Hi Richenda. Thanks for posting this; a discussion on the value of direct work is long overdue!
Two main things come to mind. One is a consideration for retaining people, and the other on the choice of comparison class.
Retaining people—I agree with you that losing people is bad. A key consideration is which people you want to retain most. In A Model of an EA Group, I claim that:
Trying to get a few people all the way through the funnel is more important than getting every person to the next stage.
Since groups are time-constrained, they can do only put on a certain number of activities. All else equal, it seems we should favour retaining those that engage with the key ideas of Effective Altruism most. By prioritising direct work, we run the risk of losing people who would benefit greatly from, say, career planning sessions or 1-1 meetings. This is because even with the best people, being active in moving them through the funnel is super essential, and if you engage in a tradeoff with retaining people earlier in the funnel, it’s very plausible that they will stagnate. Supporting those who are willing to do indirect and high-impact work is in fact supporting those who are willing to do the most good, and people we should most want in our community.
I think this is a particularly important consideration because all your conclusions from retaining people can be ‘flipped’ (in a quasi-crucial way (lol)) if you agree that retaining people far down the funnel is more important.
Choice of comparison class—Throughout the post, a comparison between direct work and some other activities is made. I’m not sure the other activities belong to the right comparison class. Some properties of these activities:
(Activities that are)
not directly beneficial to your life
mostly academic
(Groups that are)
largely focused around meeting weekly and discussing philosophical issues
(Groups where)
opportunities to actively apply EA are fairly limited.
I think I’m pretty much in agreement that if a group is doing these things, then direct work is probably an improvement. However I don’t think that groups should be doing these things. The relevant comparison should be made between the best known community building activities that groups are able to do. Career planning sessions combat the above, and can (as an example) successfully act a first line of defence against people who want to be more active.
Last thing—You mention opportunities that seek to
empower talented and ambitious altruists to upskill and make strides towards the impact they are best suited to deliver in the long term
I really like this, and I’m fully on board with this type of direct work. A small concern is that opportunities like this might ‘lock people into’ careers that are disproportionately available to people in (maybe just student) groups. As an example, fundraising seems to be particularly easy to do, whereas getting experience in AI Safety as an undergrad is a fair bit harder, and maybe not even desirable.
By prioritising direct work, we run the risk of losing people who would benefit greatly from, say, career planning sessions or 1-1 meetings. This is because even with the best people, being active in moving them through the funnel is super essential, and if you engage in a tradeoff with retaining people earlier in the funnel, it’s very plausible that they will stagnate.
To be clear, I don’t suggest universally prioritising direct work over other activities, only that direct work (given its benefits) should be considered in some circumstances. Typically, I would expect this to involve EA groups running a portfolio of activities which includes direct work opportunities alongside other activities. In many cases, EA groups won’t be so strictly bottlenecked by sheer number of hours available to run activities, but rather by interest of attendees (and event organisers) or ideas for events, and so on. For example, there is likely a limit to the number of times that career workshops or 1-1 meetings can be repeated (especially in the case of medium-smaller groups), which may be met before organisers run of our time or energy to run any more events. This is particularly so if different kinds of events would engage different organisers to run them and attendees to attend them and engage them in different ways. I would also anticipate diminishing returns on core activities, such that even if, for example, career workshops or 1-1s are the highest impact activities (on average), on the margin additional different activities may be more impactful (as well as complementary to these other activities).
That said, I’m happy to discuss the hypotheticals presented here.
First, responding to your point that ‘we should try to get a few people through the funnel’. On the one hand, it is precisely my point that there are high-potential, high talent individuals who won’t go all the way through the funnel (or who will leave/regress/value drift, despite having passed through the funnel) precisely because there aren’t sufficiently engaging opportunities for them to get their teeth into.
On the other hand, while I agree that it is plausible that in some or even the majority of cases, a small number of high impact individuals will deliver more value than a large group of lower impact individuals, I am very wary of concluding too far in advance where this balance lies. There are some cases where a dispersed group of individuals can collectively have a major impact (EA NTNU), there are cases where a group does not have any individuals that are likely to fit into CEA’s model of either becoming major donors or moving into high impact careers, and finally there are cases where groups are able to push a few high talent individuals through the funnel while also more deeply engaging less high impact individuals (CZEA). Finally, as clarified above, I think there are some high impact individuals who won’t go all the way through the funnel unless you provide them with tangible practical options. In this instance pushing folks through the funnel is directly aligned with increasing opportunities for direct action.
Supporting those who are willing to do indirect and high-impact work is in fact supporting those who are willing to do the most good, and people we should most want in our community.
It’s not entirely clear to me why you think that this is the case.
Many individuals likely to make enormous sacrifices to do the most good , are also likely be turned off by a group that is insufficiently practical. I know from our qualitative interviews with EA Organisers in 2017 that many organisers with a proven record of impact also experience the need for regular and tangible experiences to retain their motivation, optimism and enthusiasm. This is why I argue that it “seems prudent to adopt a psychological model of EAs that better reflects reality” in this article.
I think I’m pretty much in agreement that if a group is doing these things, then direct work is probably an improvement. However I don’t think that groups should be doing these things. The relevant comparison should be made between the best known community building activities that groups are able to do. Career planning sessions combat the above, and can (as an example) successfully act a first line of defence against people who want to be more active.
Your suggestion that most EA Groups aren’t made up of regular discussion groups is interesting. The impact assessment results, many of which were shared in this article, do illustrate that a significant number of groups are in fact busying themselves mostly with discussion meetups. I would not wish to speak a word against this, because in some cases that is the right strategy for the group in question. The role of many groups is to keep existing EAs motivated and supported while they individually deliver impact through earning to give or career progression. However, many groups reach a certain stage where they’ve saturated their networks with career workshops, they’ve attracted all the high impact individuals that they are likely to in the near future, and they begin to run out of options, and report struggling to retain interest and group motivation. I think, too, that the data shared in this article shows that some individuals don’t feel that outreach activities are very satisfying. e.g. this quote from a member who completed the Local Group Survey, regarding ways the community could support members better: “More social events and more direct impact (rather than indirect, like spreading awareness and getting pledges).”” It is telling that the single most recurring request LEAN receives from organisers is for ideas and suggestions for further activities and volunteering opportunities.
Hi Richenda. Thanks for posting this; a discussion on the value of direct work is long overdue!
Two main things come to mind. One is a consideration for retaining people, and the other on the choice of comparison class.
Retaining people—I agree with you that losing people is bad. A key consideration is which people you want to retain most. In A Model of an EA Group, I claim that:
Since groups are time-constrained, they can do only put on a certain number of activities. All else equal, it seems we should favour retaining those that engage with the key ideas of Effective Altruism most. By prioritising direct work, we run the risk of losing people who would benefit greatly from, say, career planning sessions or 1-1 meetings. This is because even with the best people, being active in moving them through the funnel is super essential, and if you engage in a tradeoff with retaining people earlier in the funnel, it’s very plausible that they will stagnate. Supporting those who are willing to do indirect and high-impact work is in fact supporting those who are willing to do the most good, and people we should most want in our community.
I think this is a particularly important consideration because all your conclusions from retaining people can be ‘flipped’ (in a quasi-crucial way (lol)) if you agree that retaining people far down the funnel is more important.
Choice of comparison class—Throughout the post, a comparison between direct work and some other activities is made. I’m not sure the other activities belong to the right comparison class. Some properties of these activities:
(Activities that are)
(Groups that are)
(Groups where)
I think I’m pretty much in agreement that if a group is doing these things, then direct work is probably an improvement. However I don’t think that groups should be doing these things. The relevant comparison should be made between the best known community building activities that groups are able to do. Career planning sessions combat the above, and can (as an example) successfully act a first line of defence against people who want to be more active.
Last thing—You mention opportunities that seek to
I really like this, and I’m fully on board with this type of direct work. A small concern is that opportunities like this might ‘lock people into’ careers that are disproportionately available to people in (maybe just student) groups. As an example, fundraising seems to be particularly easy to do, whereas getting experience in AI Safety as an undergrad is a fair bit harder, and maybe not even desirable.
Thanks again for the post!
Hi Charlie. Thanks for your reply.
To be clear, I don’t suggest universally prioritising direct work over other activities, only that direct work (given its benefits) should be considered in some circumstances. Typically, I would expect this to involve EA groups running a portfolio of activities which includes direct work opportunities alongside other activities. In many cases, EA groups won’t be so strictly bottlenecked by sheer number of hours available to run activities, but rather by interest of attendees (and event organisers) or ideas for events, and so on. For example, there is likely a limit to the number of times that career workshops or 1-1 meetings can be repeated (especially in the case of medium-smaller groups), which may be met before organisers run of our time or energy to run any more events. This is particularly so if different kinds of events would engage different organisers to run them and attendees to attend them and engage them in different ways. I would also anticipate diminishing returns on core activities, such that even if, for example, career workshops or 1-1s are the highest impact activities (on average), on the margin additional different activities may be more impactful (as well as complementary to these other activities).
That said, I’m happy to discuss the hypotheticals presented here.
First, responding to your point that ‘we should try to get a few people through the funnel’. On the one hand, it is precisely my point that there are high-potential, high talent individuals who won’t go all the way through the funnel (or who will leave/regress/value drift, despite having passed through the funnel) precisely because there aren’t sufficiently engaging opportunities for them to get their teeth into.
On the other hand, while I agree that it is plausible that in some or even the majority of cases, a small number of high impact individuals will deliver more value than a large group of lower impact individuals, I am very wary of concluding too far in advance where this balance lies. There are some cases where a dispersed group of individuals can collectively have a major impact (EA NTNU), there are cases where a group does not have any individuals that are likely to fit into CEA’s model of either becoming major donors or moving into high impact careers, and finally there are cases where groups are able to push a few high talent individuals through the funnel while also more deeply engaging less high impact individuals (CZEA). Finally, as clarified above, I think there are some high impact individuals who won’t go all the way through the funnel unless you provide them with tangible practical options. In this instance pushing folks through the funnel is directly aligned with increasing opportunities for direct action.
It’s not entirely clear to me why you think that this is the case. Many individuals likely to make enormous sacrifices to do the most good , are also likely be turned off by a group that is insufficiently practical. I know from our qualitative interviews with EA Organisers in 2017 that many organisers with a proven record of impact also experience the need for regular and tangible experiences to retain their motivation, optimism and enthusiasm. This is why I argue that it “seems prudent to adopt a psychological model of EAs that better reflects reality” in this article.
Your suggestion that most EA Groups aren’t made up of regular discussion groups is interesting. The impact assessment results, many of which were shared in this article, do illustrate that a significant number of groups are in fact busying themselves mostly with discussion meetups. I would not wish to speak a word against this, because in some cases that is the right strategy for the group in question. The role of many groups is to keep existing EAs motivated and supported while they individually deliver impact through earning to give or career progression. However, many groups reach a certain stage where they’ve saturated their networks with career workshops, they’ve attracted all the high impact individuals that they are likely to in the near future, and they begin to run out of options, and report struggling to retain interest and group motivation. I think, too, that the data shared in this article shows that some individuals don’t feel that outreach activities are very satisfying. e.g. this quote from a member who completed the Local Group Survey, regarding ways the community could support members better: “More social events and more direct impact (rather than indirect, like spreading awareness and getting pledges).”” It is telling that the single most recurring request LEAN receives from organisers is for ideas and suggestions for further activities and volunteering opportunities.
Thanks Charlie. Just posting to say I’ve seen this and will respond more fully soon!