Our city (Cebu) is going into an enhanced community quarantine starting this weekend. That basically means only one person per household can go out and only to buy basic necessities. All public transport will be shut down. Only the most basic businesses, such as food, water, pharmacies, and banks, will remain open.
These are trying times indeed.
Though the quarantine period is tentatively set to end after one month, it does seem a bit too optimistic to think the problem would be close to resolved by then. I guess if everyone does their part, it should be. Nonetheless, it might be wise to simply think of this as the new normal, at least for a while.
In a software business where remote work is not as much a struggle as in other industries, I feel it would eventually become our responsibility to continue working at home even as others would start to go back to their normal daily lives. I think it makes sense in the interest of keeping the curve as flat as possible. (On that note, it seems bizarre that “working from home” has now generally started feeling like a responsibility, more than a benefit.)
On the bright side, I think the free time we’ll have on our hands is a golden opportunity for learning – to read books you’ve always looked forward to reading, to learn that new skill online you’ve never had the time to try, or even to start an online community to learn from others and with others.
More than that, I think this period of uncertainty in itself is definitely something we’ll be learning a lot from. We’ll learn more about ourselves and how we react to stress. We’ll learn ways to cope with isolation and with pressure at the same time. We’ll learn about those around us and how they react to isolation and stress. We’ll learn new ways to connect through the wonders of technology we often take for granted.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ll learn more about our society – both the good and bad – and how we might make it better moving forward.
As our company founder Rhett Jones challenged us, “one day, when we look back at the great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020, we’ll ask, ‘How did I handle it'”? Here’s to hoping you’ll be proud to tell your story years from now. Stay safe and looking forward to better days ahead!
Dexter is an engineering manager at Synacy, a co-founder of ATeam Business Software Solutions, and founder of TechManagement.Life. He loves to share his experiences and thoughts on managing software teams and running businesses.