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This is a general management question to IT managers out there.

We are a small firm with about 4 servers in our colo cabinent. No full time IT manager. But we do have one person on monthly contract and I am having a terrible time getting him to share what these plans actually are. I am sure he HAS a plan (and its probably in his head..) but that does us no good if he gets hit by a bus..

How would you guys handle this? He is a long time friend, but I fear this is dangerous for us long term..I have confronted him on several occasions about this, and he tells me not to worry, he has got it covered..

Thanks.

Alex
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4 Answers4

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First, it's YOUR business and the first step is for YOU to determine what your business continuity and disaster recovery needs and objectives are. Have you defined and documented those? If not, do so. A BC/DR is NOT just about the technology and the data.

Once you've done that you can present them to this person and tell him you need him to provide documentation regarding the technical aspects of your BC/DR plan that supports your BC/DR objectives.

If he's unwilling or incapable of doing so, there's no need to damage or risk the friendship over it. Explain to him why you need this and why you'll need to get another party involved to handle it. If he's a friend and a professional he'll understand and be supportive of your decision.

joeqwerty
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I'd ask him why he doesn't have one in writing now, what he needs to get that done... and then give it to him and hold him accountable for delivering.

I've been in a number of small shops as the lead or only IT guy, and didn't have a written DR or backup plan because I never had time to write one up, or more than 5 minutes between firefighting excursions. (I've since moved onto consulting and bigger environments, thank God, but it's worth pointing out that you need to both provide him the resources and time to get it done, as well as give him the authority to make it a priority.) It's hard to prioritize documentation and planning over day-to-day firefighting, stupid user tricks and executive privilege requests, largely because everyone else puts a higher priority on their stupid issue than anything else, let alone something like a DR document that can be done "later."

HopelessN00b
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Hit him over the head with a copy of Limoncelli and Mandia and Procise. Hell, read both books yourself - M&P saved my rear a few times in school and Limoncelli just has everything. Between the two, you should be able to understand what a DR plan (Or anything that comes your way) entails.

Bring him to lunch, and quiz him about this great big plan he has in his head. Take notes. Hand him the notes after lunch, and get him to write it up.

A basic DR plan will NOT take very long to write up (I've knocked one together within a few hours for a school assignment), but as with anything that needs planning, it'll get procrastinated on without an ultimatum.

Edit: On rereading, I'm slightly horrified - the lack of backups mean, should an actual disaster occur, you have no means of restoring your data. You can't run dry runs after something bad actually happens. His plan in the head dosen't sound very much like even a schoolboy DR plan.

Journeyman Geek
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It's a business, so forget about your friendship and hire someone who is willing to do this job properly (or give your friend one last chance to do so himself, but I wouldn't do this because he has clearly demonstrated he is not a professional).

It's is absolutely mandatory that you are capable to continue your operations if he is incapacitated and if he does not understand than he he has no business doing IT management work.

Sven
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