A COVID Project Remembered

Allow me to take you back to April of 2020.

I was product lead at a charter school network of 90 schools across 9 states. Our team was responsible for the parent persona. COVID had sent everyone home. And we had to navigate the ever-changing directives from the government about what, how, and when we were coming back to school.

It was always going to be "soon". We didn't know at the time that the rest of that school year would be spent at home.

Thankfully, our team was comfortable and confident working remotely. It was our poor parents, especially parents of littles, who were bearing the brunt of the educational burden. Imagine a five year old watching a Zoom lecture. It was a mess.

But we were tasked with keeping parents informed. So, a cross-department task force was spun up. What if there was some everywhere available, always-on, easy-to-update communication medium?

The web was our answer. We wanted a fast, easy, structured, secure method to deliver clear, accurate, up-to-date information to our parents.

So we went with what works. Simplicity, speed, and impact were critical. We didn't have time to spin up a CMS.

We created a Google Site.

Over the next few months, tens of thousands of concerned and confused parents, grandparents, and guardians found answers in a world teeming with questions.

It fulfilled all our goals. 

In fact, it was so successful, we created a similar solution for our internal teams of thousands of staff members across the schools and headquarters.

In that high-stress, high-pressure environment, we operated as a team. I couldn't have done it by myself. We all cared about the parents, students, and staff we served. And so we got the job done.

Shout-out to the scrappy team that made it happen. You know who you are. 💪