The I.T. in Team

If ever there was a time we needed to work together as a team, it’s now! As a nation, as businesses and as families, we all need to pull together to get through this time. Ironically, we find ourselves in total lockdown and in a situation as a business where we can’t even be in the same room.

I believe that as humans, we need to interact with others to live our best lives. Together we accomplish so much more. I don’t think we were ever meant to be alone. That’s one thing that this time in lockdown has been made clear to me.

It feels like something is missing. I’m unsure whether it’s just that I don’t like my own company, or that interacting with others face to face brings something to life in us that lies dormant without collaboration?

Our new office at home

Here at EQ, we pride ourselves on how we work as a team, collaboratively, flexible and always with empathy. We work hard on our process to ensure we get the best results for our clients, but also so that all the members of our team contribute, feel valued and have input into the project execution. The result is customers who can connect with their users and a team who are proud of what we have produced together.

We are very fortunate to have access to tech that allows us to keep doing what we are doing, even in times of lockdown and social distancing. The immediate environment may look different, but at EQ we are still able to follow our process in the same way.

Daily stand-ups are more like daily sit-downs now that we have to use video conferencing, but this remains an essential start to the day. It’s hard not to be nosey and check out team members’ houses, and we laugh a lot. We sometimes have special guests with team members looking after their children. All this being said, we can have a face to face meeting without being in the same room.

So maybe there is an I in team? Or should I say IT? We are very thankful for applications like Zoom, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp and others that enable us to continue our collaborative way of working at this tricky time for businesses.

Like all of you, we are only a couple of weeks into this, and already it has made me appreciate my team, the way we work, and how much I think we can take each other for granted sometimes.

We’ll get through this

Times like these can make you re-evaluate your life and truly appreciate what you have around you. Sometimes that only happens when we get the opportunity to stop and really look at what we have around us.

I know this is a difficult time for us all and that I am in a privileged situation that means I can still work; others are not so lucky. But let’s see the best in this situation. Sure, it’s inconvenient, but let’s keep positive, help each other and keep that spirit of teamwork alive during this time of isolation. We are all a button press away from being able to see or speak to someone. Let’s keep going, we will get through this – let’s make this time count!

Our thoughts are with all everyone who is either suffering from the effects of Corona Virus or who has lost someone to it.