{"id":15531,"date":"2020-03-16T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T21:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psoda.com\/global\/?p=15531"},"modified":"2024-03-19T00:12:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T00:12:37","slug":"pandemics-and-project-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psoda.com\/global\/2020\/03\/16\/pandemics-and-project-managers\/","title":{"rendered":"Pandemics and Project Managers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nI never thought that my first blog after my holiday would be about a pandemic, but here we are.
\nUnless you\u2019ve been living under a rock, you\u2019ll know that COVID-19<\/a> is currently rampaging its way around the world. It\u2019s disrupting everything in people\u2019s lives \u2013 from travel to work to social gatherings and in most instances we\u2019re woefully under prepared. You just need to look at the headlines about panic buying of toilet paper.
\nSo as a project manager what should you be doing?<\/p>\n

Risk register<\/span><\/h2>\n

Your risk register should have pandemic on there \u2013 most likely with a very low probability. Mine does because I came through the swine flu saga a few years ago and learned a whole bunch of lessons from that as a result. It\u2019s not comprehensive and is out of date but the bones are there.<\/p>\n

Pandemic plan<\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s worth checking if your organisation has a pandemic plan or even a business continuity plan that includes a pandemic scenario. Even if it\u2019s completely out of date, and it\u2019s likely to be, it will have some useful nuggets of information.
\nIf a plan doesn\u2019t exist it is well worth creating one, as when things do start to happen it will move quickly and you might not have a lot of time.
\nThings to consider:<\/p>\n

Restricting travel<\/span><\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve made the decision to ban all overseas travel until the COVID-19 situation has resolved itself. We\u2019re lucky that everyone who was overseas is safely back in the country and were not in countries with outbreaks.
\nWe are using video conferencing tools to mitigate the lack of travel.<\/p>\n

Face to face meetings<\/span><\/h2>\n

We will stop face to face meetings where there are 5 cases in our local area. As of writing there is 1 local case. In the meantime, we have said no physical contact, no handing out business cards and no close proximity to other attendees. We have also said there will be no physical note taking or pen sharing.<\/p>\n

Quarantining staff<\/span><\/h2>\n

My plan says that any staff that have travelled through countries or areas with active cases will be quarantined at home for 14 days. We also say that if anyone in an employee’s circle of friends and family becomes unwell the employee should self isolate.<\/p>\n

Working from home<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the key things in my plan is the working from home option. I\u2019ve made sure that it includes provision of the necessary equipment and security, including remote access.<\/p>\n

Health and Safety<\/span><\/h2>\n

Before you let people work from home you need to consider your health and safety obligations. Just because staff work from home, this doesn’t absolve the employer of their responsibilities. Before staff work from home you need to make sure you’ve done a risk assessment and have helped the employee mitigate those risks.<\/p>\n

Information security<\/span><\/h2>\n

This is an often overlooked part of a major disruption event. Both when planning to work from home but also around disseminating information. Nefarious types are very aware of the panic and thirst for information and have no hesitation in using pandemic related headlines in emails and other phishing attempts. It\u2019s worth making sure that your IT\/Information Security team are included in the plan and that they are able to set up laptops and other devices with the required security before they are needed. All too often this is overlooked and is required NOW, forgetting that the IT team are also going to be wanting to, or have to, work remotely.<\/p>\n

Internal and external communication<\/span><\/h2>\n

Keeping people informed about what is happening is critical during an emergency, especially one that changes almost hourly like the COVID-19 situation. As a project manager, it\u2019s your job to make sure that everyone gets factual, accurate and timely information. I use a number of government and medical websites as well as reputable news sites.
\nI\u2019ve also added COVID-19 as a standing agenda item on our regular catch up meetings. It\u2019s gone a long way towards reducing people\u2019s anxiety.
\nI\u2019ve also shared our plan with key suppliers and customers so that they are aware of what we\u2019ll be doing. We\u2019ve been lucky that they have also shared their plans so that ours can be more robust.<\/p>\n

Tools<\/span><\/h2>\n

Most modern organisations are well set up to manage remote working, so some tools to consider if you don\u2019t have these things in place already are:<\/p>\n