I do like a nice cup of tea. In fact tea is pretty near the top of my all-time favourite drinks list  (see “An icy crisis” and “Open all hours” for one of the others). Five or six cups a day is the norm when I’m at home or in the office. And I have to say that Mrs Oz does make a cracking cuppa.

When I’m out and about, though, I tend to drink coffee. That’s because generally other people’s tea isn’t anywhere near as good as Mrs Oz’s. In fact, in my humble opinion, a surprisingly large number of people don’t have the faintest idea of how to make a decent cup of tea.

My brother thinks there’s no such thing as a bad cup of tea (perhaps that’s because his tea-making capability is distinctly average – don’t tell him I said so though! Yes mum, I know you read my blogs so, for the sake of family harmony, keep this to yourself!) but I beg to differ. In fact, I’m sat drinking one right now in a hotel with my breakfast and wondering why I didn’t order coffee instead.

A bad cup of tea is, in my view, worse than no cup of tea at all. It might have all the ingredients (not that there are many) but if it’s not done right it can be awful.

In a similar(ish) vein, my view is that a bad business continuity plan is as bad as – and possibly worse than – no plan at all. A bad plan might seem to have all the right ingredients but, as with a cup of tea, if they’re not put together properly, the results can be somewhat disappointing. And, as with a bad cup of tea, the only time you really find out how unpalatable the results are is when you come to try it.

So, at the risk of being contentious, my advice would be the same in both cases – if you can’t make a decent one (or find someone who can), it’s probably not worth bothering at all!

 

Related articles : ‘Not what it seems‘, ‘Perfuming the pig‘ and ‘When is a plan not  plan?‘

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Agree? Disagree? Want to share your own thoughts or opinions?

Post a comment and let me know what you think.

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STOP PRESS : Andy’s latest book ‘Risk Management Made Easy‘ is now availalble as a free downloadable e-book from BookBoon.com

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Andy Osborne (known as Oz to friends and colleagues) is the Consultancy Director at Acumen, a consultancy practice specialising in business continuity and risk management.

Andy is the author of two books ‘Practical Business Continuity Management‘, ‘Risk Management Simplified‘ and ‘Risk Management Made Easy‘ as well as his popular blogs and ‘Tips of the Month’, all of which aim to demystify the subjects of business continuity and risk management and make them more accessible to people who live in the real world.

You can follow Andy on Twitter at @AndyatAcumen and link with him on LinkedIn at http://uk.linkedin.com/in/andyosborneatacumen

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