A Recovery Plan Needs a Handoff, Not Just a Backup

A useful lesson from thinking about business continuity: saving a procedure is not the same as preserving the capacity to use it. A fallback can look complete on paper and still leave people unsure who can start it, what information they need, or how to return to normal work.

Imagine a shared tool becomes unavailable. Before rebuilding the whole workflow, identify one essential output to preserve. Name who can authorize the fallback, what inputs and dependencies it needs, and how affected people will know which version of the work is current. Then rehearse that narrow handoff and record what remains uncertain—not as proof of recovery, but as a guide to what needs repair.

Keep the useful process; revise the unclear transition. Review the fallback with the people expected to use it, and set a point to revisit it after changes to the workflow.