XST was created in early 2022 under the leadership of Linch Zhang,
[...]
From mid-May onwards, we’re planning to have 4 FTE executing this [XST] strategy: me (Ben), Marie, Jam, and Renan. Linch is pursuing a separate research agenda related to longtermist strategic clarity.
I’m curious what @Linch’s reasons may be for switching from research management to direct, independent-ish research, since I expect this reasoning might tie in with impact considerations and career thinking for some people, myself included.
(Please view the tag, Linch, as a gentle suggestion rather than as pressure to spend time replying.)
So at the high level, I never really wanted to be a manager. I took on the managerial job because of a combination of thinking that management capacity was an important bottleneck in EA, and believing locally that my new team could pursue important high-impact projects (I still believe both things). But I don’t think I’m an unusually good fit for management, and it certainly did not make me happy.
I think I (with the help of many others) was able to build out a strong and capable team in 2022, though our outlook and direction had to change significantly as a result of events in late 2022 (see elaboration here).
In recent months, I was/am going through some health problems and other personal stuff and could thus not devote as much time as I would like to team management, so we decided that the team would be higher impact if I focus on projects with lower time commitments and consistency requirements.
I’m curious what @Linch’s reasons may be for switching from research management to direct, independent-ish research, since I expect this reasoning might tie in with impact considerations and career thinking for some people, myself included.
(Please view the tag, Linch, as a gentle suggestion rather than as pressure to spend time replying.)
So at the high level, I never really wanted to be a manager. I took on the managerial job because of a combination of thinking that management capacity was an important bottleneck in EA, and believing locally that my new team could pursue important high-impact projects (I still believe both things). But I don’t think I’m an unusually good fit for management, and it certainly did not make me happy.
I think I (with the help of many others) was able to build out a strong and capable team in 2022, though our outlook and direction had to change significantly as a result of events in late 2022 (see elaboration here).
In recent months, I was/am going through some health problems and other personal stuff and could thus not devote as much time as I would like to team management, so we decided that the team would be higher impact if I focus on projects with lower time commitments and consistency requirements.
:care-react: