What’s Old is New: Strengthening IT’s Role in Business Resilience

In all my years working in resiliency, when I was managing programs myself and now that I am helping other companies with their programs, it seems the two most scarce resources are always money and time. This is the first blog in my “What’s Old Is New” blog series.

“Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time…”

Pink Floyd, Time

The Two Most Important Resources in a Business Resiliency Program: Money and Time

Now I know that those are the two most important resources in pretty much any endeavor in business. Nobody ever has enough money to do what they want to and it always seems like nobody ever has enough time to do things either. But, in the world of Business Resiliency, time seems especially scarce. Resiliency Programs always seem to take a backseat behind more tangible, urgent business problems and helping the Resiliency Program on some project seems to be low priority work for almost everybody else in the company.

I can’t wave a wand and find more money in the budget for Resiliency Programs, but I might be able to help you find some more time. I may even be able to help you find some of that essential-but-especially-difficult-to-find time from your IT staff. They’re always too busy. 

This problem definitely isn’t a new one in resiliency. In fact, I presented on this very topic almost 10 years ago at Disaster Recovery Journal’s Fall 2014 conference. You need IT’s help to check the accuracy of all kinds of Resiliency documentation, and if anything, they’re busier now than they were a decade ago.  Systems are more complex, the technical knowledge needed is greater now than it was then, the vendor landscape is more confusing, and there’s a massive tech talent shortage.  (Being busier doesn’t necessarily mean they’re more productive either, but that’s a whole other problem.)

In that presentation, I gave some solid tips for how to get more out of your relationship with your IT staff, and I put together a fun little simulation for non-IT people about what it was like to work in IT. I won’t describe the whole simulation (it was more of an experiential sort of thing that generated a little artificial stress for realism) but I tried to show audience members the following:

• What it feels like to work in IT.
• How it disrupts an IT staffer’s work when they have to read over some sort of Resiliency Plan in the middle of their workday.
• How to present Resiliency-related work to IT in a way that makes it easier to complete, and showing the effects of management support.

So, for the uninitiated, what does it feel like to work in IT?

• IT work is technical and repetitive, and requires concentration to complete accurately.
• Even if you have tools to make the work go faster, the work still takes time to complete.
• Work keeps coming, and you don’t get more time to do it.

How does it disrupt an IT Staffer’s work when they get handed a Resiliency Plan to read?

• They’re doing technical, focused work under tight deadlines, and then they have to make time to work on something new and different. 
• Not only is Resiliency extra work, it’s time-consuming work.
• It’s also disruptive to their focus, because it’s completely different than their regular work, so this adds to their stress.

What happens when there’s management support for the Resiliency work?

Working with IT managers to support their staff in helping you is key to making sure everything gets done. This could be:

• Extra time given on other projects
• Assistance or flexibility in prioritizing work so they are able to help with Resiliency.
• Organizing existing work for IT staff so it can be done more efficiently (freeing up time to help with Resiliency work).

How about making the work easier to complete?

• This is actually the most helpful thing when you’re dealing with IT.
• The less IT Staffers have to shift focus from their regular work, the easier it is to get what you need.
• Do some of the work for them if you can and isolate the specific things you need help with.
• Most importantly, come to IT with specific questions.

I think this last point is probably the most critical one out of that whole presentation.  Coming to someone with specific questions which need specific answers makes the whole process less of an interruption for them.  (This plays off the idea of knowing what kinds of answers you’re looking for.) If you want an IT staffer to review some kind of Resiliency plan for you and you just send them the plan, getting their opinions might take a long time because it represents a tremendous interruption from their daily work.  Or, you can craft an e-mail with very specific questions about the plan, highlighting the areas that need their expertise. If you send that email, along with a copy of the full document for context, you can probably get useful answers to your specific questions quickly.  If you can couple that clarified request with some additional management support for the DR project (like moving a task or two off of that IT staffer’s plate, or giving some flexibility on deadlines for other projects), then it’s going to be a lot easier for that staffer to get everything you need done. They will have the time and the resources to handle your request, and your request will be specific enough that it can be handled without causing extra stress. Everybody wins.

Scheduling Work and Meetings

A couple of other items from my DRJ presentation relate to scheduling work and meetings, and how you ask people for their time. It’s usually impossible to take up your IT staff’s time with a lot of long meetings, so don’t even try. You’re better off scheduling short meetings, and planning on using less than the scheduled time.  Send around a meeting agenda ahead of time, give IT staff time to prepare for the meeting, and stay focused during the call. EVERYBODY loves it when a meeting gets done early.  Another tip: you are likely to get more Resiliency work done in four 15-minute meetings with four individual IT people than you are in an hour-long meeting with all of them at once. (You will also save the company over three working hours doing it that way.)

“The longer the meeting, the less is accomplished.”

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Computer

It’s also important to remember that you are probably a distraction. Resiliency work is not your IT staffer’s regular job, and whatever work they are doing for you pulls them away from the other work they are supposed to be doing. The distraction you create may even take longer to recover from than the work you are asking them to do. Back when I was doing IT work for a living, a 30 minute meeting might have easily meant 90 minutes of lost work, and an hour’s distraction on someone else’s side project could easily mean 2-3 hours of lost productivity.  Being careful and specific when you ask for help has the added benefit of reducing the length and severity of those distracting interruptions. Getting help from your IT department is a necessity for advancing your resiliency program.  Even though that’s the case, sometimes you just need some expertise from outside your organization to help bring it all together.  Sayers is here to help. Our Business Resiliency team has decades of experience in all aspects of building and maturing programs just like yours.  We’re here to help you make the most of your team’s time and effort.