Busy Ops vs Business Ops (and Italy in Scotland)

Busy Ops vs Business Ops

I have a Nessa career.

Whilst not part of the founding lineup of All Saints I do often say “When I was a teacher” or “Back when I ran a restaurant” or “In my marquee days”.

This week’s insight comes from the “When I ran nightclubs” chapter. I used to be an event manager for promoters. This meant? I was responsible for the delivery of the event working in partnership with various venues around the country.

One night we had a gig at Brixton Academy, a 5,000 person venue in South London. I forget who was playing but it would have followed the usual pattern of 9pm doors, headliner at 1am and then through to 6am.

At the Academy I always had an office*. About 1.30am my boss arrives. He finds me sitting at my desk, feet up, watching TV.?

Boss: “Don’t you have any work to do?”

Chris: “This is me doing my work. I’m just doing it very well.”

There are some event managers who like to buzz around. They like to be on the radio the whole time. They like to be seen, and heard, and walk 70,000 steps for every event and wear their blisters with pride.?

All strength to their bow. I am / was not that kind of manager. I do the work in advance, I set things up right, I ensure comms are in place, I make sure people know when and how to escalate and then I chill out. There is plenty enough work to do at an event without creating more.

Of course, things go wrong. Every night, at some point, you would have found me blue-arsing it around a venue either because something outside of the plan happened; the aim was always to revert to a point of stasis with things working quietly and undramatically.

This story is my mantra for business operations. Good Biz-Ops happens with nobody noticing. It happens quietly and without fanfare. It relies on systems and processes and not on people and fire fighting.?

A test of this is whether your COO / VP Ops / Operations Director can take two weeks off the tools. Properly. No work at all other than the comfort blanket of being on the end of the phone if needed. If they come back and nothing is on fire then that’s great. If they have to be bothered frequently then that’s a good learning opportunity. You can look at exactly what you were contacted about, identify why it happened, decide whether it was an edge case and if not, design it out of your systems. Rinse. Repeat.

There is a downside to this though. Nobody wants to be the “I’m not really sure what they do.” team member.

It’s a horribly loaded phrase that translates to “You’re not useful here”.

Good operators often get forgotten about when the glory is being distributed. It’s the curse of ops people that we never get noticed until stuff goes wrong. Everybody got paid on time again this week? Big whoop. Minimum standards don’t get biscuits…?

Very few people will know (or care) that their paychecks cleared on time because of a system that took effort and expertise to build, because of detailed financial planning, because of cash flow monitoring, and because of systems that warn when public holidays might disrupt banking cycles… because of business operations.

To pull another analogy out of the quiver, think of Operations as the beating heart of an organisation. Obviously I would say that because I’m biased, but the metaphor works. Your heart muscle doesn’t fatigue. In the normal course of things you don’t notice it at all. From before you are born until the literal end of your life it thumps along, quietly doing its thing, keeping you alive.?

If your heart starts to behave like that 70,000 step event manager then you notice it. Now and then that’s fine. Running a race or watching a scary movie? All good. But most of the time we all prefer the background beat.

Celebrate the quiet efficiencies. Celebrate your Business Operators, not your Busy Operators.

* In this office I always had a printer I brought from home. This is my top tip for event managers everywhere, the man with the printer on site is king.?

A spot of Italy, in Scotland

I have spent a shamelessly small amount of time in Scotland. I’ve visited Edinburgh quite a few times and spent a week once in Buckie in Banffshire but the Highlands and Islands are really just a place I’ve heard of.?

So when I was invited to take part in the Orkney International Science Festival as part of my role as an advisor to Health Data Research UK it was a no-brainer, it helps that my wife is also involved at HDR and the invite was extended to her.?

After an eventful trip up which involved an unplanned overnight stay in Aberdeen surrounded by roughnecks we arrived in glorious sunshine on Orkney. We were staying in Kirkwall and had a glorious time, eating, exploring, seal spotting and sciencing.

The memory that will stick with me is not the stunning lochs, nor the glorious St Magnus Cathedral, nor the ancient Standing Stones of Stromness but a tiny structure made from corrugated steel.

The Italian Chapel squats next to an entrance to Scarpa Flow. It is constructed from two Nissen Huts placed end to end but from the inside you would never know. All the stonework you can see in the photo is nothing but clever paintwork. It is a simple, beautiful, place of worship.

The chapel was built by Italian prisoners of war incarcerated on the islands in WW2. They were mostly engaged in the building of the Churchill Barriers which protected the home fleet whilst it was at anchor but in their spare time they decided they needed to build something else that reminded them of home and allowed them to use the multitude of skills they had, to express themselves creatively.

At the end of the war the chapel was almost demolished, it was saved by one man, Thomas Thomson who recognised that destroying such a thing of beauty, a piece of history, would be wrong.

Despite the harsh weather the chapel has been lovingly protected and restored and remains as a reminder that even in the hardest times, there is a place for beauty and a desire for peace.

Or, as my two year old described it, “A pretty little house with a nice ceiling.”

I’m collecting these musings on Substack. If you’re enjoying them then you can follow along here: https://chrismonk.substack.com/