Working in the Age of Corona
One of my favorite sayings is that you get resourceful when there's a gun to your head. And now, as we all look down the barrel of that hideous viral weapon, we are scrambling to adapt to a global re-ordering of our habits, our assumptions, our priorities and our jobs.
The notion of working remotely has been around for years. Before Corona we heard a lot of talk about distributed teams and that officeless work environments were the wave of the future. Well, the wave has crashed on the beach, violently, only it turned out to be a tsunami, and not a lot of businesses were prepared. It’s time to keep from drowning.
As you will realize, working remotely is not as simple as setting up Slack and taking video calls on Zoom. But I defer to the experts. What follows is useful instruction on how to do it better, smarter and manage more effectively:
A Curated List of the Best Remote Work Resources – books, blog posts and plenty of ideas.
GitLab’s Guide to All-Remote – GitLab is the world’s largest all-remote company. Here’s how they do it.
The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work – consider this a class in Remote 101.
OpenView: How to Keep Your Company Aligned While Your Whole Team Works Remotely – reading for the manager.
The Manager’s Manual for Remote Work – a field guide, of sorts.
How to Keep Your Mental Health in Check When You Work From Home – ways to avoid the pitfalls and loneliness many remote workers face.
A cursory reading of history suggests no generation fails to experience some profound event that shapes its collective beliefs and alters the future. Think of the Great Depression, world wars, 9/11. That time is upon us again in a most sudden and insideous way. This watershed calamity will leave lasting marks on each of us and will likely fundamentally change some basic assumptions about the meaning, and the importance, of many things. The definition of the workplace will surely not escape such scrutiny.
This writer is being forced, like the rest of you, to discard established routines and embrace the unknown, to trust in our company’s great (and now remote) team, to rise to the occasion and give our clients - and ourselves - the best we have. This is where the resourceful part comes in. You can do it too. Carpe Diem.
Finally, in this grim time let us not forget the gift of humor, often the best medicine for all that ails us. Have a Laugh
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