They All Have a Plan—Until They Get Hit

Disaster recovery plans should be current, fire-tested and address the area that could be hit, diverting resources to mitigate loss and resume full operations. A disaster recovery plan does not consist of drafting an impressive document and then crossing off a checklist with an air of, “Whew, glad that’s done!” The danger is that such a plan becomes credenza decoration, gathering dust on a shelf. When disaster strikes, folks scramble to locate the plan to see what to do.

This is not optimal. At home, you do not want to wait to have a kitchen fire before reading the manual on how to work that extinguisher you’ve had in the pantry for years. As the boxer Mike Tyson noted at the height of his career, referring to opponents plotting to beat him, “They all have a plan—until they get hit.” That is true of many device firms as well.

Having a plan but waiting until you get hit to use it is the antithesis of disaster recovery planning. Unfortunately though, it is the norm for many companies. Some device firms just want to be able to say, “Yes, we have a written disaster recovery plan.” Writing one is only half the job, though. The more challenging role for medical device management teams is weaving the plan into everyone’s consciousness and to heighten everyone’s awareness of the plan.