Health Catalyst

5.0

17 June 2019

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

I'll admit, I've been avoiding posting a review for some time. In large part it's because there are *so* many good things about Health Catalyst that I know it'll take a while to share my thoughts. There are many, many pros I could talk about, but I'm going to choose the three that are most important to me. 1. The CEO. Dan Burton is one of the most remarkable people I know. I don't know him personally outside of work, but I think he would probably recognize my name and my face. In my day-to-day job I don't interact with him at all, other than listening to him in meetings a couple times per month. And yet, even with this very limited interaction, I know that he cares deeply about me as a person. He loves me, and is interested in me and my success -- not only at the company but at a personal level as well. He wants me to succeed in my life and to be happy. I had the opportunity to work with Dan indirectly regarding a team member who was given a second chance, and the outpouring of love and support (and concern) that Dan (and others) gave the person was truly amazing. The feel was that of "how can we help you to ensure this doesn't happen again?" and not, "look what you did to potentially hurt our company". I feel that without a doubt, Dan is doing his absolute best to lead this company in the right direction, and the employees are rewarded big time. I love this job, and legitimately enjoy the work I do every day. I couldn't ask for anything better than what I have. I feel blessed and incredibly honored that I'm able to work at Health Catalyst. 2. The culture. The culture is something that has to be seen, otherwise it just doesn't seem believable. At least in my division, my direct leadership trusts us to do the right things. There's no micromanaging or telling us exactly the way every little thing should be. And when I say that there's no micromanaging, I mean it. None! Not even in the least. My managers offer guidance, and there are principles we follow and align upon as a larger team, but there is also a lot of autonomy. Our teams can figure out what works best for us. It feels truly incredible to work in an environment like this, where there's not bureaucracy that gets in the way of innovation, and where those in management have egos that need to be stroked. I feel like I have the luxury to work at a place where my immediate environment is very emotionally healthy. There is no drama. I can talk to people on my team about things we don't agree upon, and we don't take offense to it. We are humble. We assume positive intent. We try to create our product in a way that makes the most sense. We function as a team and don't try to one-up each other. The team I'm in works the way a team should work in an environment that allows us to thrive. Sure -- there is plenty to improve, and we talk about what we can do better, but it's as good of a team, in as good of an environment as I've ever been in. 3. The people. Perhaps this goes along with the first two, but I really enjoy being with my coworkers. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, but almost every is a hard worker who is smart and humble. When I have a question, there is always someone who doesn't mind helping me out. In events outside of work, I frequently leave thinking about how much I enjoy spending time with these people. They're just nice, good, quality people. And it seems amazing to me that we've been able to gather so many of these people in one company.

Cons

I definitely think there are some things that can be improved, but these are not nearly on the level as the pros I mentioned above. 1. I feel like, in the R&D space, there historically hasn't been great focus on where we want to invest strategically. It feels like there have been a number of initiatives and applications that people want to build, and that have been build, and have cost a lot of money to build that still aren't providing a lot of benefit to our clients (in the sense that not many clients are using them). My perspective is that we've spread ourselves too thin, and not had really solid direction on what apps should or shouldn't be built. I believe there are steps in place to correct this, but it feels like we're investing a lot in products that haven't proven to get a lot of user support and usage. 2. Our division has done a lot to work on being remote-first, where all meetings are remote meetings. Even if people are in the office, they all join meetings remotely, so everyone has an equal opportunity to speak and be heard. I haven't been involved in leadership team meetings, but I have heard that remote employees are de facto second-class citizens because (1) it's hard to know when to interrupt when you're on the a call and you can't always see the body language of everyone, and (2) because people do not ask for questions from or on the phone. I think it would be great if the leadership team set the example for "remote first" work by practicing it.

Health Catalyst Response

Thank you for this detailed and thoughtful review, and for your kind words. I'm also heartened to read and consider your positive experiences at Health Catalyst, including the culture and people. I feel the same way, and feel a strong desire to work every day to keep improving the team member experience and to reinforce the mission at the center of everything we do. I also appreciate your feedback regarding how we can improve. I find your two categories of improvement opportunity resonant. We are attempting to build more consistency and discipline into all of our investment decisions, including our R&D investments, as we roll out the "MBA" (Market & Business Assessment) process and use that process to inform our annual budget planning process. We just completed our first mid-year more minor MBA process last week, and I found it incredibly helpful. Part of what it showcased was that our R&D investments have yielded financial returns along a fairly wide spectrum. Some of the lower performance is caused by the relatively new products in their lifecycle, but undoubtedly some will turn out to be highlighting a lack of market traction which needs to be addressed. Decisions in this regard are complex, often with conflicting data points as to whether to continue investing or to reduce or discontinue investment. We will do our best, particularly as we approach the 2020 planning process, to be deeply data-informed as we consider what decisions will be most beneficial to the company and its mission moving forward, importantly including areas where the traction is significant and where we should increase our investment. Regarding improving the remote team member experience generally, and in meetings specifically, I agree strongly that there is much room for continued improvement, including in how I facilitate our Leadership Team meetings each week. I believe we are improving, as we are consistently using video to enhance the audio experience of our remote colleagues, and which has improved the interactivity as well. We're encouraging the use of video more pervasively in meetings across the company, and our switch to "webinar" format for each all team member meeting (including today's meeting) was a decision to choose a remote team member - friendly format. We'll keep working to improve here! Finally, I wanted to sincerely thank you for your contributions to our technology effectiveness, as one of our leaders and talented colleagues who has contributed to the company's mission and success for more than three years. I appreciate the work you've contributed to this mission and am grateful to be your colleague. Best, Dan

I Hope to Be Here for Many, Many Years - Software Engineering Director Health Catalyst Employee Review

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