Day 22. Wednesday. Madrid.

[#1]

My name is Javi, I live in Madrid and this is my 22nd day at home. When I say "at home", I mean that in these 22 days I have left my home 4 times to buy food in the grocery store 100 meters from my home. You can´t go with your wife or friend, definitely it is not a walk, police is patrolling to ensure everybody is following the rules. And the grocery store seems a walking dead scenario with people with masks and plastic globes, trying to stay away from everybody. I haven´t seen my parents, friends and colleagues almost for a month. In this moment, Spain is the second country in the world in the corona virus total deaths ranking and Madrid is the most affected city in Spain. The economy has been totally impacted, I do not know how many restaurants, hairdressers, pubs and thousands of business are going to survive with such a great period with 0 income. The situation at home is very tough and stressful. We have a 7 years old son and he has online classes with their colleagues and teachers every two hours. The parents have to help him during those sessions and with the homework he has to do among the classes. So we have to wear a lot of different hats these days at the same time: husband, employee, teacher, chef, father, friend, ...Obviously, the day only has 24 hours so you can´t help feeling bad because you do not have enough time to do your work properly, to dedicate enough time to your son and wife, to cook healthy food, to do physical exercise, to have leisure time, to care for the community, to attend the summit and so on.

The saddest side of this story is that the virus mainly affects older people, our parents, grandparents, uncles, in short, the people we owe the most to. Doctors and nurses are real heroes fighting without a rest day and night but when someone is infected and she gets worse, she has to be alone in the hospital and can´t have visitors. It is really sad to think in so many people of that generation are dying alone in the hospitals.

The virus has a mathematical progression so we can see how other countries are following our figures. We didn´t think this was going to happened in Spain when we saw Italy struggling with the corona at the beginning of March. It is really difficult to be aware of this situation, it is once every century and we are clearly unprepared. We cross the fingers, it seems we are starting to stop the curve in Spain (how the virus evolves) but we still have almost 1.000 deaths per day and we have to wait some weeks before to start recovering the "normal life".

In the meantime, my team manages the Atlassian tools in zooplus, the pet food eCommerce leader in Europe. I have to say that I have never been so proud to work with these tools as I am right now. The company is operating perfectly in this sudden and unexpected full-remote scenario with almost 1.000 people working from a bunch of countries in Europe. I can explain the difference between litres and mililitres to my son and with a quick glance at the board see how everything is working. Some colleagues collected some tips about remote working and wrote a super useful blog in Confluence. I created a post with a picture of my home desk (I admit that I copied the idea to Basecamp) and I have now dozens of comments with more pictures from my colleagues. Even in this moment, you can feel how Atlassian tools have been designed not only to manage the tasks and processes but also to develop the culture and the human side of the companies. We have a lot of teams that used to work with excel task lists or physical board that now want to move to Jira so we can feel the importance of our work and it is really satisfying to help them and to add so much value to the company. The mission of my team is to shift the way teams manage information from a decentralized and paper paradigm approach to a digital collaboration framework (board/project + space + channel) and in this moment, this is more important than ever.

In your life you belong to different groups of people whether you like or not, your family, your friends, your work colleagues... Some of them choose you and you choose others. I chose to be part of this community and it was a great decision because you all have added a lot of positive things to my life. I really hope we recover soon and have a beer with all of you in the next event.

Be safe, folks!

[Samie Kaufman - Your Gal at Gliffy]

Cheers, Javi. :) 

My company had to go to a remote format in a snap, too. We have definitely been leaning on all our IT tools differently, and I hope we keep using them in such smart ways once we're back in the physical office. I'm really glad you feel how important that work is right now!

[Erica Moss]

@Javier Fernandez _Madrid_ Thanks for being so open and honest in this post, Javier! Everyone has been impacted by this pandemic in myriad ways, but it sounds like you're doing your best by your community, staying home and focusing on the things you can control. We're glad you're here!

[carolyn french]

This was a very moving article. All of us have had to multi-task and wear many hats, certainly those with children studying at home the most. Same as you, I'm happy to have this Community as there are very positive people here, and everyone is committed to better teamwork through this awesome tool set.  @Javier Fernandez _Madrid_ 

[Tamanna Godara]

So relatable at the moment. I haven't stepped out of the door in the last 15 days or more. I am super paranoid cos I have a 5yo daughter. Me and my husband are taking turns in household chores and spending time with her. 

Tough time and super stressful too but we will sail through this together. Sending positive vibes. 

[Darline Auguste]

Wow @Javier Fernandez _Madrid_ you really captured what so many of us are feeling. Thank you.

[Cassie Mayes]

Thanks for your candor, @Javier Fernandez _Madrid_. I totally agree with you that it's a demanding time to wear so many hats, but I'm glad you have your team, the tools, and US to be there to support you. I'm also glad that you and your family are safe during such an uncertain time. You bring so much positivity, leadership, and transparency to our interactions. I'm so grateful you're apart of this community. 

[HéMacarena!]

Hang in there ! @Javier Fernandez _Madrid_ . It is the toughest time in our lives. Thank you for being so open and honest and keeping it real. Thank you for keeping Zooplus on track (my cat is really thankful as well!) A big hug from Atlassian Amsterdam.... Cheers to those future cañas! 

[Celina Zamora]

@Javier Fernandez _Madrid_ I can't begin to thank you enough for sharing this. I appreciate you being vulnerable and honest with us. It means a lot. I really needed to read this today. Reading this helps me reconcile so many of the feelings I am having at the moment. I've been going through a tough time trying to balance my emotions/life, and also fighting the guilt that I'm not providing enough time to all the areas in my life that need my attention. Sometimes I feel defeated, frustrated, sad, but then something happens that brings that spark of joy and it removes the uncertainty. 

You truly are doing amazing things, in all aspects of your life. You are providing joy to your 7 year old, wife, family, coworkers, and this Community.

I really am glad that you are a part of this Community. You and all the Leaders are truly amazing and it's such a privilege to work with you all on a daily basis. I find a lot of joy in you all and it helps provide me some peace and reassurance during this time. Thank you again, Javi. 

[Vlad Cavalcanti]

Fuerza @Javier Fernandez _Madrid_ Thanks for sharing, for being so open and inspiring us all. Cheers from the Atlassian Amsterdam team.

[June Bronwasser]

@Javier Fernandez _Madrid_ I love Zooplus, so does my cat 😻 Hang in there ❤️