Paul Thomas Walsh

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Advisor at Nirvana / freelance COO

We know not every day or week looks the same in Ops - but if you could design your perfect week, what would it look like?

Agree a clear plan for the week. Tackle a few key issues to fix/automate/scale/deliver them. Work with teams as much as possible and work with management to plan/think about the strategy (they have to all line up!). Take a step back to see if we're missing anything.. Then later in the week be honest about what worked/ what didn't (and why/whare are the metrics telling us). Meet in person to have a nice end of week celebration with team / end the week on a positive.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in Ops?

know the details within operations. inside out. If you have the details (of processes, data, touch points, workflows, client needs etc etc) it becomes an absolute super power. I didn't always realise that (coming from consulting) .. but if you're an expert on the details and can articulate that within the teams, you'll end up running the show.

What’s a system, process, or tool you can’t live without - and why?

It sounds strange, but whatsapp. it's an immensely simple, reliable and convenient (free!) tool that works for sharing ideas / updates / having calls / keeping in contact / doing quick polls / being super agile when travelling. I would be lost without it.

What’s a controversial Ops opinion you hold?

That 'operational excellence' is seen as binary, 'achievable' thing. That's nonsense. operations is all about continuous improvement / optimization and scaling processes ... day in, day out, in the best possible way. In a tough environment when everyone is working hard and there are countless problems, then a single 'win' for the day (technical, product, client, revenue etc) can be a big step forward and that is 'excellence' in itself. Most people who ask what operational excellence is, rarely have been deep in the weeds in operations/ventures/tough delivery projects in my experience.

What’s the work achievement you’re most proud of - and why?

Moving from a corporate 'stable' job in Banking in New York, to a growing scale up FinTech in Berlin. Some people thought I was mad.

What’s your self-declared superpower?

I listen to and observe what the teams are doing as if my life depended on it. leadership is 90% listening. 10% speaking.

When everything feels like it’s on fire, what helps you keep on track?

Take a step back. People act the way you act, so as a leader you need to be calm, measured and objective. Deal with the situation (client,tech issue, whatever it is) to the best of the ability, then later you can step back and think about what went wrong. Weekly incident review meetings (honest, open and constructive) should be essential in ANY organisation.