A Virtual Reality – How The Summer Of Covid Changed Project Management For Good

By Hector Hernandez and Kristian Nielsen
November 30, 2020

Novel Human Coronavirus (COVID-19) – A Global Event

As 2019 faded into 2020, there was a murmuring concern around a new virus, soon-to-be classified as COVID-19.

The global community was beginning to feel the presence of the new virus, that it was transmitted dreadfully quickly and possibly as an aerosol – that no therapeutics or vaccines yet existed for the novel thing. Some months after it had been identified on the global level, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. A pandemic is a global event impacting every corner of the globe causing great concern for protecting lives and reducing the death toll.

Mitigating the Risks

March 12, 2021. It is 3:00PM on the East Coast, WFN Strategies has closed its main office at the advice of the Virginia Commonwealth Coronavirus Response Team. There was a stillness in the building that is so typical of rushed evacuations, the exit signs humming a subaudible fluorescent vigil.

The Novel Human Coronavirus, now COVID-19, had come to Virginia and it was time to begin a self-defensive exile from regular life to stave off the modern plague’s progress.

This scenario played out across the entire world as each Country fought to mitigate the risks from the virus and ensure the safety of its citizens. As of this article, November 2020, these mitigation strategies of social distancing and wearing masks are still in place with most companies still working remotely from home in order to reduce social interaction and potential spreading of the virus.

In fact, the practice of working remotely has become more embraced today, than ever before. Aside from the obvious health safety benefits of maintaining a remote, or scattered workforce, businesses are adopting the practice for financial and convenience.

March – Getting People Home

When President Trump declared an impending closure of US borders for anyone traveling from Europe, we had three Canada based representatives finishing projects and coming home. After the President made his address, a volley of emails and text messages was immediately launched. Projects Team emailed Management, Management emailed Logistics and Logistics was feverishly reading up on a new fluid set of conditions for travel.

Where are our people right now? Are they being routed through the US? Canada just implemented a quarantine rule, do they have adequate housing lined up once home?

Overnight, we had to become experts on something people were just coming up with a name for.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please read it in Issue 115 of the SubTel Forum Magazine on page 38 or on our archive site here.