Being a Good Operator

You know who’s one heck of a good operator? An inspirational leader adored by all? Someone I’ve always considered a role model? Santa. The guy operates at vast scale, orchestrating billions of deliveries across virtually every corner of the globe. Navigating byzantine customs rules and thorny labor relations and animal welfare laws. He runs a highly seasonal business, with the vast majority of deliveries occurring on a single night. And he’s developed complex algorithms to differentiate his offerings based on who’s been naughty and who’s been nice. We can all learn a lot from Santa about what it means to be an ops leader, and so in honor of all the joy he brought the world last week, this Coaches Corner is about the art and science of?operations.?

CommOps is one of the most operational parts of Uber. Every week, we serve millions of users with hundreds of different issue types in dozens of languages. We process tens of millions of documents, menus and forms that keep the business safe and compliant. We coordinate the work of tens of thousands of front-line team members. It’s not quite Santa-level volumes, but we do it without the benefit of magical flying reindeer.?

It would be impossible for any one leader to directly manage (or even just be aware of) every detail of such a vast operation. So lucky for me that I don’t have to. Rather, being an operational leader is about ensuring that the right conditions are in place to drive results. In the words of legendary football coach John Popovich, “As their coach, your job is to set the bar high, inspire them to reach this bar, encourage them, and most of all, guide them in the best possible manner and in the most supportive environment.”

Whether you are leading large teams in a Center of Excellence, managing a small group of high-powered analysts or you’re an IC doing critical work to enable our operations to be successful, there are some tactics you can deploy to be an effective operator.?

• Define clear success objectives:?Santa doesn’t just hop on his sleigh and start randomly dumping legos and dolls down chimneys. The first rule of being a good operator is having well thought out and clearly articulated objectives, and then fleshing each objective out into a tangible plan.
• Create a balanced scorecard:?You need continuous insights into how things are going, so it’s essential to have an actionable dashboard. I’m a fan of the?balanced scorecard?approach because it creates ‘intentional friction’ between KPIs, which helps drive optimization and discipline. By managing to a balanced scorecard, we don’t over-index on one specific metric. Rather, we have to make smart trade-offs to optimize for the complex overall ecosystem.
• Set the right goals:?Sounds easy, but it’s not. Goals need to be aggressive enough to push the team. But not so aggressive that the team gives up on them when they feel out of reach. And you want to avoid big negative surprises that could create material risks to plans or budgets. Goal setting is an art form that you’ll get better at with practice. In CommOps, I’ve fine-tuned my radar to identify just-the-right-amount-of-complaining I need to hear from each leader about a proposed goal such that I’m confident it is pushing folks out of their comfort zones, but not so much that the goal is likely unrealistic. Set goals such that your success rate is about 70% over time.
• Ensure alignment:?If every reindeer has a different idea about the delivery route, Santa is in for a rough night. The same is true with your team. It’s not enough to just have a plan. You also need to invest time in ensuring your plan is well understood by all stakeholders. You need a plan that is aligned from top to bottom. Operations is a team sport.??
• Know the?RAPID:?It’s important that everyone knows their role. Who’s responsible for doing what, deciding what, approving what, etc.? This helps with both the speed and quality of decision making. At the North Pole, the elves are Responsible for making the toys. The kids have Input into the lists they submit. Parents must Agree to what gets submitted. Santa ultimately Decides. Imagine the chaos (and tears) they would ensue without such clarity.?
• Drive structure and cadence:?Programmatic rigor is not the cool, sexy part of operations, but it is perhaps the most important driver of success. Good operators make complexity seem simple. Don’t let the sense of monotony fool you. Operational discipline is the lifeblood of consistent and predictable execution. Define your cadence of 1:1s, operating reviews and initiative deep dives. Stick to them. Ingrain them into your team's core operating model.??
• Practice?The Five Whys:?A good operator asks lots of questions, regardless of whether things are going well or poorly. Your goal should be to get to the root cause of what is driving outcomes. That means probing deeper and deeper until you truly understand what the underlying issue is, and what needs to be done about it.?
• Sweat the details (selectively):?There’s a reason why Santa?not only makes a list, but also checks it twice. Mistakes are costly. And in Santa's case, mistakes lead to tears. A good operator knows enough about the underlying operations such that she can truly engage with and coach her team. Don’t try to know every last item on the list, but do know enough to be able to spot irregularities, identify opportunities and ask good questions.
• Have some fun with it:?Operations is serious and sometimes grueling work. But nobody wants to work with?The Grinch.?It’s OK to have some laughs and good times along the way. Santa is a stern taskmaster, but there’s a reason why they call him Jolly Saint Nick. The guy has the charisma, good cheer and jovial attitude that make the team want to put in the hard work needed to get the job done.

I hope that you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday season in the context of whatever holidays you celebrate in your culture or country. Regardless of whether you believe in Santa or not, I hope you can find inspiration in his skills and track record as an operator. And perhaps leave out some milk and cookies for him next year… just in case.

Ho, Ho, Ho,

Troy