The Tyranny of Tiny Procedures

I had one of those small revelations this week while volunteering at WLLO. Not the kind that makes you a better person. Just the kind that makes you stare at your computer screen and think, “Well… that’s fascinating.”  NOT.

Some people love procedures.

Not the big ones that explain how the whole operation actually works. No, those are apparently far too ambitious. I’m talking about the tiny procedures.

Procedures for how to format a recap email.

Procedures for when to send the recap email.
Procedures for how to label the recap email.
Possibly soon, procedures for the proper emotional tone of the recap email.

Meanwhile, the actual core responsibility of the job — the main thing we’re all supposed to be doing — hasn’t been written down since 2020.

That would be me.

Five years ago I updated the document explaining how the whole system works. Step by step with screen shots. Since then it has apparently entered the category of Ancient Historical Artifacts.

But the tiny things?  Oh, the tiny things are thriving.

There is something comforting about tiny procedures. They create the pleasant illusion that we are controlling chaos. If the bullet points are neat and the formatting consistent, surely the universe itself will fall into line.

I understand the impulse. Truly I do.

But sometimes it feels like we have procedures for the commas but not the sentence.  Give people a big messy responsibility and they will instinctively organize the parts that are easiest to control.

The spreadsheet columns.
The email headings.
The folder names.

Meanwhile the real work continues to rely on the oldest system known to mankind:

The workers remember how it works.  The new Team Lead?  Not so much.  Which brings me to the quiet truth about volunteering.

The people who keep things running are rarely the ones writing procedures about them. They’re too busy actually doing the work.

Answering the emails.
Returning the phone calls.
Solving the problems.
Entering service requests. Sending them to volunteers.
Finishing the tasks someone forgot yesterday.  (Even after I sent her an email because she sent another request three times and a more pressing one not at all)

They just get on with it.  And maybe that’s how most organizations survive.  Because at the end of the day, things don’t run on perfectly formatted procedures.  They run on people who show up, figure it out, and keep going.

Even if the recap email doesn’t follow subsection 4B of the Procedure for Tiny Procedures.