Power Out? How’s your disaster plan?

We’ve talked the last 2-3 posts about power and emergency stuff…hey, what does all this have to do with Pimping Your Work?

Well, there are a few things if you’re a manager running a business.

A widespread power outage such as the one here in the Pacific Northwest has huge implications if your business function is not located in multiple states.

For example, almost all of the “disaster” planning done that I have seen focuses on a particular building not being available or particular technology. And the obvious answer to all of that is to have employees work from home using the standard DSL/cable connectivity to hook back into the corporate network — which is almost always assumed to be up and running.

Widespread power outages trump that thinking. In my case, I had a full charge on the cell phone and was able to call people to have my people in two other states handle the work and coordinate the work with the people able to make it into my downtown workplace.

The limitation on my end was the battery time associated with my cell phone and/or Blackberry device.

The other limitation was my attitude — I’m not thinking a lot about work when I have no power, no heat, my food in the fridge is rotting, and I can’t find a hotel with rooms available using my limited cell phone service.

Fortunately, other people at my work picked up what was needed, but they again were located in other states. What would happen if all of your business was located in a single city?

Time to dust off those disaster plans one more time.