Guides and Whitepapers

AgilQuest's Guide to Preparing Your Department for Winter Weather Start with identifying the normal, everyday value your department provides, to whom it provides this value and services, and what impact interruption has on providing that value: What do we normally do from the office? What of that is truly necessary to remain effective during a few days or even a few weeks of extreme weather or other events? What should we aim to still accomplish even when working from home or remote locations, for a short period of time? What are unusual activities, the ones that don't occur every day, but which are critical to handle when they do happen? Which of these must we be prepared to deliver on even when working outside the office for days or weeks at a time? What can we still do when not able to reach the office? Which activities and which deliverables can only be accomplished when we are physically still in the office? Are any of these the critical ones we've identified above? Can anything be changed so these are still possible even when working remotely? Are there any changes we could make to current processes or deliverables such that we could overcome previous limitations? Who is critical to everyday processes? To unusual-but-required processes? Do these people and roles fit into a remote work or telework model? Even on an exceptional circumstance like impassable roads caused by ice and snow? What is critical for success in these processes? Are all the elements required for this minimal operations model identified? Is it possible for customers (internal or external) to communicate with your workers when they are at home or a remote facility? Can commutations be re-routed or temporary numbers be distributed in the event of a bad storm, closed roads or cancelled transit schedules? Where possible, involve the other departments you serve and those which support you during the discovery and identification process. If you can, involve some number of representative customers. Both these efforts should yield a better idea of what you really need to deliver during an outage and what support you'll have as you do so. Take the above discoveries and develop a high-level plan that describes: What our department needs to continue to do, even during a weather event What we will do in order to continue delivering during such an event What should our people expect to do during an emergency or continuity event How will they know if they should be acting on the plan or not, i.e. how we will tell them "an event has occurred, you should work from home or a remote location if possible" If there is an existing COOP or a telework policy, include how that fits into your plan and what resources are already available for your team. Publish your plan, even if just for your own department, in a place that is easy to access, can be modified as you practice and learn, and which is accessible even when you're not in the office. ©2015 AgilQuest Corporation. All rights reserved. 2

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