Website manager Laura Hall is a Gen-Xer whose main coping skill is putting the tech down and doing something else: baking, gardening, painting. Here she tells us what tech – and what other things – are getting her through self-isolation.
There is a long-standing myth that we webby computer nerds never go outside and now it’s true! Three weeks ago the web team started working from home, last week my husband came home from work with a fever so we went into self-isolation, and now this week the whole country is in lock-down.
For work it is now all about the right tool for the right job:
- video calls – saying hello on video quickly because it is cheering to see another human and then diverting to audio only to save the bandwidth
- experimenting with Microsoft Teams for meetings and using the chat function on the side for typing questions, sharing additional info, or adding messages for specific individuals. Rather than interrupting whoever’s talking
- Trello – already having our to do lists and work in progress boards set up in a place where we can share and access it through the cloud means we haven’t had any difficulties carrying on with our work as normal from our separate homes. It has also been a useful tool to help us work closely with our colleagues handling the emergency communications. Even though they’re also working from spare rooms and dining tables
- Whatsapp – we’ve got a team conversation going so we can let off steam, and share photos from the surreality of our new home/work lives
It makes work easier and simpler having conversations openly in real time on shared digital work spaces. Instead of endless back-and-forth email threads which not everyone can see. This is crucial right now especially. On the other hand it can be a struggle having so many communication channels on, so now and then I switch them all off for an hour to let my brain rest and so I can concentrate.
It also makes work easier and simpler right now if we just trust each other, keep talking and remember to be kind. Navigating this strange new era is hard for everyone.
Other stuff that’s helping me through:
- getting up early to get some quiet time alone every day
- doing Youtube exercise videos from Yoga With Adriene and PopSugar
- going back to basics: forget email, instant messaging, Whatsapp groups and Twitter threads!! Just pick up the phone – like it’s the 90s ?
- knitting – something I’ve been doing for years because it is calming, plus the online knitting community can always be relied on in a crisis ♥
- revelling in the fact that in my home office I can have ice in my drinks, put Spotify on loud and wear my dungarees all week long
Onward. Together.
