Remote Product Management during a Pandemic: Bandwidth Running Low
by Davide Cis
These are difficult times for everyone and many involved in the Boston Product Management Association community are working from home. We recently held a Slack Chat to discuss working from home best practices and tools and the BPMA community is working hard to identify effective ways to help their members and the Boston product world as a whole. It is humbling and inspiring to see how we are coming together to give each other practical and moral support.
While many involved with BPMA can work from home, less than one in three Americans have telecommuting as an option (see here). We are among the privileged ones that during a pandemic, at least for now, can still work full time and receive a salary. While this is a privilege for the minority, working from home during a pandemic presents new challenges that working from home would otherwise not have.
Technology keeps us going
We have plenty of tools to make our remote work easier. Just in my case, on a regular day, I video and voice conference using Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Zoom, WebEx and GoToMeeting. I message using Skype, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and text messaging. Occasionally, I may also take a regular phone call and I still use e-mail. I know many others leverage these and more tools.
While technology lets us do things that years ago were not possible, it does bring its own challenges. When working remote, time management becomes important as many feel the necessity to remain available at all times of the day. Working in an office gives life a certain time cadence and commuting offer bookends to your day of work. Working from home makes your time more fluid and it is challenging at times to turn off for the day.
It never stops
As I am writing this article, my children are keeping busy with remote homework and a remote play date. My wife (more than me) and I have learned to home school and have found plenty of resources to keep our pupils engaged in learning. I know of other families whose children are also remote learning, are working from home, or are recent graduates searching for occupation (a most difficult task these days). While it looks like Internet Download and Upload speeds are able to manage the increase in demand, our human bandwidth is running low and the house feels like it shrunk in dimensions. At the end of the day, we are more exhausted than we have ever been. The chores of running a household are now non-stop, every day, with no breaks. Should I add that there is still no end in sight to this Pandemic?
Don’t Stand so Close To Me
Team interactions are a key component of a successful Product team and Product Managers must recreate these interactions even when everyone is remote. Adjusting to this new working paradigm imposed by the pandemic, is particularly challenging for those, like me, that during ordinary times would be in an office. We need to adjust our own expectations about these interactions and must compensate with more frequent, and possibly shorter, check-ins. I argue that web cams should be on at all times, at least as an incentive to wear some decent attire and getting out of those pajamas.
Grit and Resilience
I am sure I am not the one breaking it to you: this new way of working will be with us for quite some time. Once the novelty (if any) wears out, we will be left with the challenges of the new normal. In all the circles I am part of, a shared recommendation is about over-communication: with your team, with your manager, and with your family. More than ever before, the times you spend with each are now intertwined. Make sure you control your time, and balance each other's bandwidth. It will be an investment that will pay off beyond the pandemic and it will make our relationships stronger than ever.
The Hidden Lesson
Every crisis brings with it some opportunities and learning that alter the way we think and operate at a fundamental level. This time spent in the confines of home, where the outside world seems to have shut on us has also revealed some insights that can help us become more productive once we return to the normal. There is more willingness and sensitivity towards our colleagues, increased collaboration and faster decision making. That client meeting which took weeks of follow-up to schedule, is now on cards, collaboration tools are no longer confined to internal product meetings. When you return to the old normal, turn to some of these new ways - this time, you might be surprised to be received with ‘willingness’.
About the Author
Davide Cis is BPMA Blog Manager. Davide is constantly searching and applying best practices of product management to enterprise software. When Davide is not reading or listening about products and strategy, he is probably watching Italian Soccer or tasting Italian wine.