PG #53: How can we support each other

Please take care of yourself, and each other.

We were impressed by the transparency of David Walsh’s recent Dark Mofo 2020 Statement regarding the cancellation of this year’s festival, in which he shared his personal decision making process. It has prompted us to share some of our own thinking and actions here at Paper Giant, in case there’s anything useful that can be adapted from it.

This began for us last Tuesday, when we really began preparing for the impact of coronavirus. We started by asking all projects to undertake a risk analysis, using the following questions:

• What if everyone on the project team needed to work from home for two weeks?
• What if all travel needed to be cancelled?
• What if the project timeline needed to be extended by a month?

We asked them to consider: How would you handle these things? What contingency plans would you need to put in place? How and when would you communicate this to the relevant parties?

By Thursday, it was clear this was coming sooner rather than later, so we encouraged a teamwide work from home day on Friday as a way to test out our remote working systems, tools and practices before they’re mandated.

This week, our focus is on making the transition to completely remote work: Do all of our staff have home internet? A desk? A decent chair? A monitor? Which online collaboration tools can we use? How will we support each other from afar?

By the time this email goes out, we may have pivoted again! The most important thing is to check in with each other, check on the advice from government, and perhaps check out of the news frenzy from time to time.