A Continuity Plan Needs a Decision Trigger

A continuity plan can list backup options and still leave one crucial question unanswered: when do we switch?

Consider a planning exercise where a key service becomes unreliable. If the team has no agreed trigger, people may wait for certainty—or activate a costly fallback too early. The useful lesson is to define the decision before disruption: what signal prompts a switch, who is authorized to make it, and what would justify returning to normal operations.

That turns a backup route into an accountable commitment, not just a page in a plan. The trigger should be reviewed when the assumptions behind it change; otherwise, yesterday’s sensible threshold can become today’s delay.