Constructive feedback/ideas for Linus and LMG

[iamwec]

Something I haven't seen in this thread and I think is important: if Ed's team is the best for creating processes and documentation, maybe he could lead a workshop with the rest of the teams or lend his expertise in helping the other teams? Obviously he's doing something right, the rest of the company could learn a lot from him.

[VicBar]

On 8/16/2023 at 5:48 PM, Spec7re said:

2. Personally I would temporarily put a hiring freeze across the board, unless it is a dire position that needs to be filled, or else the company will die type situation. IMHO by doing this, it will allow LMG to make sure they have all the proper policies and practices in place before on boarding anyone new. Not only will this help the current team, but ensure that newer employees have the proper training and resources to succeed and help keep the quality up that LMG is striving for.

I kinda disagree with you on this one, Chief.

 

They definitely need to slow down in my opinion, because with the current team the output is spreading them way to thin. That's why there's so many cracks and so many mistakes and errors have fallen through. So they have two options slow down to an output their current team can support. OR expand the team so that they are not overworked and things can be done more slowly but still in total keep releasing that many videos.

 

Realistically I don't see how Linus would see LMG producing less videos as a step forward. I love how Yvonne put it, they aren't sink or swim anymore. So they SHOULD be able to spend "100, 200, 300... 500 dollars of several people's time" to make sure they get things right. So a temporary slow down while the team expands to accommodate the workload seems like a better course of action.

 

Going so far as to STOP new hiring will definitely help them consolidate, but it will force them to reduce their output and I don't think that is the Chief Vision Officer's vision.

You can tell that when there are larger projects that are gonna take a long, long time i.e. Labs, his "NEW" House renovations, Office Infrastructure stuff... He "gets his money's worth" just by making content of the process. That made Labs produce things while not fully ready. Bad call IMO. The updates on testing suites, software, pool water-cooling, home server... that's content I generally enjoy but even THAT has started to feel like it's never going to be done. It's always one step forward, two steps side-ways, one step back.

 

I'd love to see a completed project that won't be torn down the next month to show the next step.. that will ALSO be torn down... and have two years of this...

[VicBar]

I understand the "Growing pains" argument, it's valid and true. I believe the new CEO is here to help them grow better because this pain has been around for too long and it's not getting any better. It was a great call to have someone else handle it.

 

If I had constructive criticism it would be that the benefits of having channels like ShortCircuit were obvious in an era where unboxings were falling out of favor, this was a "first- impressions" kind of show and that was great. Things there will clearly not gonna see the light of day on LTT, and that's fine. But they muddied the waters by presenting Labs data on them... So this IS a review?

Labs testing and Labs data should be sacred. Using it everywhere when it's still "non-complete" or "not finalized" is really diluting is importance and impact.

I understand why it's a good idea to make content out of it during it's process, recoup costs while it's becomes operational. But as Yvonne said, they aren't struggling, maybe they can afford to take the hit, and not milk it while it's not finished yet. GN does with a quater-mil hemi-anechoic chamber that they built for months almost in complete secret. Your investment is 20x times larger but so is your output and merch sales, at least, no?

 

A lot of speculation and lack of info on my part, i know. But it's just an honest opinion.

 

Last thing I'm SUPER HAPPY that Labs finally committed to publishing testing standards openly that's awesome. The Head of Labs came off stand-offish to me in the video tbh, like suppressed aggresion.. but the criticisms were never towards Labs and their work... it was a how LMG has been mis-using Labs and presenting their work in a very sloppy and error-prone way.

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, VicBar said:

I kinda disagree with you on this one, Chief.

 

They definitely need to slow down in my opinion, because with the current team the output is spreading them way to thin. That's why there's so many cracks and so many mistakes and errors have fallen through. So they have two options slow down to an output their current team can support. OR expand the team so that they are not overworked and things can be done more slowly but still in total keep releasing that many videos.

 

Realistically I don't see how Linus would see LMG producing less videos as a step forward. I love how Yvonne put it, they aren't sink or swim anymore. So they SHOULD be able to spend "100, 200, 300... 500 dollars of several people's time" to make sure they get things right. So a temporary slow down while the team expands to accommodate the workload seems like a better course of action.

 

Going so far as to STOP new hiring will definitely help them consolidate, but it will force them to reduce their output and I don't think that is the Chief Vision Officer's vision.

You can tell that when there are larger projects that are gonna take a long, long time i.e. Labs, his "NEW" House renovations, Office Infrastructure stuff... He "gets his money's worth" just by making content of the process. That made Labs produce things while not fully ready. Bad call IMO. The updates on testing suites, software, pool water-cooling, home server... that's content I generally enjoy but even THAT has started to feel like it's never going to be done. It's always one step forward, two steps side-ways, one step back.

 

I'd love to see a completed project that won't be torn down the next month to show the next step.. that will ALSO be torn down... and have two years of this...

Thats fair, but if you watched the employee video a while back they commented on how the output was too much, or else why are they now considering revised production schedule. They commented on how they want to do less but higher quality videos.

 

This doesn't mean big projects don't happen, but its very evident that they brought in more staff without proper training , policies and procedures in place prior. Adding more staff to this situation isn't going to solve their inital problem. Its only going to make it worse, as new staff figure out what to do and so forth, hence more mistakes. The hiring freeze I propsed (if they even do that) is just a short temporary solution to get things sorted out and in place so that when new staff do come in, its not as caotic and will have the right tools to make them succeed. Its like pouring a concrete foundation and you see the supports are leaking, do you keep pouring, or do you stop, fix the issue then resume pouring?

[VicBar]

Just now, Spec7re said:

The hiring freeze I propsed (if they even do that) is just a short temporary solution to get things sorted out and in place so that when new staff do come in, its not as caotic and will have the right tools to make them succeed. Its like pouring a concrete foundation with out the proper supports in place and going oh more concrete will fix this.

I understand and agree it wouldn't make sense to hire more people when the cracks are still there. Cracks in the pipeline can be solved by refocusing, paying attention to the faults and finding ways to solve them. That definitely has to be done at a managerial level. The thing is many of those faults, those cracks, are because people are spread too thin. No time "debrief, to look in the rear view mirror" ( I did watch that LTT video when it came out ). So those cracks, instead of maybe spreading themselves even thinner with extra layers of fact-checking or overview (micro-management).. they could bring in new people to alleviate the workload.

I understand your position though. Before starting to hire new people to fill in those gaps, FIRST stop all hiring so you can work it out. I believe they have a month to set the plans. If anything that hiring freeze lasted this week. Afterwards, I expect they will need to continue hiring and for those new cracks to be filled too.

[VicBar]

Another thing is their hiring practices will come under MEGA scrutiny after Madison's story... the hiring process was one of the focus points of the thread.

Her situation was peculiar because it was not one of the methodical hirings like those of devs or other positions...  but still. Many red flags there. (Miscommunication essentially but isn't that the recurring theme here? i.e. Billet Labs, i.e. **astekri*sks** everywhere and wrong charts?)

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, VicBar said:

I understand and agree it wouldn't make sense to hire more people when the cracks are still there. Cracks in the pipeline can be solved by refocusing, paying attention to the faults and finding ways to solve them. That definitely has to be done at a managerial level. The thing is many of those faults, those cracks, are because people are spread too thin. No time "debrief, to look in the rear view mirror" ( I did watch that LTT video when it came out ). So those cracks, instead of maybe spreading themselves even thinner with extra layers of fact-checking or overview (micro-management).. they could bring in new people to alleviate the workload.

I understand your position though. Before starting to hire new people to fill in those gaps, FIRST stop all hiring so you can work it out. I believe they have a month to set the plans. If anything that hiring freeze lasted this week. Afterwards, I expect they will need to continue hiring and for those new cracks to be filled too.

I agree, I think the situation is in such a state that multiple actions are going to have to happen together to make this all work. Personally I think the best approach at least temporarily would be to reduce the production schedule a bit, stop hiring staff (again temporarily) to get things in order then proceed to hire more staff that CAN support the origional production schedule without burning staff out thus increasing the mistakes.

[VicBar]

Does this ring true to anyone?

 

@Spec7re
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxsmIjuxdJGoaWuRNp2_hN5qGdov1kt3iY?si=CP2Jj4dlx-QG7CaM

This is a clip from that employee video and I'd like your take on it...

 

GN said that the deadline and output is largely "self-imposed" and most other people I've heard comment on it agree.. That "no one is forcing LTT to post so many videos".

And I personally totally agree.. But I've known for a long time that Linus doesn't see it that way. He interprets "The Algorithm", stats and Analytics and sees that he NEEDS to grind himself (and his team by extension) "OR ELSE...".

 

Or else they might fall off, they won't make it, their investments are on the line.... But does it ring true?

Obviously there is a HUGE component of those things, but ever since (a while back now) Adsense isn't even their largest income is it really still a "pace set by Youtube, the audience and the Tech Industry in general" as Linus puts it?

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, VicBar said:

Does this ring true to anyone?

 

@Spec7re
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxsmIjuxdJGoaWuRNp2_hN5qGdov1kt3iY?si=CP2Jj4dlx-QG7CaM

This is a clip from that employee video and I'd like your take on it...

 

GN said that the deadline and output is largely "self-imposed" and most other people I've heard comment on it agree.. That "no one is forcing LTT to post so many videos".

And I personally totally agree.. But I've known for a long time that Linus doesn't see it that way. He interprets "The Algorithm", stats and Analytics and sees that he NEEDS to grind himself (and his team by extension) "OR ELSE...".

 

Or else they might fall off, they won't make it, their investments are on the line.... But does it ring true?

Obviously there is a HUGE component of those things, but ever since (a while back now) Adsense isn't even their largest income is it really still a "pace set by Youtube, the audience and the Tech Industry in general" as Linus puts it?

Ya its can be very fast pace and LMG appears to run at a high pace. To be fair I'm not a Youtuber, so I don't know all the inner workings of the algorithm. Linus has talked about this on the WAN show numerous times and I don't doubt him at all...however, I often wonder if maybe, just maybe he focuses on it just a little too much if you know what I mean. In all honesty I would like to hear GN's (and others) thoughts on the YouTube algorithm and how they use it...

 

I don't remember where, or who but I've watched interviews from much larger creators and some seem to ignore the Youtube stats and just do what they like to do and are still very successful. Some have said that staring out its more of a bigger deal, but as you grow it starts becoming less and less of an issue to obsess over. So much so that some of these creators have talked about going insane trying to obsess and understand them to the point where its was affecting them . The moment some of them stopped caring and just focused on the content, the better and happier they became. I can't validate this one way or another, but I feel that Linus may obsess over them just a little too much to the point where its blinding him a little as to what is going on (lower quality, more mistakes, tired staff, etc...).

 

To be fair I don't think he's trying to be a bad person, or work his employees to the bone, but he's so obsessed with losing relavence due to the algorithm, that he's not realizing it's more the mistakes and other issues that are turning people away.

 

They may lose some money by reducing the production schedule, but as you said they make money else where (lttstore, sponsors) so its not like they will go bankrupt, but they need to have a team size that can meet the current schedule without burning out the staff and currently they do not have that. Its not just adding more writers, but camera operators, editors as well.

 

 

[VicBar]

26 minutes ago, Spec7re said:

Ya its can be very fast pace and LMG appears to run at a high pace. To be fair I'm not a Youtuber, so I don't know all the inner workings of the algorithm. Linus has talked about this on the WAN show numerous times and I don't doubt him at all...however, I often wonder if maybe, just maybe he focuses on it just a little too much if you know what I mean. In all honesty I would like to hear GN's (and others) thoughts on the YouTube algorithm and how they use it...

 

I don't remember where, or who but I've watched interviews from much larger creators and some seem to ignore the Youtube stats and just do what they like to do and are still very successful. Some have said that staring out its more of a bigger deal, but as you grow it starts becoming less and less of an issue to obsess over. So much so that some of these creators have talked about going insane trying to obsess and understand them to the point where its was affecting them . The moment some of them stopped caring and just focused on the content, the better and happier they became. I can't validate this one way or another, but I feel that Linus may obsess over them just a little too much to the point where its blinding him a little as to what is going on (lower quality, more mistakes, tired staff, etc...).

 

To be fair I don't think he's trying to be a bad person, or work his employees to the bone, but he's so obsessed with losing relavence due to the algorithm, that he's not realizing it's more the mistakes and other issues that are turning people away.

 

They may lose some money by reducing the production schedule, but as you said they make money else where (lttstore, sponsors) so its not like they will go bankrupt, but they need to have a team size that can meet the current schedule without burning out the staff and currently they do not have that. Its not just adding more writers, but camera operators, editors as well.

 

 

Totally agree. Remember youtube from like... 8-6 years ago? Everyone was talking about the algorithm and with every change a whole new conversation was always started around it. Channels like Game Theory would always have a ton of stuff to say. MatPat from Game Theory has always studied it very thoroughly and even given consultations to other channels. What you say about many creators mentioning how freeing themselves from the algorithm made them happier, more creative, have better work/life balance rings very true for me.

 

I see someone like Tom Scott.. Very different production from LMG from everything to size of team, to subject matter, etc... But he's been on a 10 year streak of posting one video per week. It's quite amazing. And his videos have millions of views. What I'm saying, I think, is that there is a balance to be made between output, performance and income to be made that LMG probably could've looked for.. but instead without being able to look back they never saw both that it was even a possibility nor that the pace they were at was not sustainable without all those major errors that have now reached a breaking point where a partner in the industry had to call the out for.

[smcoakley]

I appreciate everyone's efforts in this thread to avoid the dogpiling and trying to be constructive instead, but it also feels like a bit of armchair critique. I mean, we don't work for LMG, we don't know their internal structures and processes, so there's very little that we could offer other than very general advice.

 

"Let Terren do his job": What makes y'all think he is being prevented from doing his job? He came on only a month ago, and as he said himself, he's still working on assessing the current state of things so that he knows exactly what changes are needed. Stuff takes time, like on the order of months. Just let it happen.

 

"Permanent slowdown to ensure quality over quantity": That's very easy to say, but the tough reality is that high-quality videos rarely perform much better if at all on their channel than videos that aren't as high quality. Which means sometimes the financials just don't make sense. This isn't even a greed thing -- you have to pay your employees, and if you are reinvesting a majority of profits back into the business, then this isn't money you pocket. Less ROI on videos means you can do less expensive things overall. I agree about focusing on quality, but it is still important to have a balance; you can't go 100% on quality and 0% on quantity or the business will fail.

 

"Listen to your employee feedback": Again, stuff in the business world is on the order of months at the fast end. So how do we know that they aren't listening to employee feedback? Wasn't that the whole point of the public feedback video? I wouldn't expect action items from that video to take noticeable effect for a few months, which it hasn't been yet. That is, if viewers can notice said changes in the first place.

 

"Linus, stop calling it 'my money'": Linus has said multiple times on the WAN show that this is just an inside joke. It's LMG's money. But that's irrelevant to discretion on how money is spent. Any smart business owner knows that you must be just as wise with a business' finances as you would be your own personal finances. Actually many who are part of a small business will say they're even more careful with business money, not only because the business is important to them, but also because financial failure is a real-world scenario that they want to stay well away from. If you ruin your own finances then your family may suffer. But if you ruin your businesses finances, then all your employee's families will suffer as well as your own. Try sleeping at night with that thought.

[ColinJ451]

On 8/17/2023 at 12:48 AM, Spec7re said:

I wanted to make this thread as a way for people to post their constrictive feedback for Linus and LMG to see on what the community wants to see and how they can turn things around for the better. This isn't a threat to be overly negative without providing anything meaningful in terms of giving Linus/LMG ideas on how they can turn things around and make amends.

 

Firstly what was said in the LTT video is indeed a very good start and needs to be acted upon and taken seriously. It is very evident that the company grew way to fast and was not able to keep up with the growth in such a way that it wouldn't be detrimental to the company. I am glad that Linus and LMG are FINALLY realizing that they indeed need to slow down. As the old saying goes, Less is more and I really think LTT and Linus specifically needs to always keep this in the back of their minds at all times. As Yvonne said, LMG is not fighting for survival on YouTube, you don't need to go at this pace. It's ok to slow down and make sure the quality is upheld. I myself work in health care and agree with Yvonne's sentiment that the smallest of details matters. Who wants to have a medical test procedure done on them, or their friends and family unless the health care facility has all of their ducks in a row BEFORE taking on patients.

 

My  ideas for Linus/LMG are as follows:

1. Slow down... I know you've already acknowledged this, but it needs to be a permanent mindset, not a temporary one.

 

2. Personally I would temporarily put a hiring freeze across the board, unless it is a dire position that needs to be filled, or else the company will die type situation. IMHO by doing this, it will allow LMG to make sure they have all the proper policies and practices in place before on boarding anyone new. Not only will this help the current team, but ensure that newer employees have the proper training and resources to succeed and help keep the quality up that LMG is striving for.

 

3. In terms of the Labs, I would put any new, or upcoming projects hold until you have all the practices and procedure sorted out for your current testing equipment/testing procedures. Unless the equipment is needed to get the current ones up and running, do not buy anymore for the time being. Ensure that you have everything figured out for all of your current equipment before buying new ones (ie: training, policies and procedures, etc...).

 

4. If not being done already consider doing test runs regularly to ensure there are no gaps in the system. If it means making a "fake video" that isn't going to be released, but used as a way to test all of the internal practices to ensure the quality is being upheld. This doesn't have to be a weekly thing, but it could be monthly, annually, or bi-annually. For example in my work place we often do what we call "mock code blues." It not an actual code blue, but is treated as one. It's a way for us to find gaps in our response/handling of the situation in order to find ways to improve them, either via training or amending our policies to make them better. That way if we ever have to respond to an actual code blue, it will ensure it the best damn response we can provide.

 

5. Test, test and re-test. If it means the video is delayed, then so be it. If it means paying employees double time and a half to make it happen then so be it. Don't let it slip at any cost just to meet a deadline. While I appreciate this can be difficult with new product releases (CPUs, GPUs, etc...). It needs to happen consistently no matter what.

 

6. Linus I know you have talked on the WAN show over the years that you knew well before a video was released that it didn't end up how it was intended and/or up to your standards. As a result you tried to make the best of it (which I admire and respect), however IMHO if a video does not live up to your standards in any capacity, it either needs to be delayed until it can live up to the standard, or tossed out outright. While I can appreciate from a business point of view this costs the company money via the time people have put into it, you cannot let the standard slip at any cost, even if it costs you money. This isn't to be a knock on the people working on it, but rather keeping up the standard. This has to be constant no matter what. This includes insuring things like having a proper well through out scoring system when doing a secret shopper type video.. Obviously I am ignoring the videos are are meant to purposefully be fun with banter and joking around, but when it comes to reviews, educational topics etc.. the standard cannot be lowered.

 

7.  When it comes to sponsors and how they treat customers and being customer focused, it HAS to be consistent. IMHO Asus should have been dropped at least temporarily until they turn things around. While not as egregious as Anker's situation, it was still very bad. It's very evident here on this forum that many people are having various issues with them as well. I know Linus has no issues dropping sponsors, but the response needs to be consistent no matter what. What can vary is deciding whether you will ever work with them again, as every situation is different, but the messaging has to be consistent, or else it "appears" that LMG plays favourites with certain sponsors, reglardless of how many times you explain it on the WAN show.

 

8. Linus I know you are a giant ball of energy, it's one of the reasons why your community likes you and follows you, however, as much as we may enjoy your chaotic energy at times, it cannot  affect the company. Please slow down continue to listen to the community and your fellow peers. Furthermore, listen to your staff. You have built a company with people around you who care about LMG and the overall quality LMG wants to deliver. While I am sure you still are holding up your end of the bargain and have not watched the video your employees uploaded, there was one general sentiment that was shared across the board ... that being LMG and the video release cycle was way too much and way too fast and was affecting the quality of the videos.  I know this was acknowledged in the video recently, but please keep your chaotic energy that we all love for the camera and be a little more reserved when it comes to the company and helping it grow. Less is indeed more...

 

For now I am out of ideas lol, but I just wanted to share some constructive feedback in hope that some of these things can be considered in the hopes of making LMG better as a whole.

 

It's going to be a long road with a lot of hard work to rebuild some of the trust that has been lost, but always strive to be the best you can be, no matter what.

I was going to start a thread along the lines of what changes do you think will happen as a result of the last week.

 

I am still watching old LTT videos and the only issues that have a major concern of the last week are the serious allegations from Madison tbh, suggests the culture in some parts of the company needs significantly addressing however this could be an individual or a department but unlikely the wider organisation.

 

I am not of the opinion that test and retest is necessarily required, silicon lottery, deadlines and expectation suggests that this is not a serious issue IF reviews of the data is properly looked at and anomalies picked up on. I am not wanting dry data driven content on the main channel, I stopped watching GN a year ago and and only browse HUB when its a product that interests me but there is a lot of overlap and duplication.

 

I wonder if the CEO will be able to cohesively bring the department heads better and let Linus focus on the bits he is best at, videos, vision and focus on the wider style. However Short Circuit needs to scale back to less intensive and more quicker unboxings with data available if viewers want it available.

 

I wonder if Creator Warehouse, Floatplane and the Lab will need to be scaled back based on the significant down scaling of financial projections and additional costs that this will lead to

[ColinJ451]

On 8/20/2023 at 3:12 PM, Needfuldoer said:

Should "review" videos get released under their own channel/banner? To me it seems a little disingenuous to expect a video titled "Team Green Strikes Back: Nvidia RTX 5070ti Review" to be received as a serious journalistic effort when it's sandwiched between "Melting CHEESE With a GPU! Fondue Pot PC Build" and "I Couldn't Believe THIS is REAL!".

It would normally be a Short circuit, unless it is part of a release cycle by the manufacturer which would then be on LTT

[ColinJ451]

 The comments from Linus in this to merch messages are very telling 3 months ago

[Owsleygarcia95]

3 hours ago, VicBar said:

Does this ring true to anyone?

 

@Spec7re
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxsmIjuxdJGoaWuRNp2_hN5qGdov1kt3iY?si=CP2Jj4dlx-QG7CaM

This is a clip from that employee video and I'd like your take on it...

 

GN said that the deadline and output is largely "self-imposed" and most other people I've heard comment on it agree.. That "no one is forcing LTT to post so many videos".

And I personally totally agree.. But I've known for a long time that Linus doesn't see it that way. He interprets "The Algorithm", stats and Analytics and sees that he NEEDS to grind himself (and his team by extension) "OR ELSE...".

 

Or else they might fall off, they won't make it, their investments are on the line.... But does it ring true?

Obviously there is a HUGE component of those things, but ever since (a while back now) Adsense isn't even their largest income is it really still a "pace set by Youtube, the audience and the Tech Industry in general" as Linus puts it?

It seems like there should be a way to generally maintain the schedule, but put in some kind of formal process for delaying some videos here and there. Doesn't seem like it would be the end of the company if they didn't upload a video occasionally.

[VicBar]

18 minutes ago, ColinJ451 said:

 The comments from Linus in this to merch messages are very telling 3 months ago

Can you give us a timestamp? it's almost 3 hours long I'm not gonna go searching, sorry  D:

[ModernAmericanPro]

On 8/16/2023 at 6:48 PM, Spec7re said:

My  ideas for Linus/LMG are as follows:

1. Slow down... I know you've already acknowledged this, but it needs to be a permanent mindset, not a temporary one.

I feel like the piece of this that some people miss is that YouTube is a grow-or-die platform. Viewers come and go, and some even literally die. If channels aren't growing their audience, then they are dying. Supporting an enterprise the size of LMG requires growth, not slowness. The algorithm seems to favor speed, so LMG must too.

 

Personally, LMG is entertainment for me. I don't expect them to have perfectly accurate data until such time as they demonstrate that they are capable of producing that data. So far they haven't matured to the point where they can catch all the errors, so I just factor that into my watching and my trust. 

[Zergom]

Steve is only telling a half truth on the self imposed timelines argument. When it comes to product reviews, you better have your review ready to go live when the embargo lifts. Timelines are always insane in broadcasting, ask anyone who works in local news.

 

I just hope that LTT utilizes its lab as its competitive advantage and kills it in the QA department. That's the biggest thing they were lacking, proper QA. I've owned and operated a business, and quality assurance is the hardest piece to figure out.

 

There's so much constructive feedback in this thread though, and I hope LTT staff are reading.

[gravis778]

I did post on the YouTube channel, but if they read the thousands of comments there, I would be surprised. To me, I almost laughed in their last video where one of the guys (I cannot remember who) said that he was in charge of making sure there was no NSFW content in the videos. I must say, they are not doing a very good job at that - the inuendos all over the channels are awful. Truthfully, I had been wondering for a while how women in the 21st century were okay working for a company like that, then Maddison's story came out. I think what shocked me even more was the LTT response to it - if you have been watching the channel at all over the years, you should not be surprised to hear that there was harrasment in the workplace. The vibe of the show is that it is a bunch of college frat guys who never grew up. The fact that there is a swear button on the Wan Show is kinda proof of this.

 

All that being said, I love LTT and the other channels because it is entertaining, and not just informative, but you can be entertaining and funny and not have crude humor. I mean, I think the question should be if Linus would let his daughters watch something like The Wan Show, and if not, there is a problem there. 

 

So my biggest suggestion is to grow up a bit, clean up things a bit and make it safe for work and family friendly. If you do that, it will help the culture of the company, and then you will have much less of a chance that allegations like Maddison's will pop up.

[LSDave]

When LMG is venturing out in doing videos on tech other than computers (Home Automation for one example) They should consult professionals on best practices for design, and installation, before executing projects like that. I know the spirit of the channel is DIY, but at least get guidance from someone who does the job day in and day out on how something SHOULD work, before hacking together solutions that are just bad ways of doing things. I know people like the jank factor, but maybe keep the jank in here-and-there when executing a PROPER design.

I'm a certified "Programmer" for Crestron, Savant, Control4, Lutron Homeworks and URC, as well as I run Home Assistant Along side some of those systems in my own home, and write one off drivers for the "pro" systems, so I understand DIY as well. But it was rough watching those videos on Linus's house.

 

Self proclaimed experts without training OR heaps of self taught experience shouldn't be guiding LMG on large projects like that.

 

All that being said, it would be curious to hear a "1 Year Review" from Yvonne living in the house with all the DIY smart stuff.

 

Looking forward to see how LMG makes adjustments to move forward in a more positive way.

[ColinJ451]

10 hours ago, VicBar said:

Can you give us a timestamp? it's almost 3 hours long I'm not gonna go searching, sorry  D:

There are quite a few of them throughout, talking about reviews, the way Short circuit was set up, errors were a factor of life that he accepted but wasn't happy with, it was around 1hour to 2 hours plus. 

[Jignesh Chauhan]

Below are some points.

 

1 - Quality over quantity, there is a lot said about this in the forum.

2 - Don't lose the fun aspect of the video, but there are some videos that needs more serious tone and have proper conclusion. Off late there were a lot of videos which has and abrupt ending.

3 - Look to realign the team internally where every necessary. Example - Colton who is a part of the leadership team he heads the business development team/sales team. Colton should not be managing HR functions. May get in to conflict of interest internally. Skillset and mindset for sales and HR function are way different.

4 - Trust the team - When an organization becomes way too big, it is difficult to manage. Trust the team to do the right thing. I am not sure - why before this saga, Linus was not allowed to watch the feedback video from this team. Most the LTT team did call out to focus on quality and not have this relentless video upload schedule.

This is hot take for some - No time sheets logging for employees. I will try and explain, this point is in line with - to trust the team more. Time sheets is a rabbit hole. Once an organization starts maintaining time sheets most of the time, they dig in for efficiencies as much as possible. It reflects in quantity over quality & primary goals is to publish a high volume of videos every week.

Trust the team to do their work and focus on quality.

This needs an attitude change. 

 

I am hopping LMG is brainstorming few of these ideas. 

[merch22]

I am completely new to this forum, English is not my first language and I would probably not be speaking up if not for this "incident", the reason being that I was happy with what LTT had to offer so far. They are not theoretical idols.

I think I have some understanding of what's going on now (I have difficulty documenting long sentences in English, but reading and listening are not a problem).

LTT must change, I see this as an opportunity for LTT to become more competitive. If it survives without going in the wrong direction.

Let me offer a few observations and perspectives here.

 

The output of productions, has to drop temporarily, not because they are not competent enough, but because they are having problems optimizing their processes in the process of growth.

Let's be honest, a ”YouTube company” has over 100 employees? They are on the cutting edge of the industry, no one is better qualified to manage this organization.

This organization has come to this point in a patchwork, and that too in a very short time.

I'm no expert on organization building, and I can only hope that they will produce good results. And I only want to see results.

 

Work environment aside (whether one is in heaven or hell is subjective, the reality is often somewhere in the middle) one thing that would be an improvement would be clarification of responsibilities.

100 people is a lot, but clearly less than the organizations I've been a part of,  and we are systematically pursuing a chain-of-command.

 

Regarding the production side of the story,LAB need to be utilized more, It's not everyone's bible or archive, it's a support role for the entire organizations.

They may be busy, but they should give top priority to LMT videos, both communication and daters.  my feeling is, what is LAB doing?

I feel that for some reason LTT's main channel overlaps with shortcircuit.

LAB has the most optimal role in the power they have.

Independent channel under LMG with the most datadriving contents.Sounds boring, but I have a feeling someone is demanding it.

 

So this is what I think the future.

LTT:Main channel, Linus is in charge, which is a big project or series and interesting hardware that the public can't experience, such as Linus's House, Tech Upgrade, Corporate Tour, etc.The best channel to make you say wow or provide a laugh.

LAB:Find some one in charge. The most cruel review channels provide users with data that no one can complain about, and are feared by companies. metal to metal comparison, We don't need kindness for the weak.

SC:Unboxing channel. Get the spac right PLZ,At the same time, it's not a bad channel to embody the employee hobby to the fullest. Point the camera at more employees maybe. No need to make it less personal opinions. But lets get date right.

 

Other channel is fine now.

[Rex Hite]

LTT/LMG/Labs should stop pretending they are doing serious work for serious people. They should frame their content in the context of 'fun' and 'toys', (which they often do), but there should be an audio and written disclaimer as part of the presentation.  If their audience and critics still fail to grasp this, then that would be the audience and critics failure, not Linus and the team. Given the most common, in depth, subject matter for LTT, (maximising gaming performance or enjoyment through hardware), a disclaimer shouldn't be required. But apparently it is.

[Cooldoe]

15 hours ago, Rex Hite said:

LTT/LMG/Labs should stop pretending they are doing serious work for serious people. They should frame their content in the context of 'fun' and 'toys', (which they often do), but there should be an audio and written disclaimer as part of the presentation.  If their audience and critics still fail to grasp this, then that would be the audience and critics failure, not Linus and the team. Given the most common, in depth, subject matter for LTT, (maximising gaming performance or enjoyment through hardware), a disclaimer shouldn't be required. But apparently it is.

I think they did tried to do that

By separating short circuit with LTT where review and unboxing is separated. But still some people think short circuit video is a review.

 

I think they have done so much review that the way they are doing unboxing also mimic a review