EA - Some problems in operations at EA orgs: inputs from a dozen ops staff by Vaidehi Agarwalla

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Some problems in operations at EA orgs: inputs from a dozen ops staff, published by Vaidehi Agarwalla on March 16, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.This is a brief summary of an operations brainstorm that took place during April 2022. It represents the views of operations staff at 8-12 different EA-aligned organizations (approximately). We split up into groups and brainstormed problems, and then chose the top problems to brainstorm some tentative solutions.The aim of the brainstorming session was to highlight things that needed improvement, rather than to evaluate how good EA operations roles are relative to the other non-profit or for-profit roles. It’s possible that EA organizations are not uniquely bad or good - but that doesn’t mean that these issues are not worth addressing. The outside world (especially the non-profit space) is pretty inefficient, and I think it’s worth trying to improve things.Limitations of this data: Meta / community building (and longtermist, to a lesser degree) organizations were overrepresented in this sample, and the tallies are estimates. We didn’t systematically ask people to vote for each and every sub-item, but we think the overall priorities raised were reasonable.General BrainstormingFour major themes came up in the original brainstorming session: bad knowledge management, unrealistic expectations, bad delegation, and lack of respect for operations. The group then re-formed new groups to brainstorm solutions for each of these key pain points.Below, we go into a breakdown of each large issue into specific points raised during the general brainstorming session. Some points were raised multiple times and are indicated by the “(x n)” to indicate how many times the point was raised.Knowledge managementProblemsOrganizations don’t have good systems for knowledge management. Ops staff don’t have enough time to coordinate and develop better systems. There is a general lack of structure, clarity and knowledge.Issues with processes and systems (x 4)No time on larger problemsLack of time to explore & coordinateLack of time to make things easier ([you’re always] putting out fires)[Lack of] organizational structureLine managementCapacity to cover absences [see Unrealistic Expectations]Covering / keeping the show runningResponsibilitiesWorking across time zonesTraining / upskillingManagement training [see improper delegation]Lack of Clarity + KnowledgeLegalComplianceHRHiringWellbeing (including burnout)Lack of skill transferLack of continuity / High turn-over of junior ops specialistsPotential SolutionsLowering the bar - e.g. you don’t need a PhD to work in ops. Pick people with less option value.Ask people to be nice and share with othersBest practice guides shared universally. [Make them] available to people before hiring so they can understand the job better before applying, so [there’s] less turn-over.Database? (Better ops Slack?)Making time to create Knowledge Management Systems - so less fire-fighting.People higher in the organization [should have] better oversight of processes/knowledge.Unrealistic expectationsProblemsEmployers have unrealistic expectations for ops professionals. Ops people are expected to do too much in too little time and always be on call.Lack of capacity / too much to do (x2)[Lack of] capacity to cover absences [from above]Ops people [are expected to be] “always on call”Timelines for projects [are subject to the] planning fallacy, [and there are] last minute changesOps team [are] responsible for all new ideas that people come [up] with - could others do it?Unrealistic expectations aboutcoordination capacityskillsetorganizational memorySolutionsBandwidth (?)Increase capacityHave continuity[give ops staff the] ability to push back on too-big asksRecognitionCreate...