Davy Architecture Project Architect Jennifer Timmons is still getting used to her new work-from-home life in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. But one thing that she said has made the transition unquestionably easier: Bluebeam.
“Bluebeam is always open,” Timmons said from her home office during an interview with Bluebeam’s Frank Kalman earlier this month. “It’s my safety net; it’s where I put a bunch of my thoughts every day.”
As part of our continuing series on remote work, the Bluebeam Blog interviewed Timmons to learn more about how she’s adjusting to working from home full time and how Bluebeam and other technology has enabled her and her team to continue to be as efficient as possible.
Below are edited excerpts of the highlights of our conversation, along with timestamps from the video in case you want to skip ahead.
[00:51] What was the initial communication like when Davy told its employees they would be working from home for the foreseeable future?
“The first and foremost thing [Mr. Davy said] was we’re going to take care of our people. We’re fortunate enough to work in a service industry where we can do it from home. We were coming off a very strong initiative to get everyone capable of working remote anyway.”
[01:29] How has your work-from-home routine crystalized over the past few weeks? Are you doing the same things you did when you were going into an office every day?
“I love the fact that you think it’s crystalized. It is not at all crystalized; let me just put that out there right now. Today was not getting up as early as I would have like to, honestly. I’ve noticed that my work schedule has shifted from sort of the earlier part of the day and more of a traditional end at 5 p.m. to now it just kind of lingers out much beyond 5 p.m. because there’s a lot of family time that has to happen in there.”
[02:47] How has your communication with colleagues changed? Are you using different tools?
“We’re really embracing Microsoft Teams. And, needless to say, I’ve always been a huge proponent of Bluebeam—so Sessions and Projects and using those cloud-based tools, which I’ve done for years. But Teams is an interesting way of communicating and sharing within the office. I think people are getting a bit more accustomed to it and we’re getting more used to seeing ourselves at the bottom of the right-hand corner of our screen.”
[04:07] Do you find that you use Bluebeam differently working from home or is it business as usual?
“Really it’s business as usual with Bluebeam. Anyone that’s ever worked with me knows that you’ve got to have Bluebeam and you’ve got to be on a Session. And not only that but you need to know how to right click and set a status on a markup—I’ve even actually had that conversation with consultants: ‘Look, nothing has changed as far as Bluebeam is concerned. It’s all up there on the cloud, and I still expect you to respond to all my comments, too.’”
[04:50] Is there anything you’ve learned about working from home full-time that has surprised you?
“People are more flexible than I think they thought they were, I guess, myself included. As an architect, we like things to fit in their slots—everything has a place; and a place for everything—and I think I’ve sort of come to the conclusion that you’ve got to trust your people, you’ve got to have really good tools, you’ve got to use them to the maximum. And don’t sweat the small stuff.”
For the full interview, watch the video above.
