Tech
Software Development Organizations: Preparing for Life After COVID-19 (Part 1)
On Friday, June 5th at 9 EDT (sign-up: https://bit.ly/3gH0Uy5) I am presenting as part of IFPUG’s Knowledge Cafe Webinar Series. The presentation is titled Software Development: Preparing For Life After COVID-19. Putting aside the impact of the current pandemic on healthcare, the environment, or office design, there will be pressure on the bottom line that managers will react to. Being effective and efficient is table stakes for survival, let’s raise the ante and know how effective and efficient we are to protect our jobs and those of our colleagues. The first half of what will be synthesized into a script follows below.
I think we are all convinced that COVID-19 will radically impact our lives for years to come. For example, my 4-year-old granddaughter will remember the time when her mother made masks and she could not go on swings. Swings are a big deal to her. For many of us, our memories of this time will be more complex with the impact of suddenly working remotely which means spending more time with your loved ones or possibly losing a job. Even if the pandemic fades into the background we will continue to ride the ripples that have been set in motion for quite a period of time.
Part of the reason we feel this so acutely has been the speed the virus spread and the scope of COVID19 is breathtaking. While the impact is and is going to be enormous, this is not humankind’s first interaction with pandemics or epidemics. For example, last weekend my eldest daughter mentioned that this was the fourth epidemic/pandemic she had been affected by or done work on during her lifetime (polio in East Africa, cholera in Haiti, HIV/AIDS, and now COVID-19). The differences between COVID-19 in 2020 compare to the Plague of Justinian in 541 – 542 AD (worst pandemic on record, 100M deaths) are many but I think we can count our medical advances, interconnected world, and technology as being important — at least to us in the early 21st Century.
Our technology has softened the impact of social distancing and lockdowns by allowing individuals to work remotely. Being sent home from work did not mean you lost your job or all commerce stopped. Distributed teams have become the norm nearly overnight somewhat against the headwinds of the principles in the Agile Manifesto. There is every indication that in-person teams will not be as dominant as they once were. Earlier this week I talked with several people that indicated their firms did not have plans to “go back to the office” until next year. All is not perfect however, while practitioners and leaders are learning to be productive, executives are focused on guiding their firms through these troubled waters. Most of the large management consulting firms are publishing articles with advice for executives. As an example, I recently read, COVID-19: Impacts to business from PwC https://www.pwc.
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By: tcagley
Title: Software Development Organizations: Preparing for Life After COVID-19 (Part 1)
Sourced From: tcagley.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/software-development-organizations-preparing-for-life-after-covid-19-part-1/
Published Date: Tue, 02 Jun 2020 23:55:24 +0000