WEBVTT

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Hey, Floatplane! Dan here. 2 00:00:01.601 --> 00:00:04.371 Sammy's got me kind of at gunpoint doing this new... 3 00:00:04.404 --> 00:00:06.873 thing called Dan's Dailies; 4 00:00:06.873 --> 00:00:08.908 where I kind of talk about what I'm doing at work 5 00:00:08.908 --> 00:00:12.112 on a monthly, or weekly, or daily basis, that sort of thing. 6 00:00:12.145 --> 00:00:13.913 This month has been kind of interesting. 7 00:00:13.913 --> 00:00:15.949 It's the first one, so maybe it's a little lighter; 8 00:00:15.949 --> 00:00:20.053 but I believe this will be an ongoing series, so we'll see how it goes. 9 00:00:20.053 --> 00:00:23.089 This month's been a little lighter than maybe some of the other ones, 10 00:00:23.089 --> 00:00:25.558 or a little more focused on a singular task. 11 00:00:25.592 --> 00:00:28.328 We're deploying a new system called Airtable. 12 00:00:28.328 --> 00:00:31.064 Well, I'm deploying a new system called Airtable, 13 00:00:31.097 --> 00:00:33.500 which is going to go through and sort of 14 00:00:33.533 --> 00:00:39.105 revolutionize how LMG works as a whole, including CW as well. 15 00:00:39.105 --> 00:00:43.143 I spent maybe the last six months or something like that 16 00:00:43.176 --> 00:00:46.146 going through our process for an LTT. 17 00:00:46.179 --> 00:00:48.581 I basically built this super complicated flowchart 18 00:00:48.615 --> 00:00:51.051 to kind of figure out why we're having communication problems 19 00:00:51.051 --> 00:00:55.088 and why the company is starting to languish under its own weight. 20 00:00:55.088 --> 00:00:58.825 You kind of move to 100 people above the three or four 21 00:00:58.892 --> 00:01:03.229 that it used to take to make a video, and you get worse, 22 00:01:03.263 --> 00:01:07.033 so like 30% harder to make a video at this point, 23 00:01:07.067 --> 00:01:08.668 and I was trying to figure out why. 24 00:01:08.701 --> 00:01:11.638 So I made this flowchart to figure it out, 25 00:01:11.805 --> 00:01:15.075 and it ended up looking so bad that we kind of just threw it out, 26 00:01:15.075 --> 00:01:17.777 and I've been redoing all of the way that we make things here. 27 00:01:17.777 --> 00:01:22.382 And it goes from video production to actually some of our internal forms, 28 00:01:22.415 --> 00:01:25.652 like the merch request form or the merch inclusion form. 29 00:01:25.652 --> 00:01:27.787 You know, you're supposed to wear merch when we're doing a video, 30 00:01:27.787 --> 00:01:29.889 and that's all handled internally by 31 00:01:29.889 --> 00:01:33.460 what Creator Warehouse is pushing to the video team, that sort of thing. 32 00:01:33.493 --> 00:01:35.862 I'm aiming for a deployment kind of April 1st, 33 00:01:35.862 --> 00:01:38.331 which is coming up really soon. 34 00:01:38.364 --> 00:01:41.401 So this entire month has kind of been a push to get writing online. 35 00:01:41.534 --> 00:01:44.737 It's also going to redo our procurement system 36 00:01:44.771 --> 00:01:47.407 and purchasing system, as well as logistics. 37 00:01:47.440 --> 00:01:52.178 We're working on this thing that we're calling like the release cadence. 38 00:01:52.178 --> 00:01:54.581 I'm calling the system like production orchestration, 39 00:01:54.714 --> 00:01:56.549 which should be kind of neat; 40 00:01:56.649 --> 00:01:59.552 and I've been figuring out how to structure our data. 41 00:01:59.586 --> 00:02:02.922 So for the longest time I thought that LMG made videos. 42 00:02:02.956 --> 00:02:05.592 You know, Sammy's making videos, right Sammy? 43 00:02:07.026 --> 00:02:08.394 But we don't actually make videos; 44 00:02:08.394 --> 00:02:12.732 what we make is what I'm calling Tuesdays, we make Tuesdays. 45 00:02:12.832 --> 00:02:16.169 We upload an LTT or a ShortCircuit or something on a Tuesday. 46 00:02:16.269 --> 00:02:21.808 We don't actually care what the video is; we just have to upload a video. 47 00:02:21.808 --> 00:02:25.745 You know, it used to be daily and now it's kind of 48 00:02:25.778 --> 00:02:27.213 three and a half a week sort of thing. 49 00:02:27.247 --> 00:02:31.985 So what LMG actually makes is uploading videos to YouTube. 50 00:02:31.985 --> 00:02:34.554 What do you do for a living? I upload videos to YouTube. 51 00:02:34.587 --> 00:02:37.257 Yeah, no wonder my parents want me to get a real job. 52 00:02:37.323 --> 00:02:40.660 Dan: So instead of making videos and having video cards; 53 00:02:40.660 --> 00:02:41.961 we're mostly on Trello right now. 54 00:02:42.095 --> 00:02:46.332 What we're doing is we're creating these holes of like 55 00:02:46.332 --> 00:02:48.668 days of the week where we can insert a video; 56 00:02:48.701 --> 00:02:51.337 and the same with the ad integrations. 57 00:02:51.371 --> 00:02:53.006 Those are also like a separate thing. 58 00:02:53.173 --> 00:02:56.843 And we don't care what video the ad integration is on; 59 00:02:56.843 --> 00:03:01.381 so the business team here has been selling the entire of 2025 60 00:03:01.414 --> 00:03:03.783 and they're just putting in days of the week, right? 61 00:03:03.816 --> 00:03:06.986 So the business team also doesn't make videos; 62 00:03:06.986 --> 00:03:08.454 they also make days of the week. 63 00:03:08.454 --> 00:03:10.690 Sometimes they're sponsored, so they're one thing; 64 00:03:10.690 --> 00:03:14.194 but most of the time, the two departments work independently. 65 00:03:14.227 --> 00:03:20.633 Beyond Airtable deployment, there's been a little bit at Smash Champs. 66 00:03:20.667 --> 00:03:24.938 I recorded a video with Sammy and I've been trying to deal with the 67 00:03:24.971 --> 00:03:27.207 RMAs of some of the wall speakers. 68 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:33.613 The entire model serial number run for these wall speakers is bad. 69 00:03:33.646 --> 00:03:34.948 They have a manufacturing defect. 70 00:03:35.081 --> 00:03:37.984 I ripped one apart; maybe I was not supposed to do that. 71 00:03:38.084 --> 00:03:41.588 But I was investigating to see why it was failing; 72 00:03:41.588 --> 00:03:46.059 and it looks like the PowerOverEthernet chip has failed somehow. 73 00:03:46.359 --> 00:03:49.562 I used the FLIR to see if it was getting hot; 74 00:03:49.562 --> 00:03:50.330 it's getting red hot so. 75 00:03:51.564 --> 00:03:53.800 They're going to start failing eventually; 76 00:03:53.833 --> 00:03:57.503 so we've already made all 13 of them, which is kind of a bit of a bummer. 77 00:03:57.537 --> 00:03:59.906 We've also had some issues in the server room; 78 00:04:00.073 --> 00:04:02.709 it got cold here, so the AC finished. 79 00:04:02.742 --> 00:04:06.012 You know, if it's like -5, -10 outside, 80 00:04:06.012 --> 00:04:08.314 most people aren't running their AC 24-7. 81 00:04:08.348 --> 00:04:12.819 So the system froze and I think it's got a leak in it. 82 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:17.390 So I've been sitting next to a server room with the doors open, 83 00:04:17.390 --> 00:04:23.529 with really loud servers; it's been fun...Yeah. 84 00:04:23.563 --> 00:04:27.400 Mostly, though, I have sprinkled in tickets. 85 00:04:27.433 --> 00:04:30.069 I help Sammy with his computer problems, I help other people. 86 00:04:30.069 --> 00:04:31.804 I've been helping HR with some issues. 87 00:04:31.838 --> 00:04:34.741 One of the HR people has problems with their headphones 88 00:04:34.774 --> 00:04:36.409 that are like the strangest thing ever. 89 00:04:36.442 --> 00:04:38.745 One of the weird parts about working at LMG is 90 00:04:38.745 --> 00:04:41.147 most of the time when I'm added to a ticket, 91 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:44.617 it's a really fun and strange problem that is very frustrating; 92 00:04:44.684 --> 00:04:49.589 and normally means that I just have a bit of a mental breakdown 93 00:04:49.589 --> 00:04:53.760 in the quiet meeting rooms... but it's fine. 94 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:54.360 It's fine. 95 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:56.796 One of the weirdest tickets I got was probably... 96 00:04:56.796 --> 00:05:00.600 Oh it was, they were about to do a shoot on the ShortCircuit set, 97 00:05:00.633 --> 00:05:04.070 and the computer wasn't working and the monitor wasn't working; 98 00:05:04.070 --> 00:05:05.772 and nobody could figure out why there was like 99 00:05:05.772 --> 00:05:08.841 three or four writers there, everybody was scrambling and freaking out. 100 00:05:08.875 --> 00:05:12.745 The monitor was just unplugged. 101 00:05:12.912 --> 00:05:14.447 When I started, I was really intimidated 102 00:05:14.447 --> 00:05:17.583 because this is Linus Media Group; everybody's really technically competent. 103 00:05:17.583 --> 00:05:22.021 And what I didn't realize is that maybe, maybe they're not. 104 00:05:22.055 --> 00:05:25.992 Just because everybody's really good at their one thing 105 00:05:25.992 --> 00:05:28.328 doesn't mean they're necessarily that good at tech support. 106 00:05:28.361 --> 00:05:32.332 To be fair on the entire team, it was only like half unplugged, but... 107 00:05:32.765 --> 00:05:34.300 Sammy: On and off method always works. 108 00:05:34.767 --> 00:05:36.536 Dan: Yeah; well, it wouldn't do the on bit. 109 00:05:36.703 --> 00:05:37.704 Sammy: Hahahahaha. 110 00:05:37.804 --> 00:05:39.672 Dan: We also had a few different live streams; 111 00:05:39.706 --> 00:05:42.208 I think we did maybe two this month, something like that. 112 00:05:42.208 --> 00:05:47.313 Dan: I also shot a video with Jake, we were talking about people's home Labs. 113 00:05:47.347 --> 00:05:49.615 We were looking at the subreddit for home lab, 114 00:05:49.615 --> 00:05:52.552 and trying to figure out why people build these; we still don't know. 115 00:05:52.618 --> 00:05:53.886 It's very confusing. 116 00:05:55.288 --> 00:05:55.755 Yeah. 117 00:05:56.055 --> 00:05:58.157 A couple of live streams of course, WAN every Friday. 118 00:05:58.157 --> 00:06:00.526 I was saying to Sammy a bit earlier that I mostly just 119 00:06:00.526 --> 00:06:01.994 work like a four day work week. 120 00:06:01.994 --> 00:06:04.497 I come in a few hours late on Friday; it kind of depends 121 00:06:04.497 --> 00:06:08.534 because normally WAN goes till 9:30 - 10 o'clock at night. 122 00:06:08.568 --> 00:06:11.304 So I still work my eight hours, which is fine. 123 00:06:11.337 --> 00:06:12.739 I'm giving up my Friday evenings, 124 00:06:12.772 --> 00:06:15.942 but at least I can have a sleep in on Friday mornings, that sort of thing. 125 00:06:15.942 --> 00:06:18.711 And normally I'll get one or two hours of work in. 126 00:06:18.711 --> 00:06:21.948 Today's a bit of a push because we're going to be 127 00:06:21.981 --> 00:06:25.618 doing a demo of the Airtable dashboard and writer system, 128 00:06:25.651 --> 00:06:28.554 today during writer's meetings; so that'll be about four. 129 00:06:28.554 --> 00:06:31.391 So when Sammy comes down to do Why Is WAN Late, 130 00:06:31.391 --> 00:06:34.460 it will most likely be my fault, maybe? 131 00:06:34.494 --> 00:06:37.797 Really neat how integrated everything's going to be. 132 00:06:37.797 --> 00:06:40.633 The communication that we're having at LMG is awful. 133 00:06:40.633 --> 00:06:41.200 Right, Sammy? 134 00:06:41.901 --> 00:06:42.435 Sammy: No comment. 135 00:06:42.468 --> 00:06:43.536 Sammy: Hahahahahaha. 136 00:06:43.636 --> 00:06:46.572 Sammy: I love LMG; every day is a blessing to work here. 137 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:48.641 Dan: Yeah... uh- 138 00:06:48.641 --> 00:06:50.443 Dan: And so my way to fix communication 139 00:06:50.443 --> 00:06:51.911 is just to have nobody talk to each other. 140 00:06:51.911 --> 00:06:53.513 Dan: Yeah, you know, you think about that, 141 00:06:53.513 --> 00:06:57.517 it's not no talking to each other, it's who do I talk to? 142 00:06:57.517 --> 00:07:00.119 That's like the biggest problem that we have at this company. 143 00:07:00.119 --> 00:07:03.723 I bought a thing; I don't know when it's coming in, 144 00:07:03.723 --> 00:07:06.159 I don't know what it's for, I don't know who bought it. 145 00:07:06.192 --> 00:07:09.095 I don't know who approved it, that sort of thing. 146 00:07:09.128 --> 00:07:11.130 You know, purchase approvals, all that sort of stuff. 147 00:07:11.130 --> 00:07:13.900 Managers have a set limit, some people have more. 148 00:07:13.933 --> 00:07:17.136 You know, if I need to buy $20, 000 of stuff for a video, 149 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:20.573 what level of approval is that? How do we get Linus to approve it? 150 00:07:20.606 --> 00:07:23.543 And then when it goes into procurement system, 151 00:07:23.543 --> 00:07:26.245 you know, when is it getting here? So it affects logistics. 152 00:07:26.245 --> 00:07:30.216 And so everything is now incredibly integrated 153 00:07:30.249 --> 00:07:36.155 from the idea for a piece of merch, which exists in a database, 154 00:07:36.155 --> 00:07:42.829 which then gets tied to the overarching product, like a screwdriver. 155 00:07:42.862 --> 00:07:46.866 And then that gets broken into the parts that make up the screwdriver, 156 00:07:46.866 --> 00:07:49.068 like the bits and the handle; 157 00:07:49.068 --> 00:07:51.938 and all of those have their individual suppliers. 158 00:07:51.971 --> 00:07:54.907 So product gets turned into components; 159 00:07:54.941 --> 00:07:58.444 and then those components get turned into a SKU, right? 160 00:07:58.444 --> 00:08:00.913 We've got one that's black and one that's orange and black. 161 00:08:00.947 --> 00:08:03.115 So there's two different SKUs, but one parent product; 162 00:08:03.115 --> 00:08:05.585 and then those go up to Shopify. 163 00:08:05.618 --> 00:08:08.387 So we have all the Shopify data. 164 00:08:08.421 --> 00:08:12.458 And then we know when to reorder things because we can do 165 00:08:12.458 --> 00:08:15.928 like lead time aggregation for the individual components. 166 00:08:15.962 --> 00:08:18.130 And then those go into... 167 00:08:19.398 --> 00:08:21.868 Like all of those products and SKUs go over 168 00:08:21.901 --> 00:08:26.305 into the merch inclusion system; which if something's new, 169 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:27.740 it gets included in a video. 170 00:08:27.874 --> 00:08:32.044 And we can delegate that from a list of writers 171 00:08:32.044 --> 00:08:33.779 and what videos they've shot. 172 00:08:33.813 --> 00:08:36.716 So the line items get removed as it's been in a video. 173 00:08:36.716 --> 00:08:41.687 And then it goes cross database into LMG; 174 00:08:41.721 --> 00:08:44.790 so we have our merch request form and all that sort of stuff. 175 00:08:44.924 --> 00:08:48.194 But if CW needs to purchase something 176 00:08:48.194 --> 00:08:50.897 that's from the LMG procurement team. 177 00:08:50.930 --> 00:08:54.734 And a procurement item, like a thing for a video 178 00:08:54.734 --> 00:08:58.437 is now associated with a video, which is associated with a writer, 179 00:08:58.471 --> 00:09:00.873 which is associated with a release cadence, 180 00:09:00.907 --> 00:09:04.110 which is associated with a business integration. 181 00:09:04.110 --> 00:09:10.816 It's like now this one giant lump that is LMG and Creator Warehouse 182 00:09:10.816 --> 00:09:15.388 as a singular unit, as opposed to being in all these different platforms 183 00:09:15.388 --> 00:09:19.625 like Asana and Trello and JotForm and Google Forms; 184 00:09:19.659 --> 00:09:23.563 and there's just spreadsheets everywhere, and it's just absolutely insane. 185 00:09:23.596 --> 00:09:26.766 And by consolidating all into one, 186 00:09:26.766 --> 00:09:29.235 it should allow us to operate better as a machine 187 00:09:29.235 --> 00:09:31.337 to actually produce videos. 188 00:09:31.370 --> 00:09:33.472 And of course, Sammy is a department of one; 189 00:09:33.506 --> 00:09:36.976 I hope he's getting like an entire system just for him. 190 00:09:36.976 --> 00:09:39.545 I haven't started building it yet, but that's coming; 191 00:09:39.545 --> 00:09:43.516 it's mostly, he's like a writer and a video producer, and a shooter. 192 00:09:43.516 --> 00:09:47.987 So he gets to interact with all of it, and that's also integrated too. 193 00:09:47.987 --> 00:09:50.189 So I don't know; it's- 194 00:09:50.356 --> 00:09:55.861 I've been doing that every day, all day, for like six months now. 195 00:09:55.995 --> 00:09:58.698 I'm not sure a lot of people at the company even know what I do. 196 00:09:58.698 --> 00:10:00.433 "Oh, he's in charge of streaming". 197 00:10:00.466 --> 00:10:01.300 Yeah, okay. 198 00:10:01.400 --> 00:10:04.670 I do that like you know, a couple hours a month, if that. 199 00:10:04.737 --> 00:10:06.872 WAN is its own thing. 200 00:10:07.873 --> 00:10:11.377 But mostly I'm just working on like processes and development, 201 00:10:11.410 --> 00:10:14.380 and design for for how we operate as a company. 202 00:10:14.413 --> 00:10:16.315 Sammy: When you close your eyes do you see Airtable? 203 00:10:16.349 --> 00:10:20.720 Dan: Yes, and I lay awake at night and I think about how to make LMG better. 204 00:10:20.753 --> 00:10:23.956 Because one of the reasons I started doing this initially 205 00:10:23.990 --> 00:10:27.927 was that I could see how stressed and upset everybody was; 206 00:10:27.927 --> 00:10:33.065 and my main goal was specifically to like make people's jobs easier. 207 00:10:33.099 --> 00:10:35.468 When I was Dan department, when I was logistics, 208 00:10:35.468 --> 00:10:38.704 when I was doing more of the healthy fixie things, 209 00:10:38.738 --> 00:10:43.142 it was always like what do you hate about your job? Can I make it easier? 210 00:10:43.175 --> 00:10:45.978 Uh, we're all down in the content minds together 211 00:10:45.978 --> 00:10:47.680 if you want to think about it like that. 212 00:10:47.780 --> 00:10:51.117 Sammy more than anybody; all you do is content all day, every day. 213 00:10:51.117 --> 00:10:55.254 Um, or should I say uploads to video platforms, 214 00:10:55.354 --> 00:10:57.023 which is the product that we actually make. 215 00:10:57.056 --> 00:10:59.392 I mean, we make sweaters and things too I guess, 216 00:10:59.425 --> 00:11:02.028 but they still get in videos. 217 00:11:02.028 --> 00:11:04.296 Oh, I don't, I don't know... Yeah. 218 00:11:04.296 --> 00:11:06.832 That's my job and life now. 219 00:11:06.832 --> 00:11:10.302 And I think next month will be a little bit more interesting, 220 00:11:10.302 --> 00:11:11.871 because all the foundation work's done 221 00:11:11.904 --> 00:11:14.173 and now it'll become a real, real thing. 222 00:11:14.206 --> 00:11:18.177 Um, you know, you can see some of the automations that I've done this month. 223 00:11:18.210 --> 00:11:21.714 Um, I've got N8N, which we self host; 224 00:11:21.747 --> 00:11:21.947 which runs some pretty high level integrations between Trello 225 00:11:21.947 --> 00:11:26.018 which runs some pretty high level integrations between Trello 226 00:11:26.052 --> 00:11:29.789 and Airtable, and Google; and you know, 227 00:11:29.789 --> 00:11:32.124 I can even automate the generation of scripts now, 228 00:11:32.224 --> 00:11:35.161 all of the Google folders and all of the Google scripts that we use, 229 00:11:35.194 --> 00:11:38.130 which automatically get linked in with Airtable; 230 00:11:38.164 --> 00:11:41.701 so if I open a video, it's linked with the doc. 231 00:11:41.701 --> 00:11:44.336 And if you change the title of the project, 232 00:11:44.370 --> 00:11:47.073 that links in with Google docs too; 233 00:11:47.106 --> 00:11:50.409 so it'll rename the Google doc and the script so everything stays in sync. 234 00:11:50.443 --> 00:11:53.879 I'm working to implement YouTube API integration. 235 00:11:53.913 --> 00:11:56.415 So a big problem that we have right now 236 00:11:56.449 --> 00:11:58.617 is the project name doesn't match the YouTube title, 237 00:11:58.617 --> 00:12:00.753 or the YouTube title change many times, 238 00:12:00.786 --> 00:12:03.622 or the Floatplane will have a different title, and it's all like insane. 239 00:12:03.656 --> 00:12:08.094 And so when you're looking for the project related to a YouTube video, 240 00:12:08.094 --> 00:12:11.997 you can't search for the YouTube video because it has a different name. 241 00:12:11.997 --> 00:12:15.434 And so what I can do is by grabbing the YouTube link, 242 00:12:15.501 --> 00:12:16.869 I can pull real time data. 243 00:12:16.869 --> 00:12:19.705 And then we can also do analytics and all that sort of stuff, 244 00:12:19.739 --> 00:12:23.476 like watch time and engagement, and history and stuff like that. 245 00:12:23.509 --> 00:12:26.979 And then for managers and executives, they get custom dashboards; 246 00:12:26.979 --> 00:12:29.648 which show the progress of the business team sell rate, 247 00:12:29.682 --> 00:12:34.687 and how many shoots we're doing and what's planned and the stage of editing. 248 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.858 And then it's also got time tracking because we have about 28 editing steps 249 00:12:38.891 --> 00:12:43.162 and it's just, there's just so much! And I'm doing it all by myself, 250 00:12:43.195 --> 00:12:44.797 and it's all I do. 251 00:12:44.830 --> 00:12:47.700 And I hope you f***ing people better appreciate it, Sammy! 252 00:12:47.833 --> 00:12:50.269 You'll like it, you'll like it; or you'll hate it for like a month, 253 00:12:50.369 --> 00:12:53.139 and then I'll fix it and then you'll just hate it. 254 00:12:55.074 --> 00:12:55.808 That's about it. 255 00:12:55.941 --> 00:12:57.576 Please thumbs up if you liked this series. 256 00:12:57.610 --> 00:13:00.713 Let me know if you want more detail about anything in particular, 257 00:13:00.746 --> 00:13:05.151 it would be nice to have some direction of where to go, 258 00:13:05.151 --> 00:13:06.318 or what you want to know about. 259 00:13:06.318 --> 00:13:13.058 Um, I think delving deeper into the processes here, is pretty interesting. 260 00:13:13.058 --> 00:13:15.528 I don't know if you're like a process nerd like me, 261 00:13:15.528 --> 00:13:19.131 there's so many, and I'm in charge of all of them now. 262 00:13:19.165 --> 00:13:22.401 So uh... Please help! 263 00:13:23.402 --> 00:13:24.069 Byeee!