{"id":46914,"date":"2020-07-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=46914"},"modified":"2021-09-28T17:10:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T21:10:47","slug":"going-back-to-the-office-2-wheres-the-any-key-podcast","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/going-back-to-the-office-2-wheres-the-any-key-podcast","title":{"rendered":"Going Back to the Office: Part 2 with Cody Goodermote | Where&#8217;s the Any Key Podcast Episode 6"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<script src=\"https:\/\/anykey.buzzsprout.com\/855292\/4568015-going-back-to-the-office-part-2-with-cody-goodermote.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-4568015&amp;player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>The following is a transcription of an episode of our podcast, <em>Where\u2019s The Any Key?<\/em> Feel free to <a href=\"mailto:wherestheanykey@jumpcloud.com\">reach out with any questions<\/a> you may have in response to this recording. You can find our show on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/wheres-the-any-key\/id1508025510?ign-mpt=uo%3D4\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/38fFxEQkuDxLuWgyfoQZAP\">Spotify<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/anykey.buzzsprout.com\/\">wherever podcasts are available<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Welcome to <em>Where\u2019s the Any Key?<\/em> The podcast where we talk about anything IT related and even some topics that are IT adjacent. I&#8217;m your host Ryan Bacon, the IT Support Engineer at JumpCloud<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> Directory-as-a-Service<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just a quick note here, Cody and I talked for quite some time and had a really good conversation, got a lot of good content out of it, so we decided to split this into two episodes. This is the second part. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/going-back-to-the-office-1-wheres-the-any-key-podcast\">check out part one here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Standardizing to Improve End User Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> So, I\u2019ve had mixed luck, and my biggest concern, my biggest hurdles I think, going into this work was all the different disciplines in a single office. You have a lot of engineers who want their dual monitors where one\u2019s portrait and one\u2019s landscape so they can do their things. You have other people where they just work from their laptops and other people that just like a single 27\u201d monitor or whatever.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> That does bring an interesting challenge though. In my mind, do you standardize on the most complex case you can imagine, which is engineering? All of these desks outfitted with two monitors on a monitor arm and make them so they\u2019re turnable so that anyone can sit there, even if they don\u2019t use two monitors, they have two monitors. So I think that, in my mind, every desk should be the same, because if you put two monitors on one and one on the other, now you\u2019re grouping people into that old way of \u2018you should sit here, you should sit here,\u2019 whereas standardizing, I\u2019m very much with you on standardizing, because when you find a product that works, and you know it works flawlessly, you don\u2019t have to worry about the support side of things.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know some monitor brands that don\u2019t work well with Macs, and you have all these constant issues, so when I find a monitor model that works, I want to buy only this and especially ones that have USB-C in them and provide power. They\u2019ve got USB ports on the side of the monitor; those are my favorite. There\u2019s a model from Dell that I really love, 27\u201d, it\u2019s got USB-C power, and it\u2019s affordable as well, because you know a lot of PC monitors have just been outrageous in price, and they\u2019re coming down and it\u2019s becoming more normal now. Then you\u2019ve got the nice, one cable on the desk for someone to sit down and plug in, and they\u2019ve got their video, power, they\u2019ve got their USB ports on the side of their monitor\u2026 seems like a great experience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if you want to level that experience up, something that I did at a previous company with those USB-C monitors: I wired them into ethernet. So in the back of the monitor, I plugged in a USB-C to ethernet converter\/adapter, and then plugged them into ethernet. So, when they plugged into video, power, ethernet, they were wired up. They were like \u2018our WiFi is so fast!\u2019 They didn\u2019t even know that they were on wired. So there are interesting things there that bring back that kind of experience of the wired connection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think in the office space we focus on wireless a lot. I\u2019m going off here into office technology, but something I personally believe is that if you can wire it, wire it up. Bring wires to everything you can because it will help take that load off the wireless network and just leave that for people that are roaming around or devices that really can\u2019t be wired in. So this concept of this hot desk \/ hotel desk situation, where there are ethernet ports to each one, you plug them into the monitor and someone just sits down, plugs in one cable, and they\u2019re all wired. It sounds amazing to me, like a utopia where things are going to work really well because there\u2019s no issue with wireless or signal. There\u2019ll be a lot less load on the wireless network which is better for video calls and everything. So I\u2019m excited about that. And you can do that now with current desk situations, but just like you said, with the non-standardization of equipment, it\u2019s hard to do that. You need adapters. You have 700 cables coming from those docks and adapters\u2026 yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supporting Remote Users<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> This brings interesting challenges from the working from home (WFH) side of things. I know we talked briefly about WFH setups, we have these challenges in IT where it\u2019s much easier to support someone in an office when you\u2019re physically there with them. They\u2019re like \u2018oh, my sound isn&#8217;t working.\u2019 Okay, I\u2019ll take a look. It is much harder remotely to support those problems, especially if it is an urgent situation. We had someone who was presenting in a webinar. They called me five minutes before and said \u2018Hey, my camera isn\u2019t working; I\u2019ve restarted, and now I\u2019m like ahhh!\u2019 Remotely, it\u2019s so hard to troubleshoot those things because you just can\u2019t put your fingers on the keyboard and get going. You have to tell them what you\u2019re doing or get in a Zoom or a screenshare\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then we\u2019ve got other issues with WiFi. In the office environment we can control all of those variables. The channels that they\u2019re on. We can map out the coverage so we\u2019ve got really good coverage. You can\u2019t do that in someone\u2019s home. It is hard! You\u2019ve got some people whose houses were made over 50 years ago with walls that are two feet thick. You\u2019ve got some people in newer construction where it\u2019s not as bad and the wireless signal is great. You\u2019ve got some people who buy the cheapest router out there; they bought it for $50 at Best Buy, and those we know are not going to work well in these situations where you need video calling. We\u2019ve seen from our perspective and from other people in the industry that this is kind of a challenge. If you\u2019ve got 100 employees, helping each of them with their home setup is really difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what I found helpful is to create a guide: This is what you\u2019re looking for if you\u2019re having wireless issues. Try these things. Change your admin password, of course. Go into your router; don\u2019t leave it at default. Make sure you\u2019re using WPA-2 security. All the best practices, and then run a speed test. Also, people have expectations if they bought the gigabit plan on Comcast, then they should be getting WiFi. \u2018Why\u2019s my WiFi slow?\u2019 What we know as tech professionals is you\u2019re never going to get the full gigabit WiFi. It\u2019s more possible nowadays with the latest technologies, 802.11ax, right? Not a lot of people here have that yet, so I think it\u2019s really helpful to create a guide of what their expectations should be, and I always recommend that if you can wire your laptop into your router, do it. It will make your video calls better. So giving those best practices, that\u2019s something every company should do. Send out to their employees, really highlight all that. It\u2019ll make everyone\u2019s lives much easier because you\u2019ll get less calls like \u2018Well I\u2019m not getting gigabit.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> Right. I think that, I\u2019d imagine there\u2019s a lot of IT professionals out there whose companies transitioned to a remote workplace, they weren\u2019t expecting to be troubleshooting people\u2019s home networks. It was one thing when you\u2019re sitting at your desk and someone\u2019s like \u2018can I ask you a non-work related question?\u2019 Those non-work related questions have become work-related questions. It\u2019s definitely increased how difficult it is to support a remote workforce.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d say the silver lining is that usually that turbulence gets figured out at the beginning of the transition, and then it gets pretty smooth, and then your concern is how are your remote support tools. How am I going to get hands on somebody\u2019s system? First off, do you need to get hands on somebody\u2019s system? What are you going to do? I know one thing I\u2019ve started using more that I never used before we transitioned to remote work is in Slack: the screen sharing and calling feature in Slack. I found that it has a little tool where you can draw on somebody\u2019s screen on their screen. So instead of me having to be like \u2018let me go here\u2019 I can draw and say \u2018go here\u2019 and indicate the button where they\u2019re going. It works surprisingly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing, I\u2019m really big into the customer service side of IT, building that rapport. It seems to me like, when doing that, you\u2019re teaming up with the user to solve their problem. They feel more invested, and also, they\u2019re learning, too. I\u2019ve found that the more hands-off and the guided approach to troubleshooting is really a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory: <\/strong>Yeah I think people really like when you tell them what you\u2019re doing and you explain things, I\u2019ve found most people love to learn. They\u2019re like \u2018what did you do there? What is this command you\u2019re typing in here?\u2019 that kind of creates that rapport and that connection. You\u2019re kind of on the same level with them, whereas you\u2019re right, when you take over and you just do it, they feel like they don\u2019t know what you did. It was all foreign to them, it\u2019s all like \u2018I don\u2019t know what you did!\u2019 I feel like that\u2019s really important as well. I don\u2019t know if you guys have seen the uptick in support cases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think people have become a little bit more self-sufficient in a lot of ways because they can\u2019t just come by your desk anymore, and they don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing or if you\u2019re on a call, so people are trying to fix things more themselves, which I think is good because they\u2019re learning in the process. I\u2019ve seen a lot of that. Or they\u2019ll Slack, and I\u2019m in the middle of twenty other things, and they\u2019ll say \u2018I need help with this thing\u2019 and then five minutes later say \u2018actually, I figured it out, nevermind.\u2019 So that\u2019s where things are good, whereas when you\u2019re in the office, they\u2019ll always come to your desk. \u2018Oh, I need you to do this for me.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> That\u2019s something I also noticed in that at the beginning of the remote work transition for us, we were slammed with helping people, people who were having little problems that were easily ignorable in the office environment, but became showstoppers in remote work. Stuff like VPN issues, stuff like that, tools that they never really used when they were in the office. We spent so much time solving that, but I think you\u2019re right that, not only the one-time fix problems got solved, but also people figured it out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We try to be very communicative of best practices in WFH. Our IT team put out a thing: Here\u2019s some neat tools, some things you can do to help your WFH experience. I think having that sort of stuff, just tons of resources that they can access, I think you\u2019re absolutely right. They become more self-sufficient, and really, we\u2019ve been getting messages about people being able to do all this extra stuff.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Effects of WFH on Work Schedules<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> So, I think you\u2019re right, and then of course, that means that when we don\u2019t have all of those drive-by support requests and all those problems have died down, and also we don\u2019t have all of the office infrastructure-related issues to deal with, we\u2019ve had time to work on projects to improve efficiency, increase automation, all these\u2026 it\u2019s been, honestly it\u2019s been great. I keep track of our workload, the number of support requests that come in and stuff. We\u2019ve still been having a steady increase of these requests, but it feels like we still have more time than we had in the office to do more than just putting out fires.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory: <\/strong>Yeah, do you see yourself, I\u2019ve seen a lot of my, because we\u2019re not going to the office and WFH, I\u2019ve seen a shift in my work hours just in the way that there is no line anymore. It\u2019s just kind of blurred at both ends, which I\u2019m okay with and in my opinion, it\u2019s only temporary. With the COVID situation and not being able to go hang out with friends and do the things you\u2019d do outside of work in the normal world, you\u2019re just stuck at home anyways, so let me continue working on this because there\u2019s nothing else better to do than watching Netflix or cooking dinner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I\u2019ve seen a lot of people that have no lines, it\u2019s just blurred between when they work and when they\u2019re not working. For some people, that shift is really healthy. They feel like they can do some work, go have lunch, go for a break, go back to work, cook dinner, have a little bit of a break, and they\u2019re kind of working the whole day with longer hours, but it\u2019s not really like they\u2019re working. It\u2019s like very broken up. Other people I\u2019ve seen stick to the hours they\u2019d normally be working in the office. That just works for them; they have kids. So I think there\u2019s a different strategy for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Importance of Dropshipping&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory:<\/strong> For me, supporting our team in Australia and China, it\u2019s easier to do that in the evening, so I may take bigger breaks in the day because I know at night I\u2019m going to be supporting them and helping them with the things they need. I think it\u2019s funny; I think the big winner here is FedEx because I have shipped more things. FedEx, UPS, USPS, they are our lifeline right now because with people working remotely, and even people that were located in our Bay Area office, some people have moved to different states just temporarily or staying with family, and then just across the city or the East Bay, and normally, in the office, when someone goes \u2018Oh, my computer\u2019s broken, can you fix it? Can you get me a replacement?\u2019 Well, normally, you could just hand it to them in the office. Now I dropship that. New hire stuff, you\u2019re shipping it, even if it\u2019s just two cities away, you still ship it because driving is a mess plus social distancing. So I think FedEx is winning, UPS, USPS, they are the lifeline right now. I\u2019ve shipped more things. Sometimes I think I\u2019m just a logistics manager right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> I know what you mean. We have, for regular IT supplies, a dock or cables or stuff like that, when we eventually ran out of supply in the office, we started using Amazon as a dropshipper. We\u2019re like \u2018give me your address, I\u2019ll punch it into Amazon, and we\u2019ll ship it directly to you.\u2019 So yeah, it\u2019s doable and it\u2019s not difficult. We lucked out. So our IT team is two people. I live about 45 minutes away from the office. Our other person is like, 10- 15 minutes away, so he became our de facto inventory person, but he brought a stack of laptops home, so if something needs to go out, he images and ships it out like you were saying. Honestly, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a solution long term, because that gets so invasive, you\u2019d need a home warehouse, essentially, to manage all this stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory:<\/strong> I live in a studio apartment in San Francisco, which is already small, so to that point you said, this is my living room and it\u2019s just packing supplies and we were shipping boxes out. I have this giant box of FedEx laptop mailers that takes up half my living room. I have a label printer at home to print FedEx labels since I print so many, so it\u2019s nice to have the label that you peel and stick rather than taping it on the boxes. I have all this equipment: I have laptops, we have our own access control reader, so we send them to new hires and people. I have all this stuff that I\u2019m actually moving to a bigger apartment. I have a second closet in my new apartment and I\u2019m just like, half of it is devoted to work stuff, with shelving to put it all and I\u2019m okay with that because I\u2019d rather not have to run to the office everyday to grab laptops to ship out. It just adds to your day, so having it at your home is convenient. You get it out on the same day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve been using FedEx same day delivery for this intercity stuff. FedEx officers come to you and then deliver it like a courier service. I realize that there\u2019s shifts in costs, and even if we downsize the office, we are going to see an upswing in other costs. It\u2019s just a strategy shift there with mailing more things. We did have someone whose laptop was broken and they live in another country. There\u2019s no official post stores there so they had to go to a third-party reseller or authorized service provider to get their keyboard fixed. It\u2019s kind of a mess. I thought about just shipping them a loaner laptop while theirs was getting repaired, but customs is a nightmare in some countries. By the time this thing gets through customs, they could have already fixed the laptop, and then you\u2019ve got import duties, and it\u2019s kind of a challenge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t know about you, but I wish there was a company that, and maybe there is, maybe I just haven\u2019t found it yet, that maybe could handle this on a more international level. With US domestic, it\u2019s easy to just ship a loaner laptop, but as soon as you cross any of the borders, things become very difficult. They question you. Is this a repair? You have to mark it on the form and then they call you and question it. Some countries, Australia\u2019s really easy. You can just ship anything and they\u2019re like \u2018cool, whatever.\u2019 Some other countries are more difficult, but that\u2019s a challenge I\u2019ve seen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you move to this remote strategy, it allows you to hire people from anywhere with this new acceptance of WFH \/ work remote. I think companies will stop looking to specific cities to hire people near their HQ or whatever. In San Francisco, companies are welcoming that. They don\u2019t want to continue to have to hire in a market that is just so competitive. Housing prices are insane here, so allowing people to work from Minnesota or wherever, it\u2019s a great shift for everyone. Companies can maybe spend a little less on office space and other resources, and people can be happier and have bigger homes. So I think that\u2019s an interesting shift. Do you know of a company that does international?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> I\u2019m right there with you. Luckily, I don\u2019t have to deal with a lot of international shipping&#8230; yet. I\u2019m sure that it will come in the near future. We do have some international teams, but they tend to deal with purchasing locally there. There was one time we had to do shipping between them and it literally took a month to get from point A to point B. So I\u2019m right there with you. If it was something I had to do on a regular basis, it would be a nightmare. People listening, here\u2019s a startup idea for you. I don\u2019t envy you in the logistics of making that startup, but maybe make a company that facilitates\u2026 even global loaners, you know, something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory:<\/strong> Yeah! That\u2019s really what I needed in this situation. I just needed a loaner so that their regular computer could get repaired. So, that is a great startup idea or someone to get into that market. Because if you\u2018re one person in a country, there\u2019s no way to stock loaners in that country. It\u2019s just not economical to do that, so there\u2019s a good startup idea. Someone who can really focus on the remote international side of things, getting equipment, even swag like t-shirts and other things. I think there\u2019s really disruption there. Even hiring local companies to make that stuff for you, and small businesses going through resellers and giving them the business, but going to a portal and saying \u2018I need this, this, and this in Romania, now\u2019. That\u2019s the technology we need to enable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> That\u2019s one of those things where I know it\u2019s coming for me. I\u2019m not particularly looking forward to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> It will get easier and easier. That is one of those things they\u2019re working on. Apple makes it pretty easy if they operate in the country, you can order directly from Apple\u2026 it makes it a little easier but there are still some countries that they don\u2019t operate directly in. I remember having to ship things to India. That was a challenge because Apple doesn\u2019t have an official presence there. But they are working on that. The world is changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Legal Issues with Reopening Offices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory:<\/strong> One thing I wanted to point out, I forgot to mention this in the workplace chat (part one), we\u2019ve got these legal challenges now around coming back to the workplace. It\u2019s been a topic that\u2019s become very interesting. There could be lawsuits if you\u2019re not supplying masks and gloves and sanitation. Companies are kind of scared that if they don\u2019t do it right, they\u2019ll face lawsuits from their employees and the approach I see there is supplying PPE. Cohort one of people that return to the office are people that voluntarily want to go in. So you\u2019ll allow people that are like \u2018I\u2019m cool with it. I want to go back.\u2019 Some companies are making them sign waivers, which is kind of like\u2026 you\u2019re presented with a waiver; that makes you feel there\u2019s a risk. You\u2019re like \u2018there\u2019s this waiver, they must be a reason they want me to sign this.\u2019 There are challenges around that, and I\u2019m interested in solutions there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it any different than any other type of illness that can be transmitted? You know we\u2019re at risk during flu season, right? There hasn\u2019t, that I know of, I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s any lawsuits around the flu, probably at least one. Business Law 101 in America: you can always sue. I just wonder, in the normal flu season, people are sick, they come to the office. There\u2019s not really the challenge. Companies try to send those people home or clean things up if they know there\u2019s been someone who\u2019s ill, but it\u2019s not to the same level that we\u2019re experiencing today because this virus is so much different than what we\u2019ve seen with the flu, but now we\u2019ve got legal challenges of coming back. I think that\u2019s going to be a big challenge for companies because I think that\u2019s why a lot of companies like Google have said \u2018we\u2019re not coming back until 2021 because we don\u2019t want to deal with any of that, and we know by then, or we think by then, things will be a lot better, or we\u2019ll have figured it out, or there will be a vaccine, and then we can come back knowing we\u2019re protected or we\u2019re not going to get sued for endangering employees.\u2019 What are your thoughts on that topic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> I think that I agree with you. As you mentioned, we are such a litigious society that if it\u2019s not a concern for your organization, it should be. You just don\u2019t know, and especially when it comes to people\u2019s health, frankly, they\u2019re afraid to come back into the office because it not just affects them, it can affect their loved ones and everything like that. You have to be super careful. JumpCloud, we\u2019re very fortunate in that our transition to remote work and our ability to remote work has been very successful and is very easy, so we can, as with Google, take it really slow and keep watch how things are going. Our leadership is doing just that. They\u2019re not going to gamble with our health. They\u2019re just watching how everything goes and we still don\u2019t have a firm office open date. Unfortunately, not every organization has that luxury. It is a big thing, and I don\u2019t have a good answer, but I agree that the legality side of things is going to be very tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory:<\/strong> I think this is why companies are looking at thermal cameras and cough sensors even. They know if they do everything they can, it\u2019s going to protect them from the wrath of ligitiation, like \u2018well, we did all of these things. We enforced mask wearing. We moved the desks six feet apart. We did all of these things.\u2019 At a certain point, they can\u2019t do any more. They\u2019ve done everything that they can, so I think that\u2019s why it\u2019s important for companies to invest in these technologies. It will help them with that. And, we want to keep employees safe; there\u2019s two sides to that. They want to protect themselves from the risk and we want employees to be healthy. We want everyone to feel like they can come back to the office. It\u2019s going to be a little bit weird; everyones\u2019 going to have to wear masks for a while. It\u2019s not going to be the same place, but we\u2019ll get back to that normal. That will help us move to the next step where people don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re locked in their houses anymore. We can start that process of getting back to\u2026 a different place than we were before, but a more normal society where we can eventually get rid of masks and go back to eating dinner at a nice restaurant or go with our friends to the beach.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think that time is coming. I think we\u2019re starting to see more cases here and there coming up in certain states, so it\u2019s unclear where we\u2019re going from here, but hopefully we get through this and it\u2019s not a lot. I think there\u2019s a lot to learn from what happened. We weren\u2019t really prepared as a nation. We\u2019ve got things to fix there. Companies, from what I learned, I think that we had some PPE in stock, you know, wildfires are natural in California so we had some masks, but we didn\u2019t have a big supply. We had some gloves. We had some sanitation stuff, but just not a lot. I think companies now are going to have a closet full of this waiting because it was really hard to get that kind of stuff as soon as it hit. Companies like Apple had like 10,000,000 masks; it was crazy. That\u2019s because they have to because of the wildfires; there\u2019s a California law that companies have to provide a certain amount, and a certain amount of days worth of those materials.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But without laws in certain places, companies may not stock enough of that, so I think that\u2019s another thing to think about going forward. We\u2019ve got to store enough and be ready. I don\u2019t think this is the last time we\u2019ll be facing this. We\u2019ve got every, what five, ten years, there\u2019s some virus outbreak that\u2019s new to humans, whether its SARS or MERS or even ebola. This is gonna happen again; it\u2019s inevitable in the timeline of history, so we\u2019ve got to prepare.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opportunities for Tech in Sanitization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> But I think it\u2019s a good experiment. We know we can work from home. We know we have tools. We can keep investing in these technologies and it\u2019s a safer way forward for everyone. So I think that that\u2019s interesting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve seen UV\u2026 UV is another technology that they\u2019re starting to put in everything, and I think for the office, I\u2019m thinking why didn\u2019t we do this ten years ago? That technology existed then, why is it only now that, UV lockers, so when deliveries or packages are placed into that personal locker, there\u2019s a UV light that kills anything on the outside of the box. You\u2019ve got phone and tablet soap boxes that you put them in and UV light\u2026 the other day I was thinking, why don\u2019t elevators, you know at night when no one\u2019s riding them, they just lock down and ten minutes of UV light, right? Just clean the whole office surface. Why did we wait until now to start thinking about all of these technologies we can use to passively sanitize all these spaces that are used? It\u2019s just interesting to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> I think one of the answers to that is that there really wasn\u2019t a huge demand for that, so you didn\u2019t see very many companies, but any time there\u2019s a big global crisis or something, people will start thinking of that. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if you start seeing products come out over the next ten years that do that sort of thing. You see these new industries pop up, or spin-off industries, so I\u2019m really interested to see what kind of technology and stuff comes out as a direct result of this pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cory:<\/strong> Yeah, and it\u2019s not going to help us in this pandemic, but it\u2019s going to help us after, like regular flu season, the common cold, any surfaces that people touch are going to be sanitized if you have those technologies. It\u2019ll just be a better way forward altogether. Public transit\u2019s another interesting one\u2026 to keep those train cars clean, I do not envy the amount of cleaning that has to go on there. Maybe we\u2019ll have UV lights in all of our train cars, and they\u2019ll shut down for ten minutes and do a full sanitization and get back in service. These technologies will just be better overall for the world. I think we\u2019re learning a lot. When you\u2019re just shifted into this thing that we had no choice, we\u2019re on the rocket ship. Launch happened. We can\u2019t stop it. It\u2019s just this massive experiment for us. No one can get their way out of it. You just gotta ride with it, go with all the changes and learn a better way forward. It\u2019s been, for humans, one of the biggest experiments in the last, at least decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Closing Remarks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> Exactly. Well, we\u2019ve had some good conversations and our time shows that. We didn\u2019t even really use our little backup talking point, which I didn\u2019t think we would, but before we wrap up, is there anything else that you want to touch on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> I think we touched on a lot of the important points, and I think the biggest obstacle, like I said before, for returning to the workplace is figuring out what technologies and what things\u2026 we\u2019ve gotta back them with science and data and say \u2018these things really work\u2019 because if we do that wrong, if those technologies aren\u2019t, and testing and whatnot isn\u2019t as effective as we thought, the antibody testing, then we can risk taking a step back. We\u2019ve really got to know those things, so hopefully the medical community and the science community are really pushing forward to help us know what are the right things to do. We\u2019re working on that in our own projects to make sure that everything we recommend and put out there is backed by some of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My advice is just, everyone hang on. We\u2019re getting somewhere. Just wear a mask, continue to stay healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> Wash your hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> Yeah, and help out other people. We\u2019re all human. Help your neighbor; check in on your neighbors if you can, and just reach out to colleagues. I\u2019ve done that and that\u2019s good, just saying \u2018how are you doing? I haven\u2019t from you a lot. Used to see you every day in the office, how are you doing?\u2019 and really connecting with people because it\u2019s so hard if you\u2019re alone in this and not reaching out to people, just kind of staying at home, socially distancing\u2026 so just reach out to people, help people, and we\u2019re all in this together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> Exactly, exactly. Well, thank you very much, Cody. It was a great conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> Yeah, thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> And again, our guest has been Cody Goodermote. He\u2019s the IT and Workplace Operations Manager at Proxy. Again, thank you again for the conversation. It was very good having you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cody:<\/strong> Yes, thank you Ryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ryan Rambles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ryan:<\/strong> It\u2019s now time for everyone\u2019s favorite segment, Ryan Rambles, where your host, Ryan Bacon, rambles on about something mentioned in this episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I would like to talk about structuring your day when working from home. So a lot of things will be the same from when you were working in the office: keeping up with industry news, checking and working on things from the previous day, getting up to date on stuff that came in since the previous day. A lot of that stuff will remain the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But really, it becomes about how you separate your time from non-work time and work time because when you\u2019re working from home, those lines become really blurred. What I suggest really is setting up your schedule in your head. So, you can say \u2018I\u2019m going to work from 6 AM to 3 PM,\u2019 or whatever. Whatever hours you set, set those and do your best to stick by them. I know that\u2019s easier said than done, but really try to do that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What also helps is to have a separate work area, so whether that\u2019s a home office, whether that\u2019s a desk you have set in the corner of your apartment, whatever it is, have a separate work area. One thing that helps me is I unfortunately can\u2019t follow that last bit of advice because I don\u2019t have the space for it, but I have my personal laptop. I have my work laptop. When I\u2019m done with work, I close my work laptop and I stick it in a drawer. Then I open up my personal laptop; I don\u2019t have work apps or anything installed on it, so that\u2019s my differentiator. I have to make an effort to go and jump back into work mode, so that really helps me differentiate between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing is make sure to take time for yourself. I\u2019m fortunate enough that, with JumpCloud, they\u2019re very big on letting us be flexible on our daily schedules, so I\u2019ll take time out of the middle of the day so I can go for a swim, go for a walk. Do what I can to break up the monotony, but also keep myself from working a 12 hour day, every single day, seven days a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So to sum up, you\u2019re going to be doing a lot of the same things, a lot of the same tasks in your WFH day. Just make sure that you do things to help you stop working from home at the end of the day, and also do things to help you break up the monotony through the day for your own mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for listening to <em>Where\u2019s the Any Key?<\/em> If you like what you heard, please feel free to subscribe. Again, my name is Ryan Bacon and I work for <a href=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/product\">JumpCloud Directory-as-a-Service<\/a>, where the team here is building a cloud-based platform for system and identity management. You can learn more and even set up a free account at <a href=\"https:\/\/console.jumpcloud.com\/signup\">jumpcloud.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So until next time, keep looking for that any key. If you find it, please let us know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"buzzsprout-large-player-855292\"><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/855292.js?container_id=buzzsprout-large-player-855292&amp;player=large\"><\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although many are curious what the return to the office may hold, Cody Goodermote is planning for the future by making moves today. 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