Triage skills and staff
Most companies fail dramatically when disaster strikes because triage processes either do not exist or are too poor. The skills to run the business day to day are different than the decision-making processes needed in real time in a crisis: there is little time for meetings, almost no ability to consult with different parties, and planning is out of the question. When in this mode we need someone leading who is trusted, handles stress well, and is a perceiver rather than a planner - someone who thrives running with rapid decision making and does not need to have planned their events ahead of time. Planning is excellent and as much as is reasonable should be done ahead of time, but everyone involved from junior IT staff to senior executive staff should understand that true emergencies cannot be adequately planned for, and real life will involve many unknowns that have to be evaluated on the fly.
Our first process when there is a disaster is to head into triage...
