By: Pat Richards, Board Secretary, Thrive-WiSE

 

The day my younger son turned 20 years old, Silicon Valley sheltered in place. The unknowns around the pandemic coupled with the unsettling unknowns around daily life and work-life were scary and exhausting.  Questions from the existential to the mundane abounded. Would we still be productive? Could we hire and onboard new team members effectively? What if my laptop breaks down?

 

One year and nine months later, I am pleased to report that life continues. We humans sure are adaptable. I feel blessed that my family has stayed healthy (knock wood). I send my heartfelt condolences and care to anyone who has suffered or had those close to them suffer.

 

My team delivered technical partner readiness for 3 feature-rich releases and took on new challenges around the cloud. We came together stronger after a major reorganization, lost some team members to “The Great Resignation” and welcomed new team members.  We accomplished this by making sure to over-communicate using a mix of technologies. Slack takes the place of “walking down the hall” and even has the advantage of “walking down the hall” across time-zones. We meet using zoom. We moved all of our work, even non-software deliverables to JIRA. We respected when folks were offline and gave each other space to breathe. We had casual meetings and 1x1s where folks talked about subjects ranging from new-found hobbies like small-batch artisan coffee roasting to serious work issues. Essential workers at my company went into the office following safety guidelines and broken laptops were replaced in a timely manner. I am so grateful to them. We found that the key is to be compassionate and patient with each other and ourselves.

 

How do I stay in touch with my family? My sons stop by or text. I celebrate that my husband and I share lunch daily. Of course, I did have to figure out how to fit this into my routine. I call it factoring recipes. I chop and saute some onions, blanch leafy greens, and cook up a grain like brown rice. I store each prepared ingredient in separate containers. At lunchtime, I mix up a bit of each and choose a different seasoning and protein, e.g. Indian spices and chickpeas one day; basil and tempeh another day. Again, mutual compassion and patience are required to recognize the opportunity aspect of any frustrating or worrisome challenges. Another key factor is allowing myself and others to be not OK at times. I have discovered that providing such space affirms the feelings of other people and myself which is comforting in itself.

 

Do I want to return to the office full time? No, but I will very much value meeting colleagues in person a couple of times a week when it is safe.