Sorry for the confusion! I think the name “Task Force” might give a misleading impression of the scope.
In practice, as this point states, “Currently the total time on this project is about 1 full-time equivalent, mostly from Julia.”
You can kind of see this “Task Force” as something like, “A project where Julia talks to a variety of people around the EA ecosystem over a few months to put together some useful lessons learned and advice going forward, and Ozzie and Sam both help steer that process.” This isn’t something that’s really sanctioned/created/overseen by other senior EAs, you could probably think about it as a project from the few of us. As you flagged, the fact that this team has some connections to the organizations means that it comes with significant limitations, though I’d flag that this also brings some benefits.
I’m personally putting in around 5 hours a week into this, over the course of a few months, as a volunteer.
I think that EA could use a lot of reform, including around sexual misconduct issues, as you flagged. I expect this single initiative to be one piece of improvement, but I also really would like there to be a whole lot more going on. I sincerely hope that others don’t think, “There’s something called a task force happening, so there’s no more need for further work here.”
Hello, couple of points. 1) To me, your definition isn’t what a “task force” means (a temporary grouping under one leader for the purpose of accomplishing a definite objective.) 2) If you are affiliated with OP or CEA, unless you very explicitly say you aren’t working on their behalf (I didn’t see this in the post- I apologize if I am wrong), you will be seen as both having an affiliation with your organization and based upon that authority in the EA movement on behalf of that organization. 3) If it isn’t sanctioned by EA organizations, who is paying for it? 4) This doesn’t address or really give sufficient air to Lilly’s point which is whether fairly or not, members of said task force have had concerns raised that they may have made mistakes in the area of dealing with complaints around sexual misconduct. It therefore raises questions again whether fairly or not, about the possibility that they may have blind spots that would impede their ability to recommend an effective range of reform in this area. 5) I do not love the trend I feel I keep seeing with CEA-related projects where they say or imply to a lay-person’s definition “I own Y” so everyone else backs off and then nothing happens and they then say “Oh actually I don’t own it and here’s why the word I used doesn’t mean what reasonable people think it would.” I think Lilly’s critique is carefully thought out, she clearly took the time to engage despite obvious reasons not to do so, and I don’t think this response does her justice. Thank you.
Now, Julia has her response above, which goes more into detail than mine did. I hope that helps clarify things a bit.
Some further responses: 1) I think the phrase “task force” has been used in different ways before. That said, this phrase is definitely causing confusion, so we’re renaming it. 2+3) Julia and Sam are doing it as employees of their respected organizations. There are clear affiliations. I think there’s a gradient between, “Things that the organization leaders are spearheading” and “Things that certain employees are pushing for, and the heads are allowing, but not particularly overseeing.” I’m just saying that this project is closer to the latter than the former. 5) I definitely didn’t indent for our posts to claim “We own this whole space”, and am sorry if we gave that impression. I’m really unsure if this has actually caused others to not be active here.
Sorry for the confusion! I think the name “Task Force” might give a misleading impression of the scope.
In practice, as this point states, “Currently the total time on this project is about 1 full-time equivalent, mostly from Julia.”
You can kind of see this “Task Force” as something like, “A project where Julia talks to a variety of people around the EA ecosystem over a few months to put together some useful lessons learned and advice going forward, and Ozzie and Sam both help steer that process.” This isn’t something that’s really sanctioned/created/overseen by other senior EAs, you could probably think about it as a project from the few of us. As you flagged, the fact that this team has some connections to the organizations means that it comes with significant limitations, though I’d flag that this also brings some benefits.
I’m personally putting in around 5 hours a week into this, over the course of a few months, as a volunteer.
I think that EA could use a lot of reform, including around sexual misconduct issues, as you flagged. I expect this single initiative to be one piece of improvement, but I also really would like there to be a whole lot more going on. I sincerely hope that others don’t think, “There’s something called a task force happening, so there’s no more need for further work here.”
Hello, couple of points.
1) To me, your definition isn’t what a “task force” means (a temporary grouping under one leader for the purpose of accomplishing a definite objective.)
2) If you are affiliated with OP or CEA, unless you very explicitly say you aren’t working on their behalf (I didn’t see this in the post- I apologize if I am wrong), you will be seen as both having an affiliation with your organization and based upon that authority in the EA movement on behalf of that organization.
3) If it isn’t sanctioned by EA organizations, who is paying for it?
4) This doesn’t address or really give sufficient air to Lilly’s point which is whether fairly or not, members of said task force have had concerns raised that they may have made mistakes in the area of dealing with complaints around sexual misconduct. It therefore raises questions again whether fairly or not, about the possibility that they may have blind spots that would impede their ability to recommend an effective range of reform in this area.
5) I do not love the trend I feel I keep seeing with CEA-related projects where they say or imply to a lay-person’s definition “I own Y” so everyone else backs off and then nothing happens and they then say “Oh actually I don’t own it and here’s why the word I used doesn’t mean what reasonable people think it would.”
I think Lilly’s critique is carefully thought out, she clearly took the time to engage despite obvious reasons not to do so, and I don’t think this response does her justice. Thank you.
Now, Julia has her response above, which goes more into detail than mine did. I hope that helps clarify things a bit.
Some further responses:
1) I think the phrase “task force” has been used in different ways before. That said, this phrase is definitely causing confusion, so we’re renaming it.
2+3) Julia and Sam are doing it as employees of their respected organizations. There are clear affiliations. I think there’s a gradient between, “Things that the organization leaders are spearheading” and “Things that certain employees are pushing for, and the heads are allowing, but not particularly overseeing.” I’m just saying that this project is closer to the latter than the former.
5) I definitely didn’t indent for our posts to claim “We own this whole space”, and am sorry if we gave that impression. I’m really unsure if this has actually caused others to not be active here.