AECOM

Laurie Stidham

While I am no digital nomad, travelling last summer through France provided experiences that were life enhancing and changed the way I want to work.

A few years ago, I travelled for work several times a month, but always to specific projects or construction sites. Last year during an extended vacation on which I never missed a meeting or deadline, the experience felt downright luxurious. This could not have been possible without ever-increasing technological advances and types of software available.

While in Paris, I sipped champagne (after 5:00 of course) in a beautiful lounge window seat with the glamorous draperies pulled back to see architectural beauty outside, engaged in my weekly morning Teams Meeting with the construction team back in California. We reviewed schedules, final inspections, and requirements for TCO via shared screens, and, outstanding quality & commissioning issues through the project’s construction software. The completion date, which had been publicly announced by the city, was rapidly approaching.

“Technology did not just keep me connected; it redefined how and where I want to work”

Driving through the countryside in central France, winding our way through small pastoral roads, in the back seat, I was on another Teams Meeting reviewing project requirements. As we drove over a hill, we saw the most beautiful lavender fields spread all around us. A great time to finish the meeting, stop the car and frolic in the aromatic fields. Wading waist high between rows of lavender was a dream come true, having wanted to experience this is my whole adult life. The air was filled with lavender, and it was pure luxury.

Later in the trip, while on a river cruise, technology on the floating hotel kept my work schedule on target with the ship’s Wi-Fi. Using SharePoint and shared drives for documents and construction plans, Teams Meetings, the project construction software programs, Orion and BIM 360 Field, I never missed a meeting, call, Change Order review, design change, schedule update, or question (RFI) for the architect. There was still ample time for tours, site sightseeing, wine, and experiencing the small villages and towns with family and friends.

In the last week of the trip, we stayed at a historic chateau in a small village near Chalon sur Soane, not far from Dijon. Although some of my meetings were at midnight to accommodate the projects thousands of miles away, this was truly a dream come true. Working from a Chateau in the countryside in France gave me a new love for how I want to work.