The Dumbest Thing I’ve Heard in Months
Today I was in a meeting with a few folks regarding the disaster/recovery (D/R) plans for one of my systems and two of the guys there said the singularly dumbest thing I've heard in months.
"You need to have a D/R plan for you, Bob."
OK... I understand that they are concerned about me being killed in the disaster that destroys our building by an act of God - because if it's another terrorist attack, the last thing traders are going to be doing on Day 1 is trading from home. The bloody exchanges will be closed, the airlines grounded - just like on Sept. 11. So now they are talking about the possibility that our building is wiped out by Nature and it's not big enough to really shut down markets. But I'm dead. Because if I can get to a phone, you can bet there are lots of people that are going to be looking to get ahold of me. I get calls in the middle of the night now... they are going to call me if the building burns to the ground.
Just so we have a picture of the level of risk involved.
So for this eventuality that I and not the rest of this place are killed - let's face it, if this entire place is killed, what's the worry? We're not trading because we're dead! So let's say they all survive and I die. Sad, but possible. They want me to plan D/R for me!
I got a brainstorm... how about YOU GUYS do that. How about you guys figure you how valuable I am and put in D/R 'resources' (in this case people and not hardware) and have them 'ready to deploy' (trained) so that should I 'go down' (die), there's a bloody backup. I was stunned. Amazed at their attitude and stunned. Face it guys... if I'm dead I - by definition - don't give a crap about this place any more.
Think about it before you say something so incredibly dumb next time.