Three Lies We Tell Ourselves about Disaster Recovery and What to Do about Them
summary
Claims three concrete failures: fantasy DR plans rarely work, operators face ambiguity, and DR’s main value is learning not perfection. Examples include Shoreham’s evacuation rehearsals breaking down (bus drivers refuse routes, press briefings contradict orders) and Exxon Valdez where the plan scaled from 4,000 to 200,000 barrels yet 240,000 barrels spill, planned response under 5 hours becomes 12 hours vs 5 hours and major gear arrives in 1–2 weeks not 9–17 hours. Recommendations: manage expectations, interview lever‑pullers, use real incidents to redesign exercises and share learnings.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:00Why DR plans fail
- 3:09Shoreham Nuclear Power failure
- 6:21Exxon Valdez spill
- 10:37Why we create DR plans
- 13:09Three lies about DR
- 15:57Practical DR improvements
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