Thank you for the thoughtful comment! I appreciate that my experience has informed your decision-making, but in the end it’s just my experience, so take it with a grain of salt. I also appreciate your caution; I would say that I’m also a pretty cautious person (especially for an EA; I personally think we sometimes need a little more of that).
I will say that big and risky projects aren’t necessarily a bad thing; they’re just big and risky. So if you’ve carefully considered the risks and acknowledged that you’re committing to a big project that might not pay off and you have some contingency plans, then I think it’s fine to do. I just think that sometimes we get caught up in the vision and end up goodharting for bigger and more visionary projects rather than more actually effective ones (my failure mode in Spring 2023).
It definitely has helped me think over some things (albeit taken with that grain of salt), and I’ve definitely internalized the size and risk of the project, so I’m nervously excited. Always great to hear from another organizer. Keep hopes high, don’t expect too much, and good luck in your endeavors.
Hi Leopold,
Thank you for the thoughtful comment! I appreciate that my experience has informed your decision-making, but in the end it’s just my experience, so take it with a grain of salt. I also appreciate your caution; I would say that I’m also a pretty cautious person (especially for an EA; I personally think we sometimes need a little more of that).
I will say that big and risky projects aren’t necessarily a bad thing; they’re just big and risky. So if you’ve carefully considered the risks and acknowledged that you’re committing to a big project that might not pay off and you have some contingency plans, then I think it’s fine to do. I just think that sometimes we get caught up in the vision and end up goodharting for bigger and more visionary projects rather than more actually effective ones (my failure mode in Spring 2023).
Best, Kenneth
It definitely has helped me think over some things (albeit taken with that grain of salt), and I’ve definitely internalized the size and risk of the project, so I’m nervously excited. Always great to hear from another organizer. Keep hopes high, don’t expect too much, and good luck in your endeavors.
Peace, Leopold