Two names
A one-page quick check for the team
If only one person can do a task without help, the task is a person, not a process. Write two names beside each job below. A row with one name, or none, is where the next bad day starts.
Five jobs on the storage team
1 Swap a failed drive
Replace a failed drive without opening a ticket first and without asking anyone.
Name one
Name two
Where the steps are written
2 Read the storage alert and decide
Read tonight's alert, say what it means, and decide whether it waits for morning.
Name one
Name two
Where the steps are written
3 Run a restore
Restore a file or a server from the backup, start to finish, on their own.
Name one
Name two
Where the steps are written
4 Get into the array and the backup system
Log in to both when your usual admin is out. Their own access, not a shared password.
Name one
Name two
Where the steps are written
5 Open a support case
Call or open a case with the maker: the contract, the serial number and the severity to ask for.
Name one
Name two
Where the steps are written
Rows with fewer than two names
Count them. There is no pass mark. The count shows where one person is carrying the job.
How many rows have only one name?
How to check a name is real
A name on a page is a promise. To turn it into a fact, ask the person to do the task while you watch, once. For a one-name row, pick a second person, write the steps on one page, and have them do it once with the first person beside them.
- Swap a failed drive
- Watch them do it, or watch them walk through it. Check the spare parts are somewhere they can reach.
- Read the storage alert and decide
- Ask each name to read last week's alert aloud and say what they would have done.
- Run a restore
- The log of the last restore test, and who ran it.
- Get into the array and the backup system
- The access list in each system. Check it today, not from memory.
- Open a support case
- Your support contract and the maker's support portal. Check they can log in.
What this does not prove
Two names on a row show who is meant to be able to do the job. They do not show either person can do it on a bad day until you have watched each one do it once.
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