Rothstein: Business Continuity: Publish or Perish?

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by Philp Jan Rothstein, FBCI

Picture an orthopedic surgeon learning to perform arthroscopic knee surgery. Before he is let loose on his first live knee, the surgeon is going to learn and practice through a variety of methods: classroom learning, reading books and the latest published literature, practicing on models or cadavers, studying under and observing seasoned practitioners, and, before he is fully on his own, working under the careful scrutiny of his superiors and peers until he is fully capable of working independently with less stringent review and observation. Once he has achieved a level of professional competence, he is expected to maintain his expertise through continuing education and to share his knowledge with others learning his profession. After all, his patients could really suffer if he does not diligently apply himself to learning and validating proper techniques. Yet, despite the parallel risk to the enterprise, the typical business continuity planner would be most fortunate to be exposed to anything approaching the equivalent level of education and training resources.

When I first got involved in the mid-1980's with what was to become known as business continuity, the equivalent level of training for what was then known as ‘disaster recovery’ was clearly not in place. As I recall, there were two or three books, negligible training or peer networking opportunities, and a new industry that was inventing itself in dozens of different places as it went along. That was acceptable twenty years ago.

Fast-forward to 2004: a recent quick search on www.amazon.com shows 212 entries for “business continuity,” about a third of which are not actually relevant; under “arthroscopic knee surgery,” 287 entries are listed. Scanning the titles and descriptions, I could almost say I could learn how to perform knee surgery from this list. Scanning the business continuity titles, I note there are substantial gaps in what I consider to be core areas.

An example: searching for “business impact analysis” or “business impact assessment” yields a total of 49 entries, but only four of which include more than a mention or brief chapter (disclosure: Rothstein Associates is the Publisher of three of those four works).

One might assume from these examples that there are many reference books on business continuity, but that would be incorrect. First of all, “business continuity” is an entire field, like orthopedics; “business impact assessment” is a specialty within that field, like “arthroscopic knee surgery.” Searching for “orthopedic surgery,” which in itself is a specialty within “surgery,” which is a specialty of medicine, is a more appropriate level of search – which alone yields 1,364 entries!

My point in this analogy is simple: as an industry and profession, Business Continuity has, to date, done a lackluster job of building a common body of knowledge. As George Santayana (1863–1952) observed, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” In the field of Business Continuity, I might rephrase this to “those who cannot learn from the experiences – and mistakes – of others are doomed to repeat them.”

Indeed, I believe that the practice of Business Continuity has been handicapped by the limited availability of published reference works. There are exceptions, of course: the Disaster Resource Guide and a handful of other periodicals; the Common Body of Knowledge promulgated by the Business Continuity Institute () and the Disaster Recovery Institute International (), the two principal professional certification bodies; and a small but growing number of books. There are several excellent conferences, symposia and seminars.

As an industry, we have a long way to go. I recall writing the book, Disaster Recovery Testing: Exercising Your Contingency Plan in 1994 (). At that time, it was the only book addressing this subject. One other book was published in 1996 (since out of print). I believe that an unexercised contingency plan could be worse than no plan at all. So, the most current book available on the subject of exercising contingency plans was published ten years ago.

Similarly, exactly two books have been published on the subject of auditing business continuity; one in 1989, and one in 2002 (Disclosure: Rothstein Associates published the second book, see ).

Enough about the problem! Let's discuss the opportunities.

As a management consultant and as a publisher of business books and software, I review many manuscripts and book proposals. The concern I have with many of them is that, while the authors are sincere and mostly talented, they must have hung out with Santayana – they are in most cases reinventing the wheel, instead of building on the industry's cumulative knowledge and core competencies. And that cumulative knowledge is substantial – just not readily accessible.

I see an incredible opportunity for the business continuity industry to finally correct this shortcoming, and to burst out of its shell.

I strongly believe that the profession and the industry of Business Continuity should – and could – be vastly more effective. I believe the single most significant reason it has not been more widely embraced by enterprises worldwide is that we, as professionals, have not been especially effective at sharing our knowledge and experience.

If we were university professors, we would be accustomed to turning out articles, lectures, dissertations and books. As employees of corporations, governments, non-profits and other organizations, these endeavors are, as often as not, considered frivolous or nonproductive. Simply put, I propose we turn this model around. I am not suggesting this would be a trivial activity, but I do believe these actions are feasible to some degree in all but the most hard-pressed organizations. For starters:

For at least two years, every novice contingency planner should have a mentor who has had at least five years of professional experience. While there are mentoring programs in place, they are not widely practiced.

At least every other year, practitioners should be subject to a structured peer review. To some degree, this is accomplished through BCI's and DRII's certification program, but is not consistently practiced.

To maintain credentials after three years, every practitioner should either publish an article, or deliver a presentation at a conference or symposium, at least once every two years; the presentation or article should, as practical, address an issue or subject which is novel or not generally documented elsewhere – in other words, not “business continuity 101.”

Every senior practitioner should serve as a mentor at least one out of every three years.

In order to qualify as a senior business continuity expert, each practitioner should be published. If only one out of a hundred practitioners wrote a book, there would be no shortage of transferable knowledge. Of course, not everyone has the skill, experience, knowledge and time to write a book by themselves. Collaboration with other professionals or writers would be fine – some of the writings I have been most proud of over the years have resulted from heated debates and discussions with fellow practitioners.

I would be truly excited to see fifty or a hundred new books on business continuity show up. Our profession would benefit greatly.

This article originally appeared in Continuity e-Guide

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