We would be naive if we didn’t consider the possibility that the Coronavirus might flare up into a full pandemic over the next few months. Here are some things you can do to ensure your engineering team keeps humming along if that happens. If the pandemic doesn’t happen at least we’ll be better prepared for next flu season.
For individual contributors
If you’re sick, stay home and take care of yourself.
Your colleagues want you to feel better and also for you to keep your germs to yourself.
Don’t come back to work until you’re fever-free for 24 hours.
If you feel like you can work, work from home rather than come back too soon and risk a relapse or sharing your illness.
Note: the CDC goes further and says to stay home until you’ve been fever- and symptom-free for 24 hours without the help of medication.
Be prepared to work from home.
Whether it’s because you’re sick, you’re taking care of a loved one who is sick, or your kid’s school is closed, be prepared to work effectively from home.
Make sure you have the tools (computer, monitor, keyboard, etc) and access (VPN, routing to AWS resources, etc) you need to do your job effectively. Don’t wait until you’re sick to figure it all out, do so now while you have the energy to tackle some bumps along the way.
Talk with your manager about your team’s WFH policies, procedures, and best practices.
Be prepared for others to work from home.
Add call-in info to all of your meetings and actually call into them. Consider ways for those working from home to participate in stand-ups and other activities (my team does daily chat-based standups, for example).
For managers
Allow & enable your employees to work from home.
Even if your engineering org prefers to have employees in the office, allow your employees more latitude to work from home if a pandemic happens. Some employees will need to stay at home and take care of their children if schools close.
Be sure to provide employees with the resources they need to work effectively from home. That might include computer hardware, VPN software, head sets, etc.
Have WFH policies, procedures, and best practices.
Ensure your employees have clear expectations for when they work from home. Be clear if you have different expectations for when employees are working from home vs working in the office such as daily status reports or check-ins. Working remotely may be challenging for some individuals who may need more structure.
Be prepared for a lot of people to work from home.
Ensure your infrastructure will handle many more people than usual working from home at the same time.
Factor potential sick time into your planning and sprints.
When doing planning, be sure to add in some buffer for people who might be out sick. You may need to take on fewer stretch goals.
And…. ?
What did I miss? What are you doing to ensure your engineering team is prepared in case Coronavirus goes full pandemic?
Digital Ramblings 