goals that we still need to 293 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:19,440 drive towards, but the how of all this obviously needs more polish. I planned 294 00:20:17,679 --> 00:20:23,840 these topics to be covered in internal conversations over the coming weeks, but 295 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:26,960 instead I'm talking to you about it during this on the job experience of 296 00:20:25,679 --> 00:20:30,320 what it's like to work at a YouTube company. For all our award warts, the 297 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:34,320 team has worked hard to build up trust in the community and share the joy and 298 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:37,039 the passion that we all have for tech. So, I do not take for granted the 299 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:42,080 responsibility and stewardship that comes along with this position and I welcome continued constructive feedback. 300 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:48,240 Thank you for all for holding us accountable. I feel ready for the challenge and ready for this message 301 00:20:45,919 --> 00:20:53,120 from our sponsor. Just kidding again. But Dbrand did 302 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,120 offer.