Episode 22 -- Our New Normal: Working from Home [00:00:00] [00:00:00] Cecelia Taylor: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the TinT podcast. That is to say--Thriving in Technology. Your hosts are Sam Moulton and Cecelia Taylor, both members of the influence marketing team at NetApp. Today's episode is all about the new reality for millions of people--working for home. We are welcoming in our friends Mercedes Adams, Chris Olsen and Matthew Underhill to share their experiences with us. We'll let them introduce themselves briefly, before we dive in, let's start with Mercedes. Tell us what you do and how people can find you. You know, the Twitters. [00:00:31]Mercedes Adams: [00:00:31] Hi, I'm Mercedes Adams, NetApp. I'm responsible for employee education. I focus on professional development for our employees, and. Partner with our HR team and delivering that. I'm also on our global women in technology steering committee, and you can find me on the Twitter verse at Mercedes underscore Adams. [00:00:56] Sam Moulton: [00:00:56] Perfect. Perfect. Welcome, Mercedes. Chris [00:01:00] Olsen. How about if you go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us where we can find you. [00:01:04] Chris Olsen: [00:01:04] Hi. I'm Chris Olson. I'm a solution architect at Los Alamos national laboratory. We're a department of energy lab in Northern New Mexico. my main focus is really just enabling some of the, the great work that, the scientists and other employees at the laboratory do, through technology. And, it's pretty neat stuff. [00:01:22] I enjoy it. The easiest way to find me is on Twitter at Colson and M. [00:01:28] Sam Moulton: [00:01:28] Good. Good. And Matthew, how about you? [00:01:33] Matthew Underhill: [00:01:33] Hello? Oh, yeah. So I'm Matthew Underhill. I'm based out of lyrical in the UK. I work for a company called Alfred H Knight. we also do scientific support. but that's to the mining industry. [00:01:45]I look after all of their it infrastructure as well as now, all of the it support services. on a global scale, and you can find me on Twitter at under Kenya, on LinkedIn, Matthew Underhill, and my website, [00:02:00] Matthew unreal. Dot. IO. [00:02:02] Sam Moulton: [00:02:02] Oh, Chris Olson, you neglected to mention your website. You have a blog as well. [00:02:07] Chris Olsen: [00:02:07] I do elevated musings.blog spot, blogspot.com [00:02:12] Sam Moulton: [00:02:12] blog spot. [00:02:13] Chris Olsen: [00:02:13] It's been neglected just these last two weeks. [00:02:16] Sam Moulton: [00:02:16] Well, I think there is good reason for that, which we'll get into in a little bit, but in Matthew, you neglected to mention something also very important. You are the dad of Bo. Everybody knows who Bo is. [00:02:29] Tell us a little bit about your precious puppy. [00:02:33] Matthew Underhill: [00:02:33] My precious puppy, she is apparently the NetApp, a mascot dog, and possibly A-Team's biggest canine fan. [00:02:43] Sam Moulton: [00:02:43] Yes, yes, yes. [00:02:45] Matthew Underhill: [00:02:45] She very much loves all of that and yeah, she, she's been picking up quite a lot of, you know, Twitter likes and, and lots of love. [00:02:54] Sam Moulton: [00:02:54] Yeah. She's a celebrity. [00:02:56] Matthew Underhill: [00:02:56] So I'm hearing, [00:02:58] Sam Moulton: [00:02:58] so. [00:03:00] All right, let's get started with the real topic we wanted to address today. Some really interesting stuff that we're all dealing with. So Mercedes. You've been doing an awful lot to support NetApp employees and our WIT community as they make this transition. And I know this has been difficult for you personally. [00:03:21] Can you share what's been going on, what you've learned that's helping you and what you're doing to help others? [00:03:26]Mercedes Adams: [00:03:26] Sam, thanks for the invitation to share. So at NetApp, just about, three weeks ago, our learning services team, was asked to jump into action. Partnering with HR to help deliver a working from home series for our employees to help them be more productive and effective and working from home. [00:03:50] We want it to help equip people really, and also. Connect and allow them to share what they're feeling, talk about their [00:04:00] personal wellbeing and how they're coping. So that's something that we've been driving over the last several weeks, and we've had over 10,000 touch points with, with our, employee population through a series of leader led town hall. [00:04:16] Now that was a bit of a scramble to action because as you know. We're in unpredictable times. And I think at first we had, one day we asked all of our employees to work from home, and then we rapidly realized, Oh my goodness, with all the shelter in place, orders that are happening around the world. You know, our entire workforce needed to transition to be fully remote. [00:04:44] So, you know, personally as an, as a knowledge worker, I've worked from home one or two days a week, and usually I consider those my down days where I was like disconnected, right? I'm working on a project and very [00:05:00] focused, but now. In this switch where it's mandatory for everyone. I mean, there was a lot to think about, right? [00:05:07] Just from my ergonomics to do I have groceries to survive, and then this whole concept of social disconnection, right? I know we're supposed to socially distance, but for me. Personally, I'm isolated. I'm here at home with my cats 24 by seven and that is not the usual way that I've been working. So just personally, after seven days of this working from home, I think everybody was adjusting to the new norm and trying to figure out how to cope. [00:05:41] And many of my peers and coworkers are now. At home with a full family. That means a spouse, kids, dogs, cats, fish, right? And we're all trying to navigate how we do our jobs, teach children, [00:06:00] and seem somewhat like take care of our mental health. I was getting on a lot of calls with people who would start out. [00:06:07] There's a meeting by saying, Oh, you know, I'm going to kill my spouse. Oh, I, you know, my kids are so getting on my nerves and here I am, you know, just stroking my cat and going, that's not my situation. I shared with you that I woke up one day in tears. I'm just going to be totally transparent and just start with a moment of vulnerability. [00:06:27] Is that, After listening to people kind of talking about their situation is, I got grumpy, I got upset. I personally, my significant other, I'm in an international relationship and when Trump announced the travel ban, he literally banned my boyfriend. and so I have no control over that. And I was listening to my coworkers saying, you know, it's so terrible to be trapped with my family when. My, my family can't be together. [00:06:57] And I was, you know, kind of [00:07:00] cynical. I'll tell you, I had a moment where I told somebody, don't talk to me about fun right now. and then I, I saw Trevor Noah do a little skit, over zoom with his remote correspondent on the daily show, Desi, and she talked about. You know what it means to be trapped with your whole family in a one bedroom apartment in New York. [00:07:20] And all of a sudden I had this like reverse moment of empathy and I had to stop thinking about myself and my own situation and what I was missing and be grateful for the fact that I could redesign my whole work life around myself and not have all of these other elements to take into consideration. [00:07:40] That doesn't change the fact that, you know, I miss my family. but it does help me have a lot more empathy for what everyone in the workforce is going through right now. Because this is a disaster for us in a lot of ways. And, and we need to start to think about people's personal wellbeing along [00:08:00] with how do we expect our workforce to show up and how do they need to communicate and participate and deliver business outcomes. [00:08:08]Sam Moulton: [00:08:08] Wow. You covered a lot there. I'm in a very different situation in that I have worked from home, since I joined NetApp, 12 years ago. And even prior to that, I, I seem to have, taken up a career with West coast companies as a rule. So it's just been the normal for me. But I'm facing kind of a different challenge in that now that everyone is working from home and no one is commuting. [00:08:35] So there is no coming into the office around 10 o'clock, you know, in California and leaving around three to beat traffic. Everyone is on from seven 30 in the morning, Pacific time until six 30 at night Pacific times. So my day has changed. I used to be able to get stuff done when everybody else was in the car. [00:08:56] In fact, I, I would often do calls with people who were [00:09:00] commuting in the car and that was fine, but now I'm between. The opportunity to have a longer day. I think people need that connection. And so phone calls are replacing the water cooler conversations. And the plus side is, I'm being brought into a lot more of those conversations now because I can be, because I'm being included in them versus the things that happen, you know, during the day that I am not privy to. [00:09:30] So that's the plus side. but I think, I don't think there's any one of us who isn't having to make some kind of an adjustment. I have in fact, my stepson, Sebastian, is here because, Wesleyan , told everybody to go home and do their classes virtually. But his girlfriend is Chinese. [00:09:48] She could not go home. So she is here as well. So my household has changed, for the better. She made a delicious. Hotpot for us all last night. My stomach is still trying to [00:10:00] recover from it because it was an incredibly spicy, but boy going down, it was amazing. I posted photos everywhere. I made a big deal out of it, and anyway, now I'm dealing with the repercussions. [00:10:12] But anyway, Cecelia, I think you are also in kind of a, a new normal. Of course we all are, but you know, what's your situation like at home? [00:10:22] Cecelia Taylor: [00:10:22] Well, it's a little different for me in that my children are teenagers, or one's a preteen, as I've mentioned, early, she's 12. And about to turn 13. [00:10:33] Sam Moulton: [00:10:33] I was going to say 12, going on 20, though, at least. [00:10:35] Cecelia Taylor: [00:10:35] I mean, she's been a teenager since she was two, but, and for the most part, not much has changed in my day to day other than I work a little bit farther out from the office. I'm in Tracy, California, so I'm about 60 miles or so from the office. So I typically would work from home as my norm, two to three days a week, probably [00:11:00] three, with going into the office the other two days. [00:11:04] And those two days that I would go into the office were, really long days for me where I'm getting on a train. So I've gotta be up at five in the morning. Well day's horrible. That'd be up at five in the morning to get to the office by eight, and then leaving the opposite three 15 to make sure that I get home by six. [00:11:22] So working from home full time for me has definitely given me back all of that commute time or short. I'm an early riser, so I tend to want to be at my desk at seven 30 in the morning anyway. I literally sleep a little bit more than I would have before, I always had a dedicated space in my house for my office that has a door. [00:11:43]Sam Moulton: [00:11:43] so thank God, eternity [00:11:45] Cecelia Taylor: [00:11:45] to, you know, to kind of close off from the rest of the home, when I'm working from home. So for the most part, there hasn't been too much of an adjustment [00:11:53] Sam Moulton: [00:11:53] for me. Well, one thing I've noticed to Cecelia is that because you are not getting on a train at, you [00:12:00] know, God knows how early and you know, getting home so late. Before the days that you were working from home, I would see you in a robe every now and then. Okay. [00:12:10] And she'd see me in a robe, but now she is gussied in herself up. I mean, she's got the lipstick, the jewelry matching ensemble. I mean, she is putting me to shame. Hey. Anyway, I, so I stole your spot there. [00:12:25] Cecelia Taylor: [00:12:25] I would like to say that, that no one else has ever seen me in a robe on camera other than Sam. [00:12:33] Sam Moulton: [00:12:33] Okay. [00:12:34] We [00:12:35] Cecelia Taylor: [00:12:35] clarify that for our listening audience. Okay. So, I know Mercedes that , you mentioned your experience and the things that you've been doing, for NetApp as we've transitioned to this full work from home scenario. But could you tell us a little bit more about some of those products specifically. [00:12:59] Mercedes Adams: [00:12:59] Yeah. So [00:13:00] I'll tackle it from, the overall framework of this, a work from home focus for NetApp as a company. And, I'm in the learning services organization. We're looking at educational resources, and so we have. Built an entire Covid-19 website with resources for employees to learn more about the tools and technology with tremendous support from our it organization. [00:13:29] So we are upskilling everyone to be. Efficient on how they use resources like teams, zoom. We've created new brand approved backgrounds, for people who've got the green screen and want those virtual images. so that whole idea of having everything. On a page where people can go and find the resources has been one scene. [00:13:53] The other thing that we're doing is focusing on the engagement. So the employee experience with leader [00:14:00] led weekly town halls, and so we kicked those off very quickly, and it's leaders having conversation. Talking about how are they coping? What are, you know, what are their wellbeing strategies? And then switching into how do we work differently? [00:14:18] What does it look like to be a fully remote sales organization? What does it mean for teams that need and finance to collaborate on things like, you know, next year's fiscal plan right? So we're, we're making sure that we're having those conversations, connecting with the employees. And then we've brought in a series of webcasts with experts. [00:14:40] And so organizations like McKinsey, Harvard, there's an excellent change management organization called brute that are having webinars almost on a daily basis. And those topics that they're focusing on, not just employee wellbeing, but also how do you lead. And manage remote teams. [00:15:00] And let's talk about the situation that we're in because this is not like, Hey, we just transitioned to a fully remote workforce and there are lots of companies that have a fully remote workforce and they know how to do that. [00:15:12] Well, what's different today is that we have a serious. Health threat. We're operating, as I heard one doctor say last night, it's not an emergency. This is a disaster. And so we really need to think differently about how we show up to work because we have so many personal concern. Just think about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? [00:15:36] If you're at that bottom level of just saying, am I safe? It's really hard to think about delivering your Epic project. So those are the kinds of conversations that we, we want our leaders and our managers to really start to rethink the way they're supporting their team. And so we've been doing this in partnership, creating those learning resources, making [00:16:00] sure there are leader led connection points, and that we're equipping our managers and thinking differently about their role today. [00:16:08]Sam Moulton: [00:16:08] Well, Mercedes, I have to say, and you know, I'm a big fan of yours, but the stuff that you do is amazing. Your passion for everything that you do comes through so loud and clear. I really enjoyed yesterday's virtual lean in series that you moderated. I mean, there were so many people on that call. I think there were like 84 people. [00:16:28]and these are members of women in technology, the wit group, at NetApp. [00:16:33]Question I've had, do I let you know I can't get my hair colored right now, right? So do I let myself go au naturel? And one of the med set men said, well, I did that a long time ago. And I'm like, yes, but wait. You're a man and you look distinguished, whereas, you know, a woman, you know, it can be an ageism thing. [00:16:52]Mercedes Adams: [00:16:52] That was a virtual conversation mid to have that kind of discussion, right. That create that safe space. And so I'm, I'm glad [00:17:00] that you shared that because I think we all needed a moment to be vulnerable and say, look, these are challenging times. And that's, that's what every organization should be looking at doing right now. [00:17:10] And we all are questioning how we show up, how we're present, how we represent ourselves. You know, I've started to wear every NetApp polo I have in the closet because it's a way for me to be super comfortable and professional. But I think that those kinds of questions are important. And the fact that we had a very diverse audience dial in meant that employees wanted that touchpoint. So I was really happy to have all the male allies who participated. [00:17:36] Sam Moulton: [00:17:36] Yeah, I'm even fellow Ateamer, Dan Isaac, was on the call and he had his kitty come and visit him, which was great to see. so this brings us to a really good place to loop in. Chris and Matthew, and if I have not mentioned this, before, they are both A-Team members and they are, the only male guests we've had on the TinT podcasts [00:18:00] since our very first episode when John Troyer helped us kick off the the series. [00:18:06] So Chris and Matt, you do not work from home routinely, first of all, and second of all, it's really not a thing for the companies that you work for, and you are both directly involved in helping enable your. [00:18:23] Businesses, your company to provide the equipment and the technology needed so that you could in fact, enable people to work remotely [00:18:33] so, I would love to have you guys start by telling us, , how you're coping with work from home, and then tell what was it that you had to do to make sure everybody else could as well. So who wants to start. [00:18:47]Chris Olsen: [00:18:47] I'll, I'll jump in there. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, as you mentioned, I definitely am not a veteran work from home employee. I've, do a little bit in the morning and just sorta get my day prepped. And, and [00:19:00] the thought was that, that would translate into an earlier departure time that never quite panned out. [00:19:05] But, Anyway, that's another story. But yeah, so it definitely was a big transition. and honestly, when I first got started, I sort of fell into the same routine that I had before. I'd just sort of hang out in our common area, you know, do some emails, do some calls, and then pretty soon, that was not scaling out when, when the meeting was back to back WebExes and, and trying to keep a camera balanced on a coffee table with dogs and cats. [00:19:31] And. Teenagers, it was, was not panning out. So, so that, that was a pretty, short-lived endeavor. I'm now actually living in my, well, working in, our bumper toe camper. [00:19:44] Sam Moulton: [00:19:44] yeah. [00:19:47] Chris Olsen: [00:19:47] Hopefully I didn't make everyone mad enough to, to make this a permanent situation, but yeah. I'm just grateful that we have it and, it's worked out well. I've got a nice little workstation set up and I can do my [00:20:00] job, and help support folks. one of the interesting things about Los Alamos is that we actually have a pretty active, Covid-19 response. there's a lot of work that's going on, in the form of computer modeling and a lot of, a lot of what we do. [00:20:15] Great. they're, they're taking that technology in that science and applying it to this, this devastating challenge that the world's facing. So, those are the big brain PhD folks who that that's not me, but, are in my role. I'm, we're able to sort of make sure that the infrastructure and the connectivity and the, the tools that they need to be able to get their jobs done are available. So that's, that's been, that's given me purpose these last couple of weeks, which has been great. [00:20:41]Sam Moulton: [00:20:41] Now, you mentioned that there's been some, impact personally to your family. I think your daughter had something going on that she had to postpone, so I wanted you to tell us about that. But what I loved was you showing us the, the brackets that you're. son created, tell us, tell us what he did [00:20:57] Chris Olsen: [00:20:57] I mean, basically what ended up happening was, [00:21:00] I was, I was bemoaning the loss of my, my third monitor that I have at, at home or at work. [00:21:06] And, my son was looking at my setup and he's like, well, you use your phone a lot for meetings. Why don't we, figure out a way you can get your phone set up permanently? So he actually, three D printed some little brackets, to hold my phone above my laptop screen. So now I have, I have a, a 27 inch monitor or a 14 inch monitor on the laptop and, whatever, Whatever. An iPhone XR [00:21:26] Sam Moulton: [00:21:26] is very good. I thought that was so clever. And you know, just your, your kids are both very talented. And what, what was happening with your daughter? [00:21:34]Chris Olsen: [00:21:34] well, she was actually gonna be taking a gap semester, and going to Australia. and she was going to be working koala sanctuary, doing rehabilitation stuff. So [00:21:44] Sam Moulton: [00:21:44] that was rough. [00:21:45] Chris Olsen: [00:21:45] Yeah. [00:21:47] Sam Moulton: [00:21:47] I mean, give that up. That's, that's really unfortunate. [00:21:50] Chris Olsen: [00:21:50] Yeah. So that, that was tough. And my, my wife actually was furloughed as part of all this as well. I mean, it was, it wasn't, a major blow to us. I mean, I know there's a lot of [00:22:00] families out there who are, who are struggling with, you know, not just someone who's maybe working part time in the house, but the, you know, the, the main, main breadwinner, being, you know. Set aside job wise and it's, it's tough. So I mean, that's, that's definitely been an adjustment for us [00:22:15]Sam Moulton: [00:22:15] Matthew, how about you tell us what's happening in your neck of the woods? And so I should mention that Matthew was based in the UK, whereas Chris is right there in New Mexico. So, things are a little different in, over there. So tell us a little bit about [00:22:29] Matthew Underhill: [00:22:29] well, things are a little bit different. you know, I saw a very interesting statistic, For the UK, whereas only 30% of people had ever worked from home before. so you can imagine the jump, or the change really for people for the, you know, [00:22:45] Sam Moulton: [00:22:45] never worked at home at all. [00:22:47] Like, as in not even a couple of days a week. [00:22:49] Matthew Underhill: [00:22:49] Nope. Wow. It's not in our culture. as much as, say, the U S for example, and we're, you know. We, and so from my company, we're pretty much the same. We have never [00:23:00] been working from home. You know, we're 135 years old, and I think this is the first time that anyone's truly working from home. [00:23:07]for the UK, we've actually shut down all, all of our sites, and that's 550 people where we've got around about 300 people able to work from home. So we, you know, we turn that around. Yeah. From the decision to the time when people start working from home within about four days. but you know, the good thing though is we're a global company, so I've been designing the systems w w global sort of reach in mind. [00:23:32] So that's really helped. You know, we have Google, we have Citrix, those kinds of things. So that allows us to present it out. And then I think our biggest challenge really was. Space. So people, you know, I'm lucky enough to have my own home office. I think, actually to, to digress, I think I've been preparing for this my whole life. [00:23:54]I have all the monitors. I have, Cables that I've been given out to my friends, you [00:24:00] know, power cables, VGA cables, I [00:24:03] Mercedes Adams: [00:24:03] have [00:24:03] Sam Moulton: [00:24:03] the word, the word nerd does come to mind. That's, that's something, I mean, yeah, you've, you've kind of grown up that way I would say in a, in a, in a, and I mean that in the nicest, nicest way. [00:24:14] Mercedes Adams: [00:24:14] Matthew, didn't you build your own desk like from scratch? I'm just gonna say like, not just technical, but like 30th DIY for math, for math. Yup. [00:24:26] Matthew Underhill: [00:24:26] I've, I've built my own desk. It's about eight foot long. have all different stations on it. So my workstation, I've got a couple of laptops here. I've got a bunch of Cisco equipment. but, and also, I guess, you know, I was homeschooled. So for me, working from home, it's not too much of an issue. [00:24:40] Sam Moulton: [00:24:40] it's interesting. [00:24:41] Matthew Underhill: [00:24:41] I really enjoy being at home, less people to distract me. [00:24:46] Sam Moulton: [00:24:46] I love the fact that I just learned something new about you that I did not know. Yeah. Because of course, parents today are having to homeschool their kids, and potentially, you know, hold down a full time job. [00:24:57] So, there are definitely some [00:25:00] challenges, but, so. Okay. Matthew, do you feel like you shared everything you could have with us about, you know, your, I mean, how is it affecting things at home or, you know, what are your routines that are different? [00:25:13] Matthew Underhill: [00:25:13] Well, my routine is definitely different. So I was committing about three hours a day. [00:25:19] Wow. I've got that time back now. so it's nice. Yeah. I mean, I wake up about the same time, but you know, have coffee more relaxed. and in my, my evenings are much more open, so that's, that's nice because, you know, I don't finish at five. Generally I finish around six, which means I get home about seven 30. [00:25:35] Sam Moulton: [00:25:35] Yeah. And what about, what about Emily? How are things going for her? Yeah, [00:25:39] Matthew Underhill: [00:25:39] pretty good. Pretty good. You know, I've managed to set up all their computers and get better on the VPN, even though I don't work for that company. [00:25:49] She's adjusting. She's adjusting fairly well, but you know, she, she, she's much more of a people person. You know, she, she's a marketing manager and, you know, she [00:26:00] loves talking and chatting and you know, and I think that's kind of something that I've learned from her and I'm trying to implement it with my own team. [00:26:07]you know, touching on what Mercedes said, you know, we've kind of gone from oral in the office to a totally distributed, working, you know, a team overnight, essentially. so I'm trying to learn, you need to communicate. you need to, you know, have that face to face. Encourage people to get on, you know, get on the conference call and get on, you know, pictures, you know, well, video and all that kind of stuff. [00:26:31]checking in every day because I think it can be very easy for people to get isolated. so I am trying to work on that and you know, as a business, we've, we've also seen that. So, you know, we, we haven't gotten to the level that NetApp is going to, and I've already learned some things today, but you know, we are looking to get people, you know. [00:26:51] Into those calls, set up the managers, you know, a little bit better, but also they've just set up a new service where if you just want to chat, you can call up, you know, certain people [00:27:00] in the company. you know, have a little bit of a, you know, a water cooler chat and that kind of stuff. So I think that's very good. [00:27:05] Mercedes Adams: [00:27:05] That's good. [00:27:06]Matthew Underhill: [00:27:06] my, my general day to day hasn't changed much. I'm still, as in demand as I have been, much like Chris on calls all the time [00:27:14] Sam Moulton: [00:27:14] fixing, saving the world. So, Matthew, I want to say that, since you have. Since you joined the 18, which was what, how many years ago now? Four years ago? [00:27:23] Matthew Underhill: [00:27:23] No, no. I think it's only about two. We're coming. We're coming up, [00:27:29] Jamie, it seems like forever. So that's a good thing, right? [00:27:31] Mercedes Adams: [00:27:31] Well, [00:27:32] Sam Moulton: [00:27:32] yes. Yeah. It just seems like you have been around forever, but I have really noticed your growth in terms of your willingness to be on camera, do this podcast. I mean, you are, you are definitely more outspoken. and I'm really, I'm. Proud of that for you. And I think it's a, I think it's a Testament to the community that you guys have on the team as well, so, [00:27:55] Matthew Underhill: [00:27:55] absolutely, absolutely. You know, I mean, definitely the start, you know, you have this, I have this fear of, [00:28:00] of not knowing anything and, and you know, being like, you know, asking stupid questions, and saying the wrong thing, but you know, the team is all. [00:28:08] Very good. And mentoring and you know, [00:28:11] Sam Moulton: [00:28:11] it'll accept her, Chris, right? No, [00:28:13] Chris Olsen: [00:28:13] I'm kidding. [00:28:16] Sam Moulton: [00:28:16] So, we're gonna move on to a segment that we don't often have the privilege of including, which is questions from the Twitter verse. I had a brainstorm. It's like, this is a topic that. Well, a lot of people have a lot to say on. [00:28:31] So I threw up a request on Twitter and said, Hey, you know what? What should we be asking? Mercedes and Matthew and Chris, a podcast, and I was. Pleasantly surprised by the number of people that submitted a question. We had Donnie Lang, Ryan Urice, Ruairi McBride, Kirsten Nelson, Dave Brown, Phillip Hardy, Becky Elliott, Phoebe Goh, Sean Luce. [00:28:55] I mean, I can keep going, but it was just like, Just a flood of questions. So, [00:29:00] given the, the timeframe that we have, I'm going to hone in on a couple of them. But, you know, I think, the topic of distractions come, comes up a lot. you know, in which for me, again, I'm just so, I dunno, I guess the word is disciplined. I'm not patting myself on the back, but I've been doing this for so long. I actually have to force myself to get up and go get food. you know, because I just, I come into my office, I shut the door, and boom, I'm just, you know, going at it all day. but for others who are just adjusting to this, it's not the case. [00:29:32] So who would like to respond to that question in terms of, you know, how you're dealing with the, the distractions that are coming up. Or are you or are you not, or what are they. [00:29:44] Chris Olsen: [00:29:44] Yeah. So as I referenced earlier, I had sort of started out in the house and that that definitely was not conducive to being able to stay focused. [00:29:54] Distractions were there, was still productive, but just was, you know. What there's no such thing [00:30:00] as multitasking is just splitting your attention back and forth, you know, a hundred times a second. So I, I, I think definitely as, as you can, and I have the benefit of having the, the space that I have to being able to be focused, But you know, the, the distractions are not necessarily all bad. as you said, Sam, I mean, you're, that, that sit down and bang away for hours and hours is a pretty easy mode to get into, but it's, it's not good for physical health, mental health or anything. So letting yourself, break away from time to time, I think is, time well spent as well. [00:30:38] Mercedes Adams: [00:30:38] Yeah. Cause I'll add on to that. And I think Chris has a point. You know, he's found a way to isolate himself in order to focus, because a lot of the distractions right now are unexpected. Right. My cats. Are my coworkers today and I'm, I don't really want to lock them in a room. so I've had to redesign my workspace to [00:31:00] eliminate some of the distractions or eliminate their access. [00:31:03] That doesn't mean they don't still try to jump on my lap. I did literally have a squirrel come in the house the other day when I left the door open. So literally. Squirrel distraction. but there's, so there's a couple of things to consider, right? There's a visual distractions. What do I see in my workspace today? [00:31:20] And if I wander away, do I see dirty dishes in the sink? And then normally when I'm at home, dirty dishes mean dish washing time, or, Oh, it's trash day. Maybe I need to take out the trash. So. there's this visual distractions and then there's auditory distraction. you know, if the radio is playing and I hear a certain tone of voice, do I think, you know, the governor or the president is making an important announcement. [00:31:44] And so we need to manage those. I've taken to, what I need a little energy. It's Lizzo in the background, when I need to focus, right? Meditation music. But I'll just give the advice that we [00:32:00] each need to discover new mental guardrails. Because I am telling myself, if I walk to the kitchen to refresh my tea, it is work time. [00:32:10] It is not dish time. And so I'm instituting these mental guardrails and what helps me is that concept of time. There is a time to do the dishes and it is no longer between 7:00 AM and 6:00 PM so dishes are off limits. And so that's, that's my coaching around distractions is to start to think about if you are in your home space, when is the right time to deal with the home distractions and, and what are you actually trying to accomplish right now? [00:32:40] Sam Moulton: [00:32:40] So that's, that also I think comes to, setting a schedule, right? And, and setting boundaries, which are really important. And Cecilia, you came up with a very clever way, to handle the distractions that can happen in your home. tell us about the gadget that you procured. [00:32:59] Cecelia Taylor: [00:32:59] So [00:33:00] one of the things that I noticed is, even though I have a, a designated workspace, is that families don't really always respect that. So, but they are, they can be coached. So, I went on Amazon and purchased a colored lamp. It's very difficult to see on the video, but it does change colors and back years of Greenlight. Here you can't really see the green cause I'm aware of using a green screen. [00:33:29] Interesting. But it also has a remote control. [00:33:32] Sam Moulton: [00:33:32] So you can see all the lights there, see that, see all the colors, and then you can purple. I'm purple, [00:33:38] Cecelia Taylor: [00:33:38] so I placed the lamp on the corner of the desk. [00:33:41] Sam Moulton: [00:33:41] So even if the door is open or closed, [00:33:43]Cecelia Taylor: [00:33:43] they can visually see whether I'm on a call or not. $10 item. It made a world of difference because without explanation or having to go into, Oh, I'm going to call right now, they're able to say, okay, I can't be, she's not to be distracted right now. [00:34:00] Or if there's a green light speak up or you know, I'm not busy, or if it's a purple light and I'm talking to Sam, you can interrupt. You can come on screen. It doesn't matter. [00:34:09] Sam Moulton: [00:34:09] I love to see the family as a matter of fact. So let's take a, well, I guess it's a little bit more serious, but, what is it? Well, okay. Is there anything you've learned about yourself that you didn't know before you started working from home? [00:34:25]Mercedes Adams: [00:34:25] Yeah, I might be compelled. I might not be compelled to a shower every day unless I just, I'm just going to say I, I'd never realized that my own personal hygiene would come into question, but I have a strict shower every two day policy. I told Matthew this, we were, we were changing some messages earlier. [00:34:46] But I actually, because I'm isolated, there's nobody here, right. The capstone there. So, but it goes back to that, you know, having a routine and a, I really had to rethink my [00:35:00] routine and, and how to stay, you know, my own. Wellbeing, because the, the draw is just to come to the desk and work because that's where I find people in my day now is, you know, I can wave at my neighbors from a socially distant six feet. [00:35:16]but now that they've asked us to start to wear bandanas. I basically, look, I'm like, I'm at a rock with my neighbors. So this is where I find the most friendly people at work. And so just establishing the routine that went around as well, when it's okay to come and sit down and work and when I need to shut off and, and disconnect and switch into, you know, family mode, friend mode. [00:35:39] So those are probably two things is, I needed to, to switch that routine up really to address the new, the new reality. I [00:35:47] Matthew Underhill: [00:35:47] would agree with that as well. you know, previously in my role as a, you know, as the head of support and that kind of thing, I was looking at the infrastructure for our global organization and you know, I'm looking at my [00:36:00] phone 24 well, when I'm awake, I'm usually looking at my work phone is usually there, ready and waiting, but it. [00:36:07] So easy to just go, Oh, I'll just spend five more minutes on the computer and then it's 10 more or 20 more, you know, and I don't have that a distraction. When I leave work, I'm on the bus some, you know, listen to podcasts or I'm listening to music and I kind of, you know, distract myself and then sort of wind down and disconnect. [00:36:26] I'm on it all the time now and it really takes away from personal time and I'm learning that I need to shut off and say. That's it. Now I'm done. [00:36:36]Sam Moulton: [00:36:36] It's stressful. Yeah. That's, that's something I mentioned earlier is I'm noticing that, you know, people are expecting you to be available for a much longer day. [00:36:45] And, you know, I have to now. More or less forced myself to get up and go out and take a walk or, you know, just move around a little bit. because, you know, sitting all the time is, as you know, is not healthy [00:37:00] and it's something that we really need to, to, be cognizant of. Mercedes. [00:37:05] Mercedes Adams: [00:37:05] What can I add onto that? [00:37:06] Because this is something that, I'm just going to add as the sanity challenge, right? Because, like, like Matthew, you know, it's, it's really easy for me to just focus on work and not wellbeing. So something that I've, I've been trying to do very intentionally now is, Challenge myself, where my step goal used to be like 13,000 steps a day and I was going to the office and walk a bit. [00:37:32] No, it's not that much. So you know, five or six miles a day, but, but Matthew, you know, you're talking about your commute, right? There was a lot of stuff that we were doing that gave us steps, and I decided instead of just sitting on my goal, the way I would challenge myself, is to raise my goal. So 15,000 steps. [00:37:51] And so I'm, this is part of my sanity health check, is that I really need to amp up those personal goals. Otherwise work is going to [00:38:00] overtake life. And so I just, I wanted to mention that because I think that the strategy you can think about, can you set some personal goals that are measurable and then you can basically see it. [00:38:11] Am I being effective in my personal life right now when, when work could be such a draw. And it feels like an emergency. Right? Work feels like an emergency now in this situation. So yes, that's a suggestion. That's [00:38:24] Sam Moulton: [00:38:24] very true. That's very true. So one person I forgot to mention was Paul Stringfellow, one of our fellow A-Team members. [00:38:31]He threw in a few questions as well, and he was asking, is there anything that you've implemented now, do you think that. When we return. hopefully we will be returning to some level of, of normalcy again, although I even then, as I say that, I think we'll have a new normal, what, what's gonna remain in place? [00:38:50] What, what do you guys feel like you've started to implement that you will be conscious of later? I realize it's that, you have to kind of like make a leap of faith cause [00:39:00] who knows what, what things will be like, but does anything come to mind. I [00:39:04] Chris Olsen: [00:39:04] think for us it's, what I'm hoping for is that we really do develop a more mature work from home policy, procedure, culture. [00:39:13]I mean, I've sort of been part of the, the pilot program, if you will, and been doing that and, and I consider it to be successful and, and I hope that. That going through this, that what we can take away from it is we can all learn how to be, you know, more, more engaged, more plugged in, even if we are, not onsite. [00:39:36] And, and hopefully that will translate into, the, our organization recognizing the value in what this could provide in terms of flexibility for our workforce. [00:39:45]Cecelia Taylor: [00:39:45] I'm hoping that will come out of this with is number one at a greater, understanding the flexibility that working from home offers. [00:39:54] I think there's a lot of managers out there who do feel like they have to have face time, and I think that this [00:40:00] new more has changed their perceptions of what FaceTime really is. FaceTime doesn't necessarily mean that we are physically in the same space, but that we're connecting and that we're having more conversations where we're literally chatting more than it's because you see me at my desk. [00:40:19]the other thing that I'm really hoping that we get out of this is maybe become more empathetic as people. I think I've seen more, expressions of generosity. From, from people for their neighbors or their coworkers. understanding a little bit more about who each of us is as a person and not just as an employee. [00:40:40] And I'm hoping that that sense of connection continues with us in this new norm where we're more flexible and more understanding of our coworkers and our suppliers and our partners. I'm really hoping that that positivity will continue into this new normal, [00:40:56] Sam Moulton: [00:40:56] yeah. As the only, full time remote worker in [00:41:00] this little group of ours here. [00:41:02]I am definitely hoping that the stigma of being that, you know, that remote person thousands of miles away from everybody else will be lifted and that I can have the same, consideration or people will value the efforts that I put in as much as, the people that, who have that opportunity to come into the office every day. [00:41:24]you know, frankly, I consider myself extremely lucky not to have to make that commute every day, as some of the, somebody with ADHD, you know, limiting my. Distractions, and, you know, I go to the office and it's a party for me because I, you know, I don't get to see people. So I'm, you know, catching up with this one and that one. [00:41:44] And, and, you know, I, I consider, you know, my time in Sunnyvale, it's, it's not a right off. Gosh, I would never want to say that, but it's very hard for me to, you know, like hone in and do any. Quote, unquote real work, because the whole thing is, is social. so [00:42:00] yeah, so that's, that's kind of my thought on that. [00:42:02] But, you know, we've been talking quite a bit. I think we could go on for another hour, but, you know, we probably should be wrapping this up with, kind of our, our fun segment of this podcast and, Cecelia, what's it going to be today? [00:42:17] Cecelia Taylor: [00:42:17] Well, I've been thinking about this, and especially as we're looking from the work from home, aspect of it. [00:42:22] And, you know, at some point this too shall pass. We will start to go out and we will start to, think of other things, but. In the meanwhile, we can plan that dream vacation. So my question is this, if you had the opportunity once we're past all of this, to go to your dream destination for vacation. Where would you go? [00:42:47] As you can see, I've selected a little bit of a Caribbean type of feel. I want to go to The Bahamas real bad, so I am hoping that one day I'll be able to make [00:43:00] that trip. Anybody else? [00:43:03] Sam Moulton: [00:43:03] Well, John and I, my husband and I would love to be able to do a cruise again. I know everyone's probably horrified as they hear me say that, but it's something that we love to do. [00:43:14]so, so much. And you know, we love, frankly, you know. The time that we spend on the boat. you know, as much as we do visiting, for our honeymoon, we went on a tour of the Mediterranean and Greece. My goodness, I, I'd go back to Greece and Italy and it was just an amazing, an amazing trip. And so, you know, we won't be doing any vacations anytime soon, so we can start, you know, setting aside the money for that cruise and I think we're probably going to get a good deal. [00:43:43] I'm saying. Raleigh the deal. There was a little humor. Very, very, not a, you know, got to bring a little humor into this. Right. Okay. It was probably in bad taste. Sorry. Anyway, who's next? [00:43:54]Chris Olsen: [00:43:54] I can say, I don't know if I'd want to go on a camper vacation, but [00:44:00] I guess I guess, top of my list would be to figure out a way to, to see if I could make the trip for my daughter to Australia workout. That would be, that'd be the top of my list. [00:44:13] Sam Moulton: [00:44:13] Oh, what a nice day. Next. Matthew. [00:44:20] Cecelia Taylor: [00:44:20] Hello. [00:44:23] Matthew Underhill: [00:44:23] Well, now you've just sprung it on me. I know we have, we obviously have plans this, this summer. couple of things. One of my best friends, he is already married, but, he was having the wedding sort of celebration. If you're like Marty. Yup. This. August, so I was hoping to go there. that would be very nice. [00:44:44] But actually, most of all, what I was, what I was looking forward to is going on holiday with my very good friends and, my godson and his brother in Sardinia, a small Island off the coast [00:44:55] Sam Moulton: [00:44:55] of Italy. and [00:44:57] Matthew Underhill: [00:44:57] I'm hoping that that would, will happen [00:45:00] because, you know, I, I, while we do see them, you know, spending sort of a week, two weeks just with them chilling out, you know, it's a great time to connect, so fingers crossed, we'll get there at some point. [00:45:11] That would be, that's my dream, I guess. Yeah, [00:45:14] Sam Moulton: [00:45:14] sure. We can week sounds good. [00:45:16] Matthew Underhill: [00:45:16] A couple of weeks with, with very close friends and family. Very nice. [00:45:19] Sam Moulton: [00:45:19] It sounds lovely. Mercedes, I think I know where you're going, but, you know, just, [00:45:25] Mercedes Adams: [00:45:25] yeah. You know, what else can I say? But that I'm, I'm definitely flying to Belgium. I mean, that's not really the vacation, but, you know, to the, to the international relationship that I've had for the last year, we were traveling. [00:45:41] Spend time together once a month. And so, we spent time really all over the world and the U S and Europe, and did a lot of, amazing trips together. and one thing that we did last summer, which was really fun, was actually, I'm going to give a shout out to Heather Doyle at, at NetApp is go [00:46:00] visit her at Cape Cod. [00:46:02] And so just have a beautiful. Yeah. Cape Cod beach vacation. Totally relaxed. A [00:46:08] Sam Moulton: [00:46:08] campfire. Wait a minute. You were in, you were on the Cape and you didn't let me know you were there. [00:46:13] Mercedes Adams: [00:46:13] So I will, I will tell you next time. Absolutely. It was really interesting that I was not in control of my own destiny because, Heather invited you, you know, my very good friend, MJ Schmidt, who came up from the DC area to visit. [00:46:30] And so it was a really a wonderful, yet. Tremendously busy time. and so, yeah, I'm actually, I, you know, I'm having Cape Cod dreams here. so that, that might be, you know, whenever we're allowed to travel again, some are that I'd like to go. [00:46:45] Sam Moulton: [00:46:45] Yeah, Cape is great. Wow. Okay. I think we have covered a lot of ground today and, you know, lob it over to you, Cecelia. [00:46:56] Cecelia Taylor: [00:46:56] Well, you're right, and I think that's a wrap for this episode of the TinT [00:47:00] podcast. We want to thank Mercedes, Chris and Matthew for joining us and to our listeners out there, we know you have a bunch of podcasts you could be listening to, especially during this time, and we're glad you'll add, us to your list of must listen. [00:47:16] Sam Moulton: [00:47:16] Key must listen. Must listen. [00:47:18] Cecelia Taylor: [00:47:18] We'd love to hear your feedback, what works, what doesn't, what would you like to hear from from us? Drop us an email at ng-tintpodcast@netapp.com or just reach out to either one of us on the Twitters at @CeceliaTaylor or @SamMoulton. [00:47:35] Sam Moulton: [00:47:35] Samantha, what were you going to use the Samantha work? [00:47:39] Cecelia Taylor: [00:47:39] Thanks for listening. [00:47:40] Sam Moulton: [00:47:40] Until next time, take care.