Covid19's Impact On Linnovate’s Operations-A COO’s Perspective
Netanel: Take me back to pre-Covid at Linnovate. What was it like? Were you prepared? What did you have to do to prepare?
Oron: I remember sitting in the office at the end of January, scrolling through the news and it started becoming real. The news was just starting to come out about the pandemic in China, and as it continued and started to spread in Europe, we felt it was the real deal. We immediately took it seriously and understood that things were going to change.
It was at that point, we realized actions would need to be taken so we can shift to working 100% remotely and make it a smooth transition.
We started to gather and prepare equipment. We needed to make sure that if we were to start working from home, people would have computers and a proper internet connection. Some might have said we were jumping the gun, but in retrospect, we were right on time, if not ahead of the game. Our focus was to be prepared in case we were going to shift to a work from home model. We learned that some of our employees didn’t have sufficient connections, so we took the time to upgrade their systems and connectivity.
The second step we took was by meeting with the team and explaining that things are going to be different. I’m quite sure most of them didn’t realize what is about to happen.
I remember standing in front of 30 or so people at the beginning of March and saying,
“There is a real probability that we will be working from home starting next week. It can take weeks, even months, We will all have to adjust. From a mental health perspective, we all have to be prepared for what we know until now is going to change.”
Thankfully we took it seriously and realized the reality in time. We began taking steps to transition about a month before the first lockdown.
In the middle of March, we started working from home. We needed to adjust our workflows. While working in the office, the project managers were able to walk over to the developers to check-in, beyond our daily scrum. It was all done in person. There was a certain kind of chemistry we had going. But now, while working from home, we have to schedule calls, at 15-minute increments, per account. It’s harder to stay organized this way, but we certainly increased our syncretization between all of our teams.
It certainly wasn’t easy but because we work in the software sector, we’ve all had experience working remotely before. The biggest factor now is we are 100% remote and that takes a toll on everyone and some time to adjust.
Operationally, the first part of the lockdown was good. Everyone was picking up the slack, and going the extra mile. There was a real togetherness that could be felt throughout the entire organization, which helped keep Linnovate functioning.
In my opinion, it went better than expected. It was smooth sailing. Even though the kids were home, no one had school, everyone understood it was going to be challenging. Yet, everyone pitched in to make it successful.
The next stage of the lockdown, with fewer restrictions, meant that people could start coming back to the office. Operationally and from a project manager’s perspective- our focus was to maintain the same level of productivity.
Netanel: How were the project timelines affected?
Oron: We’ve established a flexible working day, in an effort to consider familial responsibilities, teams are working throughout the day/night. So we’ve given the flexibility but on the other hand, as part of a team, you need to be synchronized. Working at different times throughout the day isn’t the best recipe for synchronization. But we’ve been managing; everyone is on one team and has been very understanding, including our clients.
Oron: The team is definitely stronger
People are much more versatile. They’ve adapted well, working under tighter deadlines than previously, but the objective challenges are having to play by the rules of Covid and the Ministry of Health. From all this, we will come out of this a bigger and better team.
Netanel: Has there been any Developer burnout?
Oron: There has been burnout. It’s happened occasionally. We’re living in a difficult time.
My management style is to be sensitive to everyone’s needs. Working remotely makes this harder but because it’s important I put a lot of emphasis on this. Just speaking about work on zoom, creates less room for small talk and daily check-ins. People have feelings and pressures. It’s important to be open, honest, and forthcoming when it comes to these things. Patience, especially with kids home, has been one of the factors that have helped us maintain a people-first company.
We always make it a point to mention during our weekly, entire team meeting, that if someone needs help, beyond work, please let us know. We’ve always been doing this. In-person you can see people’s faces. You can see if someone is going through a rough patch or if there are external stressors.
We continue to emphasize that we are here for anyone who needs it. We are not perfect, but we make it a point and will continue to push forward.
Netanel: What does the virtual scrum look like?
Oron: For every big project, we have a daily standup/daily scrum. These meetings generally include the entire development team and the project manager. We use this time to check in with the developers, go over any specifications, create tasks, and hear feedback from everyone.
I’ll give you an inside look at other meetings during the week that are happening virtually now due to the restrictions and our work from home model.
Our daily operation team meetings include current or short-term workflows, the team’s achievements, as well as actual and potential problems.
Once a week we have a project management meeting. During these meetings, we get into details like timelines, bottlenecks, and finances.
The resource management meetings have become tighter, more focused and we find ourselves being much more aware of the actual resources necessary for a project.
Because of the pandemic and our new model, this has become more precise, with less room to make mistakes.
Take driving for example. My hope is that when you are driving in a residential area, you are focused on the road to prevent any accidents. When you drive on the highway, because of the high speed, you must be even more focused. For me, it feels like we are on the highway right now, and we must remain ultra-focused.
Netanel: How much emphasis is being put on automation compared to the manual process?
Oron: Our day to day challenge is to be more automated. We are working on automating the monitoring and reporting process.
If you compare what we have today compared to what we used to do 2 years ago, there is a world of difference. But if you compare what it will look like 2 years from now, I think it will be universes apart.
We go the extra mile to give our customers full transparency. The monthly report has specific details, the date, duration, specific tasks in the GitLab, obviously within GitLab you can see everything related to the specific task, including the specific milestones or screen.
We also want to monitor ourselves, to be more precise and productive.
Generating reports take a very long time. The manual process involves many independent steps and programs. Therefore, we are building a tool that will automate everything. We’re synching tools to create a fully transparent report. Combining these together is challenging but it will streamline our work process and perhaps the entire development community.
Netanel: Have you thought about which work model Linnovate will take on in the post corona era?
Oron: In my opinion, philosophically, the world has changed and won’t return to what it was pre-covid19. I think we will have our office, but we will likely have a hybrid approach with some coming to the office all the time, some working strictly remotely and some coming in once or twice a week.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the world adapts.
Hoping everyone stays healthy and be in touch about Linnovate’s solutions, support and software, a top IT service and consulting company.
