Resourcing and Management
An important thing that came up in the development of this toolkit was a number of resourcing points, including thinking about where resourcing might change elsewhere in the organisation caused by changes in the system, ensuring strong links with outside organisations or other teams that need to help, and making sure the team have time to reconsider and reassess project goals and dependencies as the project goes on.
- Downstream resourcing: Changing one part of the system, such as allowing customers to query results, may create unexpected demand on other teams’ time. Alternatively, customers may not choose to use this new capability at all. When planning a project, it’s important to connect with internal teams and outside representatives, where possible, to assess what changes in resources might follow.
- Strong relationships: Many of the dependencies in putting together a strong AI strategy and AIA involve working with other teams, both inside and outside the organisation. No one can do this work alone, so collaboration is normal and necessary. It’s important to build trust early, set clear expectations, and maintain open communication so that dependencies don’t become bottlenecks later on.
- Post-project resourcing: Depending on how your organisation is structured, the team that develops the new system may not be the one responsible for its implementation and long-term use. Some issues may need to be addressed after the original project resourcing and funding have ended. Teams should have time allocated for the upkeep of recently deployed systems for as long as required, and there should be a clear way of triggering an update if problems such as emergent bias arise later on.
- Reconsider and reassess: During an AIA or any algorithmic assessment process, new information may come up that prompts a reassessment of project goals and expectations after development. It is important to ensure there is a way to meaningfully pause a project or to trigger a reassessment of the resources needed, both during and after development.
Worksheets
Further Resources
Moss, E. and Metcalf, J. (2020) ‘Ethics Owners: A New Model of Organizational Responsibility in Data-Driven Technology Companies’.