This is the part of my work I’m paid for
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Hi, I’m Olga. I do business operations.
Everything that seems to run on its own… until it doesn’t, especially during growth.
I design systems that scale and sustain themselves. I’ve been an engineer, hired COO, entrepreneur, and martial artist, and spent half of my life in technology.
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I have over 20 years in technology, delivering high-quality software products globally. For half of that time, I led teams and businesses, bringing them to profitability and beyond.
I spent a decade decomposing and rebuilding operating models, turning them into stable, efficient systems.
What are operations?
Think of the operating system on your smartphone. When it works well, you don’t notice it. When it doesn’t, your battery drains too fast, photos load slowly, and the whole experience becomes frustrating.
Operations work the same way.
When they’re solid, things run smoothly, results are predictable or better than expected, and the process itself is enjoyable.
There are typically seven core areas in operations: culture and leadership, management, structure, processes, talent, technology, and data.
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I believe operations are ultimately about people. A poorly designed operating model prevents them from doing their best work.
Some principles
Strategy is simple. If it isn’t, it’s likely bad.
You can get immediate results without waiting. There are often low-hanging-fruit changes.
You don’t always need to hire more people to get better results. Often, you can get better results by letting people do what they do best. (I had a 10× increase in profits within three months after a reshuffle.)
Systems should work for people, not the other way around.
You can have effective processes that people actually like.
Operations during growth
If you want to talk through a concrete situation, or just say hello, feel free to reach out. olga.l.klochkova@gmail.com
Feedback, as written by colleagues.
“Olga’s ability to work as a leader and people manager is outstanding! She is always supportive and knows what exactly business needs are and how to address them. Olga initiated tons of reasonable changes within the organization that surely made a difference business- and people-wise. She demonstrated high level of accountability, risk and change management skills.”—R.K. Director, People Department
“I’ve been extremely impressed with her managerial skills, along with her enthusiasm, positive energy, and her “can do” attitude. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with Olga. She is incredibly hard working and invested time into motivating the teams to achieve their targets and to get the best outcome possible. She taught me how to solve problems in a more effective and efficient way and helped me address complex issues strategically and confidently.”—B.H., Director, Sales Department
“Olga is an excellent agent of change, always able to explain the ideas and I think most importantly being able to listen and adapt ideas based on the feedback. Always calm, friendly, tough, and strong as a leader at the right time.”—A.R., Director at DevOps & Infrastructure
“Olga’s great strength is to keep a clear focus and have a big picture in mind despite the ambiguity. She empowered and mentored leaders of each value stream (engineering, R&D, product, HR, infrastructure) to execute their vision – a very rewarding level of autonomy. She is tough on issues and recognizes people as the main capital, so there were plenty of opportunities for development and interesting stretchy career moves. What’s more important, she projected the mindset to risk, fail and learn and don’t have a fear of retribution.”—V.L., COO
“Olga is the most talented manager I’ve ever worked with. She is the person who cares about the team and builds the one which overachieves all business expectations.”—O.M., CTO
“In addition to her high level of expertise in change management and process optimisation, Olga brings a very positive, friendly, empathetic and clear style of leadership which effectively motivates those around her.”—Michael, Director, Account Management