Last day of 2020

Well that sucked. But instead of looking back and reliving 2020, I’ll share some of what I’m thinking about for 2021 and beyond instead.

COVID.

Sherri and I have been diligent social distancers; we’re a little more relaxed with Rowan and Siena as far as playing with other kids, but we still keep them from going into enclosed spaces like others’ homes. It’s the best we can to do balance the overall risk vs our sanity.

We wait. We wait for the vaccine. We wait for negative growth rate. We wait for selfish passive non-maskers and active anti-maskers to realize it’s not about them — it’s about all of us, together. We wait to be able to do something as simple as sit in a coffee shop or have a nice dinner out or stay in a hotel… without worrying about others or ourselves. I expect my parents to receive the vaccine first, then my kids, and then finally me and Sher. We wait.

The Carolinas.

Our social life in California wasn’t amazing. Both Sherri and I had a few friends we’d hang out with now and then, but we didn’t have a lot of couples friends. For the kids, our neighborhood (like much of the South SF Bay area) had a lot of empty nesters, so not a lot of other kids on the street to play with. If they wanted to hang out with friends, text message play date coordination plus a car trip was involved.

There are so many kids in this neighborhood. Rowan and Siena are now plugged into a group of about 10 others around their ages, and they’re forming solid friendships both in real life and online (mostly in Roblox) that I expect will last for years. The abundance of other kids and the layout of the community afford them more independence, as well. Socially they’re thriving here, even during COVID times.

For the adults, it’s been more difficult. One of the draws for this community was that there’s a club attached to it, offering pools, a pub, restaurant dining, and adult events like wine tastings and socials. Some of those activities are still happening, but for us it’s not worth the risk of potential exposure, so we’re not engaging. Meeting other couples as an adult is hard enough, even in normal times… meeting couples AND finding out you have shared interests is even harder. Tack on the fact we’re not church people and neither of us work with people around here? Now we’re playing on expert mode. We’re counting on vaccines to start to right the ship, but are also realistic about the timeframes involved. But what else is there?

Politics.

Starting to have some concerns about this administration…

LinkedIn.

March will be my five year anniversary as an engineering manager at LinkedIn and the one year anniversary of us all being sent home for COVID. I believe the offices are targeted to be closed at least through July 2021 (but don’t quote me on that). Best case that will be sixteen months of work-from-home, for a company that was VERY “you need a South Bay tech campus and all the important work happens face-to-face” before the world flipped upside down. LinkedIn was slower to adapt than some peers (many companies announced permanent full remote as early as May); I think we finally provided guidance to employees in October on what the long-term remote strategy would be. Overall, though, I feel leadership has recognized the new work climate, and has done the work necessary to help employees manage living at the office with their family.

For my team, I’m trying to do the best I can. At this point I’d very much like to fly to CA for a week or two, or host a multi-day team offsite somewhere, but… you know. Speaking generally, survey results show that people know what work they need to do (prioritization) but are still struggling with recognition and visibility—completely understandable given that we’re all point-to-point now, deprived of the unplanned interactions like hallways conversations, coffee bar chats, and parties and happy hours. Looking back, I discounted the value of those interactions. Now I have to work harder than ever for my team to figure out ways to replace them… to fill in for the non-work part of work. It absolutely can be done; there are ample examples of remote-only companies where everyone is happy and healthy. I will renew my focus on this in the new year.

That’s all I have for now. Thanks for listening.