Business continuity exercises

Exercises – beating the flab; making it fab…

Do’s, don’ts and anecdotes from ten plus years of BC exercising

Taidhgh O’ReganEast Midlands Resilience [email protected]

Introducing Myself

• BSc in International Disaster Engineering & Management.

• Worked on ‘Most Innovative Product 2000’.

• Nine years as a BC consultant.

• Independent contractor since 2014.

• Designed, delivered and reported on over 100 resilience exercises of one type or another.

Finding the Context

• Who’s in the room:• Internal BC/ ITSC/ DR practitioner?• External consultant or contractor?• Other?

• Are we talking about:• Exercises?• Tests?• Drills?

Does it matter?

Avoiding the Horror Stories

• Bursting into the boardroom and taking the Chairman hostage.

• Not understanding the organisation or sector.

• Attempting too much, too soon.

• Disengaging participants.

What Are You Trying to Achieve?

• What are the objectives? Consider the:• Organisation.• BC programme.• Participants.

• How will you get there?

• How will you prove you arrived?

• Are you training as well as exercising? Be clear.

How About The Scenario?

• Map it – try and select the most useful.

• Do the research – try and have something in your back pocket to support the story.

• Script it - to make sure there is something for everyone and always have too much.

• Have a clear vision.

• Can you add a little bit of ‘wow’? An image, a sound or something more…

• The mundane can also be very interesting…

Who Will be Participating?

• What will they do?

• Are there any ‘characters’ to be aware of?

• Is a blended approach needed e.g. management and technical?

• Will challenge be welcomed?• The ‘career limiting question’ may need to be asked…

Running the Show

• What’s the most useful delivery method?• Verbal.• Slideshow.• Remote – telephone/ email/ Skype/ IM.• Actors.• Static/ dynamic story?

• Walk through the timings.

• How will you maintain control?

• Are your support team fully briefed?

• Have you set expectations and rules for participants?

Feeding Back

• If you have a debrief process in your plan – use it.

• Capture participant feedback – prove you met your objectives.

• Keep reporting clear, simple and action orientated. It’s the building block for your next exercise.

Thank YouAny questions?

Taidhgh O’ReganEast Midlands Resilience [email protected]

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