Remote Work in Times of COVID-19

Video Conferencing Is Not a Solution Either

Now that so many people are working at home, the question arises how to work together well remotely.

The world is holding its breath in the face of this Corona pandemic. Social distancing is urgently needed to slow down the spread of the virus and to prevent overloading health systems. For many, this now means that they must work remotely. And this in the long run and not just for half a day in the home office because the plumber is coming.

So let’s talk about how this geographically distributed collaboration can succeed. Now simply conducting all the previous meetings as video conferences is only a mediocre solution: If you digitize a shitty meeting, then you have a shitty digital meeting. (Following the statement of Thorsten Dirks, the former CEO of Telefónica Germany, about digitalization)

Video conferencing is only part of the solution. Distributed collaboration also and primarily requires written and asynchronous communication. Especially when everyone is sitting in the home office with children and partners and has to get everything sorted out somehow. So all the tips about good video conferencing that are now emerging remind me a little of Henry Ford: “If I had asked…