Last week, there was a great discussion on the frequency of crisis management exercises in a forum I’m part of. What was most surprising to me was the degree of consensus on the ideal tempo. Most folks aim for: - Quarterly low-intensity tabletops focused on skills development and team cohesion. - Annual high-intensity simulations to reinforce learning and test teams and systems in a realistic environment.

Risk metrics seem to be getting a bad rap these days. Too subjective. Too easy to manipulate. Too simplistic. And sometimes, all of these can be true, but using metrics and numeric scales can be highly effective. …

I received an email a few years ago from someone just getting started in risk management asking if I had any thoughts or advice on the risk management skills they needed. The response quickly became several pages long and I thought it was worth turning it into a blog piece…

Becoming a risk manager can seem to be more art than science. There’s not a clear pathway from degree to junior risk manager to senior risk manager to CRO (Chief Risk Officer) in the same way that you can chart the progress from freshly minted CPA (Certified Public Accountant) to…

Security is a guiding principle for DCDR, and protecting user data has been baked in from the start. However, there’s more to data security than restricting access and managing user permissions. I’ve used the INFOSEC abbreviation CIA — confidentiality, integrity, and availability — as a guide to help determine the…

Googling ‘what is a risk manager?’ will get you variations on ‘it’s the person who manages that organization’s risks,’ which is a pretty weak answer. It’s certainly not enough to help anyone who’s just starting in the role to understand what they’re supposed to do. …

This is a very short post which should work because it’s a very simple idea. Obviously, I’m a fan of simple ( this is KISS risk management after all) but, as with lots of simple ideas, the trick is sticking to the idea and seeing it through without getting distracted. …

How can you spot the point where a risk — a thing that could occur — becomes an event that is occurring? I’d argue that you don’t need to identify the specific point of change, and you’ll waste valuable time trying to spot the exact moment of transition. …

Seven takeaways from reviewing my degree notes. — I looked back at some of my degree notes the other day and came across something I’ve been meaning to work on for a long time. (By long time, I mean about 10 years*.) It’s based on two concepts. First, the work that Brian Toft, Simon Reynolds and Barry Turner…