World is screaming over coronavirus . Many companies have started remote working already. How project management community is dealing with this situaion? Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Atif
We manage operations as usual but on-site construction started to be a bit affected and this is something out of anyone's control so we might see some schedule delays if the situation persists further.
The next few days will be interesting.
RK Saving Changes...
Riad AlhammoudProject management| LanganAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Such crisis are the true test for professional project managers to save their companies from unforeseen risks. Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Mar 16, 2020 12:30 PM
Replying to Wade Harshman
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I agree that North America has not had nearly the same direct impact from COVID-19 that we've seen in other areas such as China, Iran, or Italy. But it remains to be seen whether our response is proportional to the threat. Our primary concern with the virus is the sick and elderly, but we've seen a snowballing of unprecedented prevention measures that will have lasting economic effects. All this when medical experts are telling us we can protect ourselves by merely washing our hands.
I hope calm is restored this week, but a panicked herd is unpredictable.
Dear Wade
It is true.
Covid-19 doesn’t affect (I hope it doesn’t) in the same way all regions of the globe
Here in Portugal, the number of people who contract the virus is exponentially.
Today the first death was announced
Italy is experiencing a dramatic situation
I don't think that just by washing your hands you can prevent the spread (contraction) of the virus
I am concerned about how ProjectManagement.com can support people who are working at home
These are the people who contribute to the world economy remaining sustainable Saving Changes...
Start remote working is the solution to allow all of us stay in home. Fortunately, nowadays we have enough online technologies to communicate and share content, and this facilitates remote work. The Coronavirus passes person to person. If we stay home, the virus stops circulating. Saving Changes...
I live in the Seattle area where most of the early outbreaks occurred in the US. Precautions in the area have gone to shutting down all restaurants.. One employee at my own company tested positive, and then all non-essential personnel were sent home. I myself have seen quite a number of PM related effects.
- Working virtual is great, but if tens of thousands of new employees are suddenly working from home full time, it overloads the network. You get WebEx problems, network connectivity issues, phone line issues, and it slows things down.
- Instead of MBWA (Management By Walking Around), there are more scheduled meetings required to review project performance, and that adds overhead.
- If you don't have a dedicated "Work" workstation at home and suddenly work from home full time, you will be less efficient. Everyone in my office has at least 2 monitors. If you just take a laptop home, things like managing multiple documents is difficult, and it can be very un-ergonomic. Even if you have a nice personal office at home, it may not be easily compatible with company provided hardware.
- Your sub-tier suppliers can have their own sets of issues. You may deal with things like part shortages due to staffing issues. Even if your own business runs efficiently on a purely virtual basis, not every business you deal with will be able to adapt so well.
- Morale may start to suffer. Personal interactions, and the working relationships we build are important when facing difficult times. We chat with our co-workers, have retirement parties, eat lunches together, and other things that suddenly cease.
- Financials become critical. When many businesses are shut down or negatively impacted by the measures taken to contain the outbreak, every "nice to do" but not "must do" project gets shut down.
Some of the issues with a sudden transition to virtual work will quickly be resolved, but it does create a lot of disruption until things are stabilized.
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1 reply by Luis Branco
Mar 17, 2020 4:23 AM
Luis Branco
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Dear Keith
Interesting perspective on the topic
We can add to your list:
Quarantined children
Home relations as a result of quarantine
We starting working remote as of today. We take great pride in the safety of our employees, but we are very understanding of the learning curve, as many of the associates now working remotely who may not have done this before.
That's; Nice. Employees are the biggest stakeholders of any company. Their health and safety should be the priority of any company. Saving Changes...
Personally the shift is not too dramatic since I work remotely on a normal basis.
Organizationally I think PMI should be doing more. As an international organization we should be volunteering more of our resources in support of the efforts to manage the response to this catastrophe. Our local, state, federal and international institutions are in grave need of our talents. Our organization has a large population of retired personnel with the right skills to help. We should have a coordinated effort to assist.
yes, for remote job workers,its will be a norm. Saving Changes...
I share the same opinion as John.
ProjectManagement.com could be doing more
Probably the crisis caused by Covid-19 is still not an issue in the United States or Canada.
That's good but by keeping in consideration the worldwide epidemic, Safety measures are must for any country this time as WHO has already declared its global epidemic. Saving Changes...
I agree that North America has not had nearly the same direct impact from COVID-19 that we've seen in other areas such as China, Iran, or Italy. But it remains to be seen whether our response is proportional to the threat. Our primary concern with the virus is the sick and elderly, but we've seen a snowballing of unprecedented prevention measures that will have lasting economic effects. All this when medical experts are telling us we can protect ourselves by merely washing our hands.
I hope calm is restored this week, but a panicked herd is unpredictable.
I think PMI can officially announce some tools affiliation for free for their members in order to perform project management duties remotely. Saving Changes...
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