Author: Miguel Hurtado, CAPM
Seat, Zara, Givenchy, Dior or your favorite beer. What do they have in common during this time? Easy, a big effort to adapt to critical situations.
With the COVID-19 virus and the crisis situation world economy took a halt, affecting everything from local shops to big factories...many jobs have either been put on hold or put in a home office situation. But some industries have adapted very quick to help in this COVID-19 situation.
We can find examples everywhere, but I wish to focus on 2 different examples: beer and cars. In Switzerland Fasnachtbier is very common during Carnival time, a tradition during the years but with this last crisis and the cancellation of Carnival's festivities, beer factories didn't have the opportunity to sell their product. But the beer industry reacted and refocused the production and the recycle of its unsold beer to produce alcohol for hand disinfection, dedicated to supply local pharmacies, and neighbors helping neighbors in difficult times.
The second example is the auto industry. In countries like Spain or Italy where the pandemic hit hard, the auto industry became a good helper. They stopped the production of some cars and decided to find a way to fight the virus and help. A volunteer group developed a breathing machine using the motor of the windscreen wiper!
Around the world we can find examples of how project management provides the chance to lead change and help people.
From elderly people creating handmade masks with sewing machines to big industries creating medical devices, all these are projects and all will make the change we need.
We can do it, if we work together!