10 Months of Home Office — Time for a (Preliminary) Review

Also available in: Deutsch | Español

This article is a snapshot from the winter of 2020. It is a case study on how entrepreneurs and teams can master sudden, profound transformation. Back then, it was the pandemic; today, it is the AI revolution forcing us to fundamentally rethink how we work. The central challenges remain the same: How do we maintain social cohesion? How do we ensure mental health? And how do we use a crisis as an opportunity to grow as an organization? This text shows my pragmatic and human-centered approach to leading through uncertain times.

Since the beginning of March, our office in Hamburg’s Speicherstadt has been quiet. Very quiet. Like many others, we asked our employees to work from home and not come to our beautiful office—perhaps a bit earlier than most. We had already worked in a distributed way and home office was normal for all of us. But we had never done it so consistently, for so long, and with the entire team. Now we know: high-quality software can be developed permanently from home. It just takes consistent digitization of all processes and the right mindset.

More about our way of working and the tools we use can be found in this blog post.

By now, it’s been almost 10 months since we last saw each other in the Hamburg office. Time to reflect on how we’re doing.

Good Video Meetings Can Be Learned

We had already used video tools for meetings before. Usually, though, some people were physically in the office and others joined remotely. Now, it’s the new normal that everyone participates alone, usually from home.

Even if there is still a certain distance in these meetings, you can clearly notice two things: first, we are getting used to these meetings, and second, we are building the ability to sense the lost atmosphere. We are becoming more skilled at reading between the lines, even in video conferences.

Some of Our Team Members We Have Never Met in Person

There are now several new team members whom we have only met in online meetings and guided through our application and onboarding process. In the first few months, that felt strange. Now, it’s completely normal.

The Social Aspect Is the Biggest Challenge

The professional part works almost entirely without restrictions from home and largely without in-person meetings. But it’s a different story when it comes to social life or private contacts.

Working from home is not the only restriction we’re currently experiencing. Nearly all social opportunities are limited. Gyms and sports clubs are closed. Parties, culture, and music are not taking place, and since November, we’re back in a “light” lockdown that got even stricter in mid-December because the numbers just wouldn’t go down. Social life has come to a standstill in almost every area. We don’t have the usual and necessary social exchange after work. We often spend much more time alone than we’d like. Those with a large family at home have been in much more intense contact with the same people for months than they’re used to. That often leads to conflict as well.