Engineering from Home, According to the Ford Mustang Mach-E Team

Ford’s crucial Mustang Mach-E EV program is sprinting to the finish line as it undergoes final calibration and testing just as the engineering team tasked with that work are locked down at home. Fortunately for Ford, and for would-be Mach-E drivers, the engineers are still on the job and getting the work done. Indeed, they are finding the lesson learned by many home workers over the years: Working from home doesn’t mean you’re never at work; it means you’re always at work.

After discovering that working straight through from early-morning phone calls with Europe to late-evening calls with Asia can lead to burn out, Mustang Mach-E Vehicle Engineering Manager Rob Iorio says he is learning the importance of pacing and getting breaks. “It is continuing to evolve,” he observed. “We are finding the right pace now. Early on was a little hectic.”

While we might not miss slogging through traffic to and from the office, driving does provide a mental break from the work at hand, and engineers working from their home offices need to recognize that, Iorio advises.