ON A DIME
working longer hours, but she has seen teammates looking out for one another and trying to share the load. “I’ve seen a lot of people covering for others and taking things off other people’s plates, especially to accommodate the individuals with children at home—everybody is giving a helping hand.”
Teamwork makes the dream work, as the saying goes, and Horrell is looking for ways to team with DOD more effectively during the pandemic. From a sales perspective, she said the company craves more of the communication that would normally take place during conferences and industry events. “DISA [Defense Information Systems Agency] does a very good job every year of doing a virtual forecast to industry,” she said. “Te Army has kept up those annual virtual events, but it’s different than the kind of engagement that happens at conferences. I think more interac- tion from the acquisition community would be helpful in terms of new initiatives, new requirements.” For example, she’s curious about COVID-19’s impact on the Army’s network moderniza- tion and systems migration plans. “Fill in the blanks for us,” she said. “We kind of feel in the dark.”
“I think it’s a testament to the flexibility and adaptability of contractors and small businesses in general.”
temperature checks for staff, and then added pulse oximetry— a test used to measure the oxygen level of the blood—and sniff tests—an exam that checks how a person’s diaphragm moves—for anyone entering the building. Te goal is to have many “indicators of potential infection, as well as the ability to do contact trac- ing of anybody who’s been in the office at the same time, ever.”
TOBIN FISHER, VANTAGE ROBOTICS
As a next step, the company decided to find a better office space. “We’re in the process now of relocating the entire company to a new office that is designed around both maximum spacing for people and ventilation.” It’s much larger and is being renovated with safety in mind. “One whole wall of the office is all roll-up doors. Te intent is to maintain many, many, many air changes an hour.. As far as we can tell, the best research shows that the best way to prevent COVID infection is to avoid stagnant air with lots of people in it.” Fisher sees this new office as crucial to the company’s continued success. “Our expectation, our plan is that these limitations will be there for the next 12 months and we’re planning accordingly,” he said. “We need the ability to run oper- ations and run manufacturing. And that would be much more challenging with an office that can only have 25 percent of the team there at a time.”
AN OPERATIONAL OVERHAUL Tobin Fisher is the CEO of Vantage Robotics, which is develop- ing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones for the Army. For his company, “an awful lot” has changed. “I think the COVID pandemic is a real test for every company and their ability to adapt in the face of such massive changes in how we actually do business.” And telework is just the tip of the iceberg. “We also have been doing a lot to change our office,” he said. Wearing masks was “a no-brainer,” but they’ve also created logs of everyone who has been in the office, tracking when they were present and who else was there at the same time. Tey started with
138 Army AL&T Magazine Fall 2020
One positive result of extended telework, Fisher said, is that his team is closer than ever. “Previously, having your kid run around in the background of a team conference call might be consid- ered inappropriate,” he said. “Now it’s totally acceptable. I think we’re all getting to know each other a little better and that’s a good thing. I think it makes us more cohesive as a group.” And the timing is good because Vantage Robotics has been growing. “We’ve nearly doubled the team since the lockdown started,” he said. “Bringing new team members on and maintaining that same sense of cohesion across the team is a real challenge.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196
