Managing things are hard & coronavirus

Managing people's expectations

As a Junior Engineer at the FT, I'm very fortunate to be able to lead a project or two at this level. It shows the trust that the FT places in everyone regardless of their position in the hierarchy. In my own view, this is a fantastic way of helping people to level up, in their own skills, competencies and to provide learning opportunities in areas that they are not familiar with.

One of those key things that I have learnt this week is that it is perfectly fine to say no to the stakeholders regarding a query (Note: I hate saying no to anyone and would rather try and find a solution or a compromise) for a project that I'm tech leading in. This project that I am involved in is super exciting and I can't wait to share this with the company when it goes live, as I have absolute faith in the engineers involved in the project that we will deliver something that will be crafted quite beautifully and fulfil everything that the stakeholders needs from the project.

Coronavirus

One of the things that continue to surprise me with the relentless coverage by the media on Coronavirus when Influenza has killed more people in the last 6 months than Coronavirus has? Is this due to the media trying to whip up a frenzy to cause a panic over the coronavirus pandemic in order to get more people to buy papers or to have more 'hits' online?

I continue to try and keep good hygiene by washing my hands regularly, and while on the commute try and not touch anything especially on the Tube. Once arriving at work, continue to wash hands and so on. In a place like the City of London, it is only a matter of time before companies start ordering staff to work from home to prevent infection or to self-isolate if infected.

I wonder if I'd be ordered to work from home for a little while, this would be an interesting concept to deal with since I had not worked for home for more than 2 weeks since my last knee surgery and before that, it would be for freelance work and I stopped doing that because it was really isolating and I find it's easier to work in a team than on my own sometimes. I do find working from home 2 days a week to be helpful and to help with focus as well. Having too much work from home days could be counter-productive? Time will tell.

Until then 👋