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Entries in Crisis (2)

Monday
Oct082012

When IT is in Crisis

We often get asked to help companies return their environment to stability.  Companies can erode customer good will and lose business with extended or recurring IT issues.

When IT organizations find themselves in crisis, digging out can be difficult. 

We’ve covered stability issues in the past, in two posts “The Insanity Must Stop” and “Change Management.”  For a company to reach out for help indicates strength.

Why strength?

Weak organizations will continue to try an solve the issue.  When “really bad,” this often takes a toll on staff.  People make mistakes when they are tired.  Engaged management sets ego aside and asks for (ultra-confidential) assistance.

A strong organization will recognize a fresh perspective is often needed to objectively understand the situation and make positive strides.

We deploy a team of experienced professionals (20+ years) with interdisciplinary perspectives, including:

  • Process Analysis – to review processes for issues, particularly in the change and configuration management space (often weak change processes can cause instability.)
  • Data Analysis – to gain a perspective from any ticketing system (such as BMC Remedy, ServiceNow, CA Service Desk Manager) or error logs.
  • Interviewing – To collect data from the front lines. 
  • Subject Matter Expert – if the client appears to be having issues in a single technical discipline, we bring a Subject Matter Expert in this discipline.

We do a time boxed assessment, limiting ourselves for a first pass.  We use our methodology of SCAN-FOCUS-ACT-CONFIRM:

  • Scan – Rapid, high-level, holistic assessment identifying areas for further research. During the scan phase, conceptual models are established, risks and opportunities are identified
  • Focus – Targeted analysis detailing opportunity and risk areas. Areas are scrutinized and evaluated thoroughly.
  • Act – Execute action plans delivering solid results using client’s staff, vendors, and third-party consultants.
  • Confirm – Assure deliverables achieved the desired business impact, reentering the process if needed.

The S-FAC methodology originated with MG Taylor’s Scan-Focus-Act model with a goal of a swift assessment, followed by a focused effort and action. Harvard Partners added the Confirm step as we believe validating results achieving the intended business goal is critical.

In a production stability assessment, we do a quick SCAN developing a list of FOCUS areas for further investigation.  We do this in a week to two weeks (of really long, completely intense days.)

At the end, we are able to produce an assessment with actionable steps to be “ACTED” on by the company, either independently or with our ongoing participation.

Can companies do this analysis on their own?  Of course, and we find companies doing it every day.  When companies need a fresh perspective to get them over the hump, external views are often vital.

Can companies spend more time on analysis?  Yes.  Lots longer.  We simply believe in staunching the bleeding quickly, and then taking more time for further analysis.

What thorny IT issues have you experienced?

Thursday
Nov122009

Information Technology Crisis Management

“I don’t believe in Disaster Recovery.”

What a pretty bold statement in an initial interview. The interviewer/hiring manager was a former executive of a major “hot site” company, who played a pivotal role for many clients during the World Trade Center bombing of 1993. He had a fiery reputation, and visibly stiffened at the comment.

My second sentence put him at ease, reinforced our value set, made us friends for life, and most importantly got me the job!

“Preparing for the ‘big one’ solely can leave you ill prepared for the myriad of daily events nipping at us every day. Prepare for the daily events, and use the same process for initiating processes for the ‘big’ events.”

While firms spend millions on high availability, redundancies, balancing, geographic diversity, N+1, etc., inevitably “perfect storms” lead to user impacting outages. How IT staffs respond in a crisis can differentiate companies and impact the bottom line.

The key is having everyone understand their goals, roles and responsibilities in a crisis. And during a crisis, there may be a change in an individual’s role as needs warrant.

For example, once an issue escalates to a crisis it’s useful to have at minimum two communications outlets. There needs to be management discussions focusing on impacts, alternatives, communication (to users, clients, regulators) while the technicians focus on eliminating impacts and understanding root cause.

Who is involved in each grouping is best determined in the calmness of an outage free period.

Management groupings will often include the CIO, Human Resources, Security, Public Relations, Business Continuity and the impacted business area. Technical groupings will include representatives of all the major functions, with one area tracking all the activity and logging for subsequent analysis. Frequently, the techies establish their own information communications using instant messaging or Twitter (used in a publish-subscribe manner.)

When a crisis is apparent, the notification and escalation processes have to be well honed. We often see organizations operating on predetermined voice “bridges”, with notification via text, email, phone call (in many organizations this is via an automated notification system).

There needs to be a protocol for entering the bridge, doing roll call, and general etiquette around bridge participation.

These processes are best developed in advance of need and rehearsed with staff in table top exercises.

When Information Technology leads the way in developing low overhead crisis response, and orchestrates rehearsals reducing the processes to practice, preparedness for managing the “big one” is well underway.