The Ops Dopamine Dilemma.
Every Ops person knows the buzz of fixing things fast. But what happens when that same rush becomes the very thing stopping you from stepping up?
Here’s my take on the hidden high of operations - and how to channel it differently.
The Ops Dopamine Dilemma
There’s a certain high that comes from being in operations - and it starts early.
The rush of fixing something fast. The quiet pride in being the one who keeps things moving when everything else starts to wobble. The late-night ping that says, “Can you just?” - and of course, you can. You always can.
Ops people get hooked on that feeling. Not the chaos itself, but the meaning it gives us. We get rewarded for responsiveness, for knowing the answer, for moving at light speed. It feels good - addictive, even. The more we solve, the more we’re seen.
But that constant fixing has a side effect: it teaches everyone else to rely on us more than they should.
It’s how operations become both the backbone and the quiet crutch of a business.
At some point, though, partnership must look different - especially when everyone’s used to you being the safety net.
For years, success has looked like volume - closing loops, unblocking teams, turning chaos into calm. But real operational partnership is about something harder: saying no when the work isn’t right, questioning what lands on your desk, and refusing to carry problems that belong elsewhere.
Boundaries in ops can feel like rebellion, like you’re breaking an unspoken rule that says you should always say yes. When work peaks, you want to jump in. When a process creaks, you feel responsible - especially if you built it. But the truth is, you can’t lead the change if you’re still buried in the doing.
At some point, you must stop being the hero and start being the architect.
That shift can feel uncomfortable. It might even feel like letting people down or losing relevance. But it’s the moment where you earn real credibility - not for rescuing, but for redefining.
Because great operations aren’t about being everywhere. It’s about making sure the right things happen, even when you’re not there.
And that’s where the dopamine recalibrates. You start getting your hit from different things: from holding the line when it matters, from seeing a process you built stand on its own, from saying no and realising the world didn’t end.
Ops people have always been the quiet force behind the curtain. But the next generation of partners won’t be the fastest fixers - they’ll be the ones with the courage to pause, to try and fail, and to partner in new ways.
The power of “no” is still untapped in most ops teams. But when we use it - intentionally, confidently - we elevate the function from reactive to strategic.
And the best part? The dopamine still hits. It’s just cleaner now.