Atlanta Beats COVID Update Week #4

This is week #4 of helping with Atlanta Beats COVID. I continue to be amazed by the impact of the combined Atlanta-metro Maker community. As of this morning, we’ve built and delivered just over 4000 pieces of PPE. The large majority of that being face shields (Wisconsin, Prusa, NIH and Budman designs). We see that there is still a need and are starting to ramp up our N95-style mask based on the Montana design. 

I’ve been working to document much of what I’ve learned, observed, and done so far, for future reference and to determine what to improve…for the next pandemic (Separately, I hope there’s no next pandemic)!

One of the big parts that I’ve helped with is the backend operations and process automation. When we started, I kept thinking, “How is this going to be managed? We’re essentially building a distributed manufacturing company with certain stages centralized and most de-centralized…all under serious pressure in the middle of a global pandemic. How will this work? How will things be synchronized?” I realized that we would need some kind of project management (PM) tool. There’s much more to this story, but the short version (more to come) of this is: I’ve learned a new set of skills around API development, ETL automation, Atlassian Trello operation, development and APIs, Zapier automation using zaps as well as Python enabled Zapier automation. It’s been interesting and fun...As much as the backdrop of our current reality will allow. Feel free to ask me about any of this.

Stay safe and check out @atlantabeatscovid on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

-Milt