When the single point of failure goes on vacation

Memorial Day's over and it's summer. In the next few months, most of your team is going to disappear for at least a week.

Are you ready?

Perhaps you're the linchpin everyone relies on. 

Maybe you're thinking, "Vacation? Ha! It's not worth the scramble the week before and after. I'll just bring my laptop to the pool. Again."

Single points of failure leave your team vulnerable. If it only exists in someone’s brain, it can’t be shared or scaled.

If key knowledge isn’t backed up, you have a bigger problem than a team that can never really unplug. You’ve built dependencies, not a business.

People get busy or distracted.

They get sick.

They quit.

Vacations are an opportunity to back up knowledge, stress test your documentation, and streamline workflows.

Before your key people go on vacation:

→ Have them document the processes they own before they delegate them.

→ The document becomes the agenda for the hand-off meeting. You’ll catch gaps and clarify ambiguity in real time. Record that meeting and link to the recording in the doc.

→ While they're away, have the person covering note any questions, observations, or trouble they ran into as comments in the doc.

→ When the key person returns, have them debrief with their delegate. Confusion and breakdowns are your cue to optimize or automate. Record that meeting and link to the relevant clips in the doc. 

→ Shore up any vulnerabilities exposed in the breach. Make a note in the doc.

→ Repeat every time someone is out.

After a year, you’ll have a library of living documentation with a system for updates and improvements baked in.

That’s how you scale.

Having trouble backing up your brain? Let's talk.

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