Which challenges in the transition to remote did Zühlke master? Which ones are yet to be addressed?
Ioana: The transition to working from home was quite smooth: We had collaborative online tools in place already and the VPN has been working well for access to all systems and tools, so the technical workplace challenge has been mastered. What I miss is a proper whiteboard and being able to move sticky notes. The virtual tools just don’t quite beat the real-life experience.
Eadred: Yes, in terms of the tooling we've got what we need. We’re also proactively sharing best practices on how to improve our virtual work: Kevin (Regional Director), for example, did a great job at presenting back after his first fully remote discovery phase very early on in the lockdown. In terms of general support and the mental health aspect, there's been lots of help offered and check-ins, and I know there are people who’ve got my back for it. So that's been very good. Zühlke is a very supportive environment in that regard.
A challenge that people (not just at Zühlke) are yet to master is the different etiquette of online video meetings. Lags can easily lead to people accidentally interrupting each other,and then it’s not quite clear who goes first. It’s almost like you need to say “over” after every sentence, and I think this can sometimes rob meetings of a bit of their spontaneity.