Yesterday, several counties in the San Francisco Bay Area ordered residents to shelter in place until April 7 to flatten the spread of the novel coronavirus. As of 12:01 this morning, I am required to stay in my home unless I need to leave for an “essential function” like buying groceries or visiting a doctor. I can take walks, but only with another member of my household and we must maintain a distance of at least six feet. I’m still wrapping my mind around the massive social disruptions, but I’ve been working from home for several years, so that part comes naturally. For the uninitiated, however, shifting to a remote workplace is full of uncertainty. How will these newly siloed workers stay connected to colleagues, conduct meetings and share vital information? And once they get accustomed to working solo, how will they manage their social isolation? How do you even measure the performance of a distributed team? We’re in uncharted territory. Because we’ve stepped up the number of stories we’re running for entrepreneurs, investors and workers trying to make sense of this new distributed world, I wanted to explain our editorial policy when it comes to covering the coronavirus: Articles with public-interest information are published on TechCrunch; this includes anything related to basic health and safety. Posts that analyze the pandemic’s impacts on the markets, fundraising, investing and remote work are on Extra Crunch, however. To find all of TechCrunch’s coronavirus-related news, please visit this page, which is updated several times each day: https://techcrunch.com/pages/covid-19-updates/ Thanks very much for reading, Walter Thompson Senior Editor, TechCrunch @yourprotagonist Read more |