The Lives Remembered
A Eulogy to Denni Gautama, a tremendous leader, and a good friend
On July 29th, we lost Denni Gautama, the CTO of Transport & Accommodation at Traveloka. In Denni, we saw a great leader, an amazing mentor, and a true friend, and, obviously, losing him was not something we foresaw. There were so many contributions that he had done for engineers and our company. In this post, we will remember the virtues that he embodied.
For many of us, Traveloka creates the ultimate solution in flight, accommodation, and lifestyle needs. The platform wouldn’t have been here without the help of many engineers, which Denni partook in leading. He mastered the world of developing products and computer science, but his enthusiasm also lied in growing the people around him.
Nurturing and Respecting
I have heard about his career story before. He started his career in Surabaya, Jakarta, Singapore, and eventually moving back to Jakarta to join Traveloka. One thing that I truly remember from many of our conversations is how he always wanted to make engineers feel respected and honored for what they are creating. To him, being able to work in something he was passionate about is wholesome, but appreciation should also come along with it. He knew how it felt to be disregarded, somewhere in his long journey in tech, and he didn’t want it to happen to any of Traveloka engineers. His drive in nurturing and respecting his colleagues is something that I and many others deeply value.
As a technical person, he surely had an immense understanding of how to create the most out of design review. Denni always drove us to think in a bigger picture. He fluently challenged our concept, and often said, “Have you thought about doing this and that?” or “How about we do it this way?”
It always seemed like you would have a solution when you consulted your concern to Denni, even when it had nothing to do with work. You could sit and talk to him on a matter outside his expertise, such as finance and tax, and you would get a good insight from him. To many of us, Denni is just purely intelligent and impressive.
Denni also always showed up in the time of need. When Traveloka was still much smaller, we used to have quite a number of unexpected errors and bugs. This situation could be frustrating (and maybe even chaotic) to both engineers and the product team. This was the time when Denni usually took his role. He set himself as a contact point to bridge between engineers and the product team. Denni kept everyone aware of crucial information, including how long the hotfix would take, and how the progress was. He knew what to do, and he alleviated the messy and jumbled circumstances into a much tolerable one, showing his reliable self at numerous critical times.
Openness and Trust
There are many things that I know everyone will miss from Denni. His openness and trust will be on the top of everyone’s mind. He genuinely cared for the wellbeing of his friends, and he realized the importance of giving and receiving an evaluation. Denni often experimented on how to gather feedback and questions from his team, and it got trickier when the team expands in size. It was no longer possible for him to handle one-on-one sessions with his team members like he used to, and that’s why Feedback Friday was created in the first place. Feedback Friday is a weekly Q&A session, an initiative from Denni for everyone in the team to give inputs or ask questions directly to him. The questions and feedback can be submitted through an online form, which people can fill out anonymously. Some questions that he posted on Friday night can be pretty serious, but most of the time, they were funny and enlightening. We always admired the way he thought and handled questions (even the one that I think was pretty brutal) without offending anyone. Denni, by a quick observation after reading Feedback Friday from the beginning, was a very wise man. None of us think he ever answered by discounting back the writer’s opinion, but instead, he gave a broader standpoint.
He was amiable and approachable, very open and easy to talk to. He listened for the sake of listening, not the sake of responding. I am sure no one felt intimidated when they spoke to Denni, considering how humble he was despite being a senior in tech. He never stopped to engage and empower the people under him. If we can assign any quote to humans, Denni will definitely be another version of “to lead people, walk behind them,” a quote by Lao Tzu.
It is a great honor to work with him, and it’s a huge loss to know that he is no longer with us. The kind of dedication that he had given wasn’t something that happens because someone forces him to do so. It all comes from his passion and commitment to help people through technology.
Rest in peace Denni, we will remember your guidance, support, and kindness all this time with pure gratitude.
Thank you for spending your time in remembering Denni, our genuine leader in engineering. We will continue his contribution and impact in the area of technology the way he used to.
