First the big news. The Coronavirus has finally hit home for me. They have closed the office (seriously subsidised) canteen from today. This is a big blow as the food was really nice – including a hot meal choice – and was only a little over three quid! It would be cheap at home – here it is a miracle!

More seriously it looks like all my remaining workshops this week are going to be via Hangouts – which kind of negates the point of being here – but so be it.

Todays workshop was really good – an interesting project, with some clear benefits, working in an agile manner, embracing some modern development techniques. Familiar issues with info security, stakeholder expectations and engagement, committed time for people and a rotating cast of people from the supplier. Felt good to get into it.

Got a call from HQ to check up on me – it is clear Coronavirus ‘fever’ is in full effect at home and I think people realised I’d gone abroad for a project during a pandemic and were second guessing that a bit! It is fine – I am a lot less stressed over here than I was thinking about being over here. I’m a bit concerned about getting home if things don’t improve but for now I’m relaxed.

I have to be honest it has been interesting watching all the increased interest in (and testing of..) remote ways of working. On the one hand this is really good and I hope it sticks as things need disrupting. On the other hand I’m forking terrible at working remote and I hate it. It is terrible for my mental health – which isn’t great for my physical health. Not to mention my effectiveness nose-dives. So much of what I am good at requires me to be around people – whether influencing people, leading teams or just soaking in knowledge and somehow it all just falls apart when I try to take it online.

Oh well.