Disaster Recovery Setup Decision Log
This is a practical guide to building a decision log for a disaster recovery setup project — a record of the key decisions made, by whom and why, adapted to the realities of establishing backup and disaster-recovery capability.
What a Decision Log is
A decision log is a record of the key decisions made, by whom and why. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Decision Log. On a disaster recovery setup project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Disaster Recovery Setup project
Disaster Recovery Setup projects live or die on establishing backup and disaster-recovery capability. A well-built decision log gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how disaster recovery setup projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Decision
- Date and owner
- Rationale
- Alternatives considered
- Impact
Disaster Recovery Setup-specific considerations
Tailor the decision log to the risks that most often derail disaster recovery setup projects:
- Recovery-time objectives
- Untested failover
- Ongoing maintenance
Example
On a real disaster recovery setup project, the decision log would be shaped by establishing backup and disaster-recovery capability. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — recovery-time objectives, untested failover, ongoing maintenance — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.