EA - Underpromise, overdeliver by eirine

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Underpromise, overdeliver, published by eirine on December 12, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.This is from my blog Said Twice, where I write advice that I've said twice. I was unsure whether to linkpost here but decided to do so given that it's largely based on my experiences from running EA Norway from 2018-2021!As much as you can, try to underpromise when making commitments and then do your best to pleasantly surprise.Here are the two main takeaways I want you to get from this post:You have a certain amount of credits with your stakeholders, that can be spent or earned depending on whether you break or meet expectations.As a general rule, when it comes to managing expectations with stakeholders it's better to underpromise and overdeliver.When thinking about stakeholder management, I've found it useful to imagine my relationships with my stakeholders as consisting of some number of 'credits' that can be earned and spent. You earn credits by delivering on time, being helpful, and signalling certain virtues (like seeming professional, transparent, and kind). You spend credits when you break a promise, don't deliver on time, seem uncharitable, show up late, and so on.In this context, by stakeholder I mean someone (individual, group of people, organisation, or community) that is affected by or can affect your organisation. The type of stakeholders I'm most used to are users of a product, community members, funders or donors, collaborators, and contractors or companies that provide a service.The value of these credits isn't always obvious. Some are pretty easy to see, like whether a funder approves your application, whether an organisation chooses to partner with you, and whether someone chooses to work with you. However, sometimes the value of having a good relationship (or a positive balance) with a stakeholder is less clear and might only become apparent later on.Whose credits matter the mostSome stakeholders are more important than others, and therefore more important to make sure you keep a positive credit balance with. To know which is which, there are multiple tools you can use to map out your stakeholders.A common tool is Mendelow's matrix, also called the power-interest matrix. In this matrix, your stakeholders can be mapped across two axes: How much power they have over your organisation, and how much interest they have in your work.The idea is roughly that the more interest the stakeholders have in your work, the more time you should spend on keeping them informed. The more power they have over your organisation, the more you should ensure they're satisfied with your work. The stakeholders that are both highly interested and have a lot of power are the most important ones, and whose credits matter the most.It's important to be aware of who your stakeholders are and how important they actually are to your organisation. If you don't, you can end up spending too much time closely managing or getting input from stakeholders who you should actually just monitor and keep track of.The idea is roughly that the more interest the stakeholders have in your work, the more time you should spend on keeping them informed. The more power they have over your organisation, the more you should ensure they're satisfied with your work. The stakeholders that are both highly interested and have a lot of power are the most important ones, and whose credits matter the most.It's important to be aware of who your stakeholders are and how important they actually are to your organisation. If you don't, you can end up spending too much time closely managing or getting input from stakeholders who you should actually just monitor and keep track of.How to earn creditsWhat actions earn you credits with your stakeholder, and what actions reduce your 'credit score' will di...