A 60-page continuity plan is a compliance document. A one-page plan is a tool. In a real disruption, no one opens the 60-pager. Everyone reads the one that's stuck on the fridge.
What goes on the page
- Top: the three scenarios most likely to stop you trading. Not twenty. Three.
- Middle: for each scenario, who decides, who calls who, and what we tell customers.
- Bottom: the numbers. Insurer, IT provider, landlord, key supplier, key staff.
What to leave off
Everything else. Risk matrices, appendices, corporate policy language. If it doesn't help someone make a decision at 6am on a bad morning, it doesn't go on the page.
"The best continuity plan is the one that gets read in a hurry by a tired person who's already stressed."