Most people in IT are working from home, or are very little at the office, during these Corona times. Myself, I’ve been a part of the teams, as the architect and/or coach, creating multiple MVP applications in a matter of days, for the Flemish government, to support companies survive this financial disaster by allowing them to request premiums.
Pulled out of the comfort zone of seeing a colleague’s face on a daily base, to an online video chat mimicking that feeling. The balance between working/personal life is put under pressure. Some people had their kids at home while still working.
If you are a parent, you might know the feeling of splitting up working days into early mornings before the kids wake up and late evenings working again when the kids are in bed, or findings ways to both entertain the kids and work at the same time.
Can we make something out of this situation?
There are many tools allowing you to work remotely. Some you might be already using, for example, a Jira containing your boards and user stories. Some others might be relatively new, such as a transition from Skype to Microsoft Teams.
Not only individuals but also companies were challenged to undergo transformations due to these circumstances.
People are creative and find ways to get things done. If you’re already using digital tools for workload and communication, using this more will help you through this period.
Some companies are even considering to promote more remote work after the crisis. While some people and companies might not have had experience with working remotely and were now forced into this situation, they might now be picking this up as a new standard.
Even so, I honestly believe you need some kind of a home base where you can see and meet each other in real life. Some topics just need to be discussed face-to-face.
I’m interested in knowing, after this crisis, is your following planning poker and retrospective online? Is your team discussing communication regularly? Will you return to the previous situation after the crisis?
PS: stay safe!