COVID-19: The Never-Ending Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of 2020 In Europe
I still remember when the first case in China became known. It was December, I was grabbing a coffee with a colleague in the kitchen area at our offices in Düsseldorf and we were casually discussing this.
Back then we couldn’t have imagined of course that two months later, cases would also initiate in Europe and things would evolve the way they have till today.
The purpose of this piece is to describe how I have experienced this pandemic in the last 1 year and 3 months, how my daily routines changed, the challenges in the professional environment, and the moments where I felt this feels like some sort of AB testing period for humanity.
Since I live and work in Germany for the past 8 years but come from Greece, I will be sharing experiences from both countries.
The Vaccination Massacre
So what really happened there? Which vaccine is the best and is there actually any real difference among them? Lots of people have been brutally opposing the benefits of being vaccinated while others have been terrified that they might die if they get a shot by one over another manufacturing company.
Could there have been a more solid introduction into the market, somewhat better education and eventually adoption by the citizens that would lead to our return into daily operations?
Some Questionable Measures
I have to admit throughout this crisis, even though I truly understand and admire the challenges the governments had to endure and all the right decisions made, some of the measures in my eyes were silly with a nonexistent learning curve from previous tryouts.
Below some that I found to be questionable:
- Leaving till the last minute the hair salons open while everything else shall remain closed. Is the likelihood of being contaminated lower while I am getting a haircut compared to having a manicure if the number of people is the same and everyone is wearing a mask?
- Allowing citizens throughout Wintertime to move around freely despite the high number of cases, while introducing a curfew, imposing everyone to be at their home by 22:oo pm the moment Spring arrived. Wasn’t indoors more dangerous than outdoors?
- Greek Easter Anastasi taking place 3 hours earlier at 21:00 pm instead of 00:00 am this year. Is Covid more aggressively spread at certain hours during the day if the number of people moving around is still the same?
- Instructing self-tests to be conducted at home by students during their last year of high school if they wish to return to school: how is success measured here? How is it ensured that the test is conducted through the nose? There were several incidents where the first 2 tests came out negative and the 3rd attempt came out positive as it was conducted wrongly by individuals at home.
- Family and friends gatherings with the maximum number of people being 12 for outdoors and 6 for indoors. What happens if we are having a barbecue and it starts raining?
- Moving around during the week: What is so special during weekdays and people are not allowed to go to other neighborhoods but during weekends things are allowed?
The reason I mention the above is not meant as criticism but rather a callout for considering regular retrospectives and exchanging even more within the EU on successes and failures. It has been 1.5 years and every quarter in some aspects feels like a deja-vous, where the same mistakes are repeated and a different outcome is expected. Citizens started to forget what rules need to be followed as many exceptions applied. Less might have been more in this case, leading to less confusion.
This eventually detonates some extreme opinions being formulated which in result delays progress.
How Did We Fight Corona Remotely?
So let’s be honest. This year was really tough for everyone. Whether we are talking about parent heroes who were working and teaching their children at home at the same time, restaurants operating only for delivery from one day to another, closed hotels, people all of a sudden working only part-time or being let go by their company and of course those who were experiencing health issues or were hit by the virus and remain hospitalized for a long period of time.
Being a crazy foodie, a wine lover, a person who travels frequently, and someone who really appreciates having social interaction and relationship building with my teams and the people I work with, led to me being in denial the first months. After a point, a change in perspective had to occur.
There were some things that helped me both personally and in the working environment with my team to adapt to the new normal and lessen the effect somehow.
- Working from a different angle in the apartment helped a lot in not feeling trapped. Trust me, I tried everywhere except the bathroom. Alternating from the couch for the casual 1:1s, to the dining table for meetings that required to note things down or look at spreadsheets, to the bedroom when I was just tuning in a presentation that only required listening and no participation on my behalf.
- Bringing our pets along in our discussions and meetings. Whether it was their snoring in the background or their bark and meowing, they definitely kept us company and always put a smile on our faces.
- Organizing a few remote team events with some wine, dinner, and the house party app where we engaged with some online games.
- Bringing Santa Claus to everyone’s home was my personal mission this Christmas since it was the first time that I was not at home in Greece. A nice goody box made everyone feel like family.
- Introducing ad hoc team catchups during the week where we chill together and do small talk to keep the social aspect alive.
- Dedicating more time to seriously exercising three times a week, meditating regularly, and expressing gratitude more often.
- Learning to cook some rather time-consuming dishes that normally you would think twice before signing up yourself for that.
- Re-decorating the apartment over and over and over again till there were no more options to go for.
All in all, certain things are definitely here to stay even post the pandemic era. This is not necessarily bad since this whole period enabled us to reshape, reform, and restart. Who would have thought that working remotely would become as efficient, doing certain things digitally would be adopted by business people, and people appreciating a little more simple things would become the norm?
Getting out of the comfort zone also became more tangible with some people challenging their habits, jobs, relocating, spending more precious time with loved ones.
Let’s hope that the worst is behind us and soon this period will seem like a crazy adventure that made us all stronger in all aspects.
