Nothing says ‘traditional Good Friday activity’ like a trip to the selfie exhibition at the Saachi Gallery. Highlights included me taking a selfie with (potentially) the first ever selfie and witnessing the genius of this monkey selfie. I’ll let you take a moment to fully appreciate how excellent this is.
Topping that was always going to be difficult, but maybe a steaming bowl of ramen would do it. A quick google revealed another list of the top 10 Ramen places in London and we headed off in the direction of the nearest one.
Or so we thought!
Unfortunately we got to Dozo on Old Brompton Road to find it closed between lunch and dinner services. Yes, I know it’s 2017 and I could have checked opening hours, but what sort of restaurant closes on a bank holiday?
Adam pointed towards Gỗ, a Vietnamese place opposite and looked at me.
Side note: There seems to be some debate about how to pronounce pho. The consensus online seems to be ‘fuh’, but our Vietnamese waiter definitely pronounced it ‘faux’.
To celebrate Easter we started with Lychee Martini’s. I’d have been happy to cancel my food order and just have more of this deliciousness. “We need to get lychee juice!” Adam exclaimed.
We shared starters, grilled chicken wings and ribs. Both came with pickled veg and a sweet vinegary sauce.
Then our bowls of organic chicken pho arrived…I tried to capture the steam in this gif.
The soup was a 16-hour beef broth. SIXTEEN HOURS!! Not too salty, I added a squeeze of lime and a dash of fish sauce, as well as the beansprouts and various herbs. Adam loaded his up with a spicy Sriracha-style sauce.
I’m not always a fan of rice noodles, which can sometimes be a bit soggy and look insipid, but these noodles were yummo.
The Easter celebrations carried on with a second cocktail and I went ‘off menu’ with the waiter’s recommendation a Saigon Colada. A Vietnamese take on a Pina Colada, which seemed to involve the not-unwelcome addition of passion fruit.
The total bill came to just over £70, which for two courses and two drinks is reasonable for London, but I suspect quite extortionate compared to authentic pho!
If I’m honest, I think I would have preferred ramen, mostly *I’m racked with guilt that I’m dangerously close to bending the rules of my resolution. However, this is by far the best Vietnamese I’ve had in London recently, and would recommend you go to Gỗ if you’re in the South Kensington area. There is also a sister branch in Soho, which I’ll make a point of checking out too!
The tl;dr version of this post: don’t forget about the insider threat!
This week I attended the first in a series of three events by the Institution of Civil Engineers entitled Preparing London. This particular event was designed to consider the human threats to infrastructure.
During a talk from Nathan Jones (see this blog on his talk) my mind wandered and wondered…Did Jurassic Park teach me everything I know about cyber risk?
God damn it! I hate this hacker crap!
Ok, so maybe not everything worth knowing about cyber risk is summarised in Jurassic Park, but it’s a useful introduction into what happens when the tables are turned and technology which usually helps keep us safe, becomes the risk.
Everything in Jurassic Park is connected. The electric fences, the lighting in the visitor centre, the locks on the doors. When it’s working as planned, this connectivity helps the park’s management maintain an efficient operation and a positive guest experience.
However, such a complex system requires some centralised control. Looking at this through a business continuity lens, this is a clear single point of failure. An inherent risk.
This has clear parallels with our modern society and the interdependencies between systems that I’ve talked about previously.
Dennis Nedry exploits his colleagues limited understanding to enact his attack. He uses his tech-savvy advantage to provide cover for him stealing intellectual property, whilst putting lots of people in danger. The ultimate lesson here is that the real monsters aren’t the dinosaurs.
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
As well as a light-hearted moment during the dinosaur chase sequence, I think Spielberg also snuck this in as a metaphor for risks manifesting in ways which had not been considered.
Were the Jurassic Park team aware of cyber risk? Yes, there is literally a scene about passwords. I expect a lot of people assume that a good password is all they need for their IT security.
It’s clear they had also considered other risks, and had taken proactive action to control that risk. Electric fences, professional hunters, CCTV and motion sensors and the attempt at all-female genetic engineering are just some of the risk controls in the film.
But had the team considered the possibility that an employee would want to hold the park to ransom for personal gain? Could they have identified the vulnerability of the computerised control? Could they have done more in advance to protect the systems from malicious attack?
Dennis, our lives are in your hands.
Early in the film there are hints at Nedry’s personal financial difficulties. Later he mumbles to himself about test runs of his embryo heist.
John Hammond, the park owner recognises the power that Nedry has.
There were clearly signals which the team missed and knowledge which is combined, could have allowed an intervention before he got the opportunity to shut down the park.
Clever girl / I know this.
Just as the team hadn’t anticipated an insider threat, Nedry wasn’t expecting a tech-savvy teenager to thwart his plan.
Just when it looks like the raptors will get into the control room, Lex (the park owner’s granddaughter) recognises the Unix system and takes maters into her own hands.
The actual interface may be debatable (in researching (yes, research!) this post I’ve found that it was technically available, but I’m doubtful that a school student would have been aware), but it comes as no surprise that kids have a natural affinity with the technology that adults have to think about.
Side note: Provided the right precautions are in place to prevent unauthorised use, user friendly systems aren’t just a productivity win; they help prevent people finding work-arounds or backdoors.
Life finds a way.
With the ever increasing access to, and pervasiveness of the Internet and smart devices, Jurassic Park remains relevant today.
I’d argue that we’ve already reached a point where complete understanding of system interdependencies is impossible. Our societies and the technologies used are just too complex. However, we can continue to challenge our assumptions, keep our risk assessments grounded in reality and take action in advance to mitigate that risk.
It’s also a reminder that physical and IT security are just parts of the puzzle when it comes to risk management. Solutions are also required, sadly, to prevent against malicious attack by either insiders or outsiders.
The best noodle nights are impromptu noodle nights. That was the situation with last Friday’s ramen at Okan in Brixton.
I should have been in Edinburgh, but plans changed at late notice and so we quickly formulated Plan B: meet a friend and continue Ramen Resolution. What can I say, contingency planning (and eating) comes naturally to me!
Okan Ramen is a short stroll from the trendy Brixton Village. If this isn’t an area that you’re familiar with you should check it out. I strongly believe that Seven at Brixton have one of the most interesting and regularly updated cocktail menus around.
The steam from noodles had misted the windows, which gave it quite an authentic vibe, lots of the places in Japan had similar condensation issues. I took this as a good sign!
We ordered the crispy pork bites to share (disconcertingly described as meat special on the receipt). As portion sizes go this was really generous and was just right for three of us, but we were all so eager to get stuck in that we forgot to take a picture!
After a stressful day I treated myself to the tonkotsu which promised an indulgent creamy broth. Remember that video I shared before, well I think this bowl of ramen came closest to that experience – special attention paid to how the food was presented, including the bowl being rotated so the nori was directly opposite. It was really good, my only note would be that the noodles were perhaps a bit overdone for my liking.
Adam has the spicy version of mine, but I don’t think he let me try it, which I take to mean it was delicious. Mike ordered the shoyu, which has a clear broth but still looked pretty good.
We also got a cold sake between us. There was only a choice of one and as sake goes it wasn’t the best I’ve had.
Overall I really enjoyed Okan. Maybe because I’d been off work all day, but I felt less rushed. It was also very reasonable prices, coming in at less than £20 each. I’ve just noticed the logo represents the globules of fat floating in a bowl…maybe. They get extra credit for that!
So, I’m going to rate Okan RAMEN (4 out of 5). I still feel like something is missing in the search for the elusive 5/5. If the noodles had been firmer then this might have just edged it. I also feel like I’m docking points for bad sake, which I’m not sure is fair if I’m just reviewing the ramen, but it’s my blog so I’ll do what I want!
Sayōnara until next time!
Oh, and here’s a two bonus pictures to give an impression of the company and décor.
How do we know that decisions taken in an emergency are appropriate? Ensuring appropriate checks and balances can help reduce the influence of groupthink or any other of these decision making biases.
In high stress situations, when the stakes are high, like in an emergency, could emergency managers could do to support those making the strategic decisions? Do they understand the complexity of the issues? Have they considered all of the options? Have they thought through all of the ramifications of their decisions? Are their decisions justifiable and defensible?
Back in 2014 I binge-watched a TV series called The Newsroom, which shows what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ to make a fictional American news programme.
In the second season, the group of journalists close in on a story relating to the use of chemical weapons by the US army in Pakistan. Whilst the team are confident in the authenticity of the material, they don’t want to run with the story until they are absolutely sure.
Enter the Red Team. A group of researchers and producers deliberately isolated from the investigation so they can later examine the facts and determine whether to air the story.
Here’s the trailer for Season 1 of The Newsroom
What if we did something similar in emergency management? This is how it could work:
There would be no change to the nominated individuals who are already ‘on-call’ to provide strategic decision making (for simplicity, let’s call them the Blue Team)
Another set of individuals would be identified as the Red Team
Both teams require the same level of training, briefing and access to information
In addition, the Red Team needs an awareness of the psychological factors which influence decision making
The Red Team can only be summoned at the request of the Blue Team – this avoids interference or overstepping their role of critical friend
Should the Blue Team come up against a problem, or not reach agreement on a course of action, the Red Team could be called to offer a view, or to mediate between differing perspectives. Having maintained a distance, the Red Team would poke holes and identify the risks and bugs that insiders might have missed.
There are a number of drawbacks to implementing a Red Team approach. These include the increased resource required to staff dual roles. Culturally, it’s new, and there would undoubtedly be some reticence to decisions being challenged where they previously haven’t been.
I recognise these practicalities may make Red Teaming impossible to achieve in reality. However, the process could be useful in exercises or in thinking about strategic decision making processes.
As noted in my last post, this might not yet be a fully formed idea, and I’d be interested in any thoughts that colleagues might have about whether they have seen this approach used, or could see any reasons that it would not be something to experiment with.
tl;dr version – Go to Bone Daddies, but don’t expect subtlety.
A lot of the time transport in London is fantastic. However, sometimes it’s like someone is conspiring against you. That’s what happened to me last Friday when we decided to grace Bone Daddies with our patronage for the third instalment of Ramen Resolutions.
I decided to take a ‘short cut’ through Chinatown, but got caught up in lingering Chinese New Year celebrations. I finally rocked up at the Peter Street branch around 25 minutes late.
We managed to throughly confuse not one, but four of the staff with our drinks order! But the Dewa Oka sake that arrived was delicious – almost melon’y. This sake is credited with being the reason sake appears on menus outside of Japan – it’s drinkable and affordable.
Having already eaten here before, I knew that I’d be ordering the Korean fried chicken wings (they are crazy good), Adam opted for the similar-but-different sticky pig bones.
After just one chicken wing my noodles arrived. I don’t mind this usually, but did feel a little pressured to ‘eat and go’ in comparison with the more relaxed settings in previous posts.
I had chosen the T-22 based on the presence of ‘cock scratchings’ (and a chicken-based broth rather than more traditional pork based).
You can see the cock scratchings in the centre of the bottom bowl – little fried bits of crispy chicken, which function a little like popping-candy when mixed into the soup. I think my favourite part of the ramen was the marinated egg, which was just soft enough and salty.
Overall, it came in at just over £32 each, which makes it the most expensive so far. I’m beginning to feel that my search for tasty but cheap ramen like we had in Japan will end in disappointment.
It’s communal seating, rock music and punch-you-in-the-face flavours, rather than authentic Japanese tranquility and respect for the ramen (see previous post). I can see why purists wouldn’t be a fan, but I give it RAMEN (or 4 out of 5).
I got the Bone Daddies cookbook for Christmas. I’m yet to try anything, but fully intend to master those wings!!
Hot on the heels of yesterdays first Ramen Resolution posts, Adam and I hit up Lingo for our second helping.
Yet again, I was late and Adam had nabbed a table for some pre-theatre noodles.
As we passed the restaurant a week or so ago it was clear this would be a more authentic Japanese experience. If it seems like a good time to share this clip from Tampopo: A Lesson in Ramen.
To further add to our authentic experience we decided ordered sake (which tastes far better served ice cold).
An unexpected surprise was the complimentary salad, with it’s delicious dressing. Adam very nearly upset Anglo-Japanese relations suggesting the sauce contains sarin (he meant mirin!).
To start I opted for the Chicken Gyoza and he chose the deep fried octopus dish Tako Karaage (in order to compare with that offered by YoSushi! – find out what he thought in his blog). These are fresh-tasting real-deal gyoza, not the sticky sweet version you get in Wagamamma. I didn’t really like the octopus, which was oddly stringy and hard to swallow.
Steaming bowls of ramen arrived. My pork variety was lovely – light broth and slightly metallic sea vegetables. The yolk of the egg was a little too overcooked, but shredded beansprouts and moist char siu made up for that. The only problem was that the spoon (rather than more traditional ladle) was too shallow to get at all the soup!
Coming in at a total of £49 this instinctively felt more affordable than Shoryu, but when I think about it, it’s not much different!
If I had to find fault with Lingo it would be that the service felt rushed. I was still chasing a cherry tomato around a plate with chopsticks when the starters arrived.
All things considered I really enjoyed Lingo, so this sounds like a cop out but it’s another RAMEN (or ★★★☆☆).
So there we have it. We don’t currently have a plan for where to head next so let us know if you’ve got a #RamenRecommendation on twitter @mtthwhgn and @InaneAdam.
Bonus History Fact
By 1673 the stretch of land north of Piccadilly Circus was under the joint ownership of brothers John and James Baker. Halfway through their original plan of redeveloping the Golden Square area they had a falling out and the streets leading to the new square were developed separately. This is reflected in the names of Upper and Lower John Street (on which Lingo is located) and Upper and Lower James Streets.
This is my resolution for 2017, jointly inspired by the best 👏 holiday 👏 ever👏 (video below) and this Time Out list of the best ramen in London. I also managed to convince InaneAdam to join me, because I heard it’s important to have moral support with such challenging goals.
Halfway through our first bowl we decided to write reviews of the places we visit, so here goes….
There are some great places near Kingly Court (I’d especially recommend the Crispy Lamb Fries from nearby Dirty Bones), but all this means Shoryu is somewhere I’ve walked past but never gone in. Clearly displayed in the window it said ‘we do not seat incomplete parties’ so I waited outside for a good 10 minutes before realising Adam was already sat inside.
Finally both inside, we each ordered a cocktail, a steamed bun and a bowl of ramen.
The drinks arrived first; my delicious gingery Fuyu Lemon and Adam’s green and cucumbery Matcha Detox, which he enjoyed but wasn’t to my taste.
The tangy BBQ style sauce on my chicken karaage bun was incredible; good enough, I found, to eat directly from the counter where I had dropped some. (Judge me all you want, it really was that good!) Adam’s tempura prawn bun was nice, but I definitely chose better!
The time had come for the main event. Two good sized bowls of noodles arrived before us.
I’d chosen the Dracula Tonkotsu with extra beansprouts. It was, expectedly, very garlicky due to the addition of Mayu (some rapid googling told us this is oil flavoured with burnt garlic). The sort of noodles you can taste for a while afterwards.
Adam went for the Karaka Tan Tan Tonkotsu, a spicy minced pork take on the traditional dish, but was disappointed by his egg. You can read more about this trauma in his own review.
Overall, dinner for two came to around £53, which was quite a lot more expensive than we paid for ramen anywhere in actual Japan. This does bring the score down a bit but there’s no getting away from how tasty it was.
The staff at Shoryu talk in Japanese and bang a gong every time somebody enters the restaurant which adds authenticity, they’re also fans of my resolution…
All this brings us to a final rating. Ratings are difficult with nothing to compare to, so I’m sitting on the fence for my first review. RAM (out of RAMEN, or more conventionally, ★★★☆☆). Hands-down, the best part was the sauce on the bun. For more food-porn check out Shoryu on Instagram.
As we were walking back to the Tube we passed a very small Japanese place called Lingo, which is set to be the next stop on our quest for ramen! Stay tuned for the review.
One of the things I find most interesting about the Timehop app on my phone is how much my style of posting (especially to Facebook) has changed over 10 years. The melodrama is embarrassing and entertaining in equal measure. It’s interesting to see how what I was prompted to post about has changed. (Notice how I have deliberately stayed away from labelling this change as growth!)
this isn’t me, obvs
The last blog post I wrote was waaaay back in August. I was thinking about the reasons for this, and it’s a combination of two things
Too many boxsets to catch up with on Netflix – seriously, if you haven’t seen Designated Survivor you are missing out! It’s prefect kick-back-and-relax telly for emergency managers!
A feeling that I was loosing, or at the very least, confusing my own voice with my work one. As the lead for “external relations and digital” for London Resilience, I started to find it difficult to have enough to say that was notably different from what I was already saying at work.
I had some pretty strong views back in the day. You may remember such blog posts as “Exercises are pointless” and “CBRN is elitist“. Since then (maybe because I’d already vented?) I started to find I didn’t feel as passionately about things anymore. For a while I felt I was becoming disinterested, but realised it was more about feeling I didn’t have anything new to add to the conversation.
In 2017, I want to re-establish my voice and blog. This might sound grandiose, even pompous, but I’ve found blogging helps me solidify proto-ideas. The process of writing something down means wider reading, consulting different sources, opening myself up to new ideas and discussing with colleagues.
I guess the other aspect is that the nature of being online has changed too. Is a blog the best medium? Should I, in fact, be using Medium? What’s the relationship to other platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn? These are all things I’ll no-doubt continue to unravel throughout the year. As with Timehop, I hope that one day I’ll be able to look back through my blog and see how my thoughts have evolved and what they have been shaped by.
So what is likely to follow in 2017? I think it would be unwise to commit to a regular schedule of blogging, I don’t want to be a slave to the blog. However, expect posts about the things that interest me, that frustrate me, that could be better. I’ll try not to moan too much, it’s all intended to be constructive and to help me (and perhaps others) improve what we do.
Best wished for 2017, and remember, if you want to get in touch hit me up @mtthwhgn on Twitter – I’ve love to have a conversation not just air my own thoughts.
The Olympics is a bit like an alien invasion. The organising committee speak their own language and expect things to happen in ways which might be unfamiliar to locals. Even the London 2012 Olympic mascots looked a bit other-worldly.
With a touch of nostalgia, I thought I’d take a look back at the emergency planning considerations four years ago, and how things have changed just days from the start of Rio 2016.
I joined London Resilience with about 18 months to go. Planning and preparation for the Games was already at an advanced stage but there was still lots to do. I spent much of that year providing assurances to the Mayor, LOCOG (the Olympic Organising Committee) and Government that organisations in London were ready.
From the massacre in Munich in 1972, bombings in Spain just ahead of the 1992 Barcelona Games to the Atlanta bombing in 1996; the history of the Games is punctuated with incidents. In London, the bombings following the Host City announcement in July 2005 provided a sombre backdrop and framed much of the subsequent planning.
News from Brazil this week of problems with the accommodation for athletes, sadly, doesn’t surprise me. I visited the Olympic Park many times, and can distinctly remember the unfinished 1970’s spanish holiday resort vibe that I got from our own athlete’s facilities, even quite late in the process. In contrast, I also remember being in awe of the late Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre!
Many of the risks we had planned for didn’t occur (for example, the importation of African Horse Sickness or an unconventional attack on a crowded place). Going through the planning process made sure all responders knew their roles and how members of the public would be supported. As well as planning together, a whole series of exercises helped confirm the validity of arrangements in place.
It wasn’t just the emergency arrangements which were practised; I was fortunate enough to attend one of the dress rehearsal events for Danny Boyle’s Opening Ceremony. This is an experience that I will never forget! (As an aside, I’d also really recommend the Imagine: documentary on the Opening Ceremony!)
For 61 days I managed a control room where partners worked 24/7 so that in the unlikely event of an emergency, structures were in place to respond. We were involved in the response to 154 incidents and the ability to react early meant the majority were small-scale and did not escalate. Thankfully there were a number of incidents which I didn’t have to get involved with…and which we hadn’t anticipated!
One of the big challenges which sticks with me from 2012 was what was referred to as ‘The Last Mile’, and ensuring shared understanding of responsibilities in the gap between public transport hubs and sporting venues.
Hosting the Olympics carries similar challenges regardless of Host City. Bringing in tens of thousands of athletes, many more spectators and officials (who will likely be unfamiliar with local arrangements), and putting the city front-and-centre in the eyes of the media pose challenges.
The Games this summer in Rio occur in a world which has faced recent attacks in public spaces (a sadly extensive list) and one which continues to experience internationally significant outbreaks of disease like Ebola and Zika.
Whilst there are undoubtedly opportunities to share learning and experiences between Host Cities, there are also so many differences in how the cities are administered, the impact the Games has as well as the potential for change in the four years between events (live streaming video will put far more pressure on telecoms networks in Rio for example).
Like an alien abduction, hosting the games is something you can only really understand once you’ve experienced it (or so I’m told!)!
Best of luck to colleagues in Brazil – I’ll be watching!
Earlier versions of this blog (with less ET references!) appeared in the City Hall Blog and the July Edition of London Calling, the newsletter of the London Branch of the Emergency Planning Society.
Coordinated by London Fire Brigade, the exercise simulated the collapse of a building in central London punching into an underlying tube tunnel as an underground train was passing. Check out the @LDN_prepared Storify below for a collection of tweets from participants as the exercise progressed.
Since 2014 my involvement, as workstream lead for the Command Post element of the exercise was to make sure that participating organisations achieved their own objectives as well as the overarching objectives of the whole exercise. This meant that, in addition to emergency response and rescue, the scenario included strategic consideration of
disruption to transport services, utilities and the environment
distribution of casualties and fatalities across and outside of London
requests for national and international support and
considering the information and long term support provided the public, businesses and to individuals and communities affected.
Did I follow my own advice?
I’ve blogged previously about how, if not managed appropriately, the value of exercises can be limited. If I wanted Unified Response to be different, I needed to follow my own advice, which boiled down to six key points
Use locations you would use in reality
Make it no notice as far as possible
Draw participants from what’s available on the day
Don’t let the scenario win out over objectives
Speaking of objectives – have lots of specific ones rather than sweeping generalities
Evaluate. Evaluate. Evaluate.
During the four days of the exercise many lessons were learned dynamically. Undoubtedly there will be lots more learning to come out through the debrief processes. It’s not the intention of this post to debrief the exercise, but to revisit the points from my earlier blog. Did I follow my own advice? In hindsight, have I got any additional thoughts on getting the best return on investment from exercises?
Objectives and Scenario Fidelity
Developing SMART style objectives rather than “to exercise our major incident response” became my own personal crusade for a while at the start of the planning process. In the long-run this made developing the scenario easier and we were able to tie all injects (nearly 2000) to objectives, which will support ongoing evaluation.
From the outset my starting point was to develop the highest level of fidelity as possible. Over the past year I found myself continually asking “but what would happen in reality?” or “If this incident took place today what would actually happen?”
It’s easy when planning something on this scale to let creativity get the better of you. However it’s a fine balance and it wasn’t always possible to simulate reality without a consequential effect on the ability to meet exercise objectives.
For instance, one objective related to the activation and integration of international specialist rescue teams, but the scenario also included a ruptured water main and sewer which provided grounds for participation for a wide range of organisations. In reality, the presence of these hazards would have impacted on the ability to implement the technical rescue (as responder safety has to be a consideration) however in the exercise, water and sewage were notional.
Where there were simultaneously elements of live and notional play, there were challenges in how well they meshed together. Further to this, many organisations chose to use real-world conditions alongside exercise scenario. In addition to the incident at Waterloo, real-life traffic accidents and train delays all added to the complexity and realism. This is the first time that I’ve seen, first-hand, this attempted in an exercise. The closest I’ve seen are Emergo exercises which use real hospital bed states and staffing to determine capacity challenges for mass casualty management. Limited to one organisation it’s difficult enough to cross-check the impact of the scenario on the real world, but with so many participants this became very complex.
Locations, Dates and Times
This wasn’t always possible due to operational conditions or extent of participation, but by and large venues used were those which would be used in reality. This means that anything learned relating to the operation of those facilities is valuable and can be actioned. Not all of the learning is technical in nature. Softer, skills-based aspects (for instance, teleconference etiquette) is something which can develop with repeated practice. Familiarity with processes, technology and each other in non-incident conditions will improve crisis response.
In order to make sure that decisions taken at a strategic level were appropriate it was necessary to warn senior representatives of the exercise dates. However, I strongly resisted demands to schedule meetings in advance. Establishing the ‘battle rhythm‘ is a key incident management skill. If we’d pre-planned meetings the learning opportunity would be reduced.
I also made sure, by having a relatively small but empowered planning group, that the integrity of the exercise was preserved. Nobody involved in exercise play, not even my own management, knew the full extent of the scenario. This meant unanticipated questions seeking assurance that the exercise would be sufficiently challenging. Such assurance was provided by exploring parallels to past incidents and exercises with subject matter experts to develop the most comprehensive exercise I have been involved in. (We went as far as developing complete documentation for a fictitious construction company and producing staff records for fictional injured responders).
Participants and Advance Notice
As mentioned already, some representatives were essential and therefore did have prior notice. However, even when they knew the date of the exercise, they did not know anything about timings or scenario progression. There were short-notice requests and demands to be in multiple places at the same time, as there would be in reality.
Arguably these issues could have been avoided through advance notice, but then we would have been generating a false environment and actual learning about how to resolve those problems would not have been identified.
The ability to prioritise and dynamically allocate resources is another crisis management skill, one which many of the participants in the exercise had the opportunity to practise.
What else did I learn?
I think my own personal learning relates more to the role of exercise control during an exercise of this scale.Having a good team with all the necessary expert knowledge and most importantly a problem-solving approach is absolutely essential.
If there was one aspect that I would look to improve next time, it would be to ensure communication between players and facilitators. So my seventh rule for exercise planning, would be to consider structures for exercise control earlier in the planning phase.
Synchronising an exercise with 30 different locations, 85 organisations and over 4000 participants was always going to be a challenge. Over the course of the exercise I spent more than 106 hours in Exercise Control, managing command post activity, resolving issues, creating simulated material and ensuring ‘my activity’ kept in step with all other exercise activity. The responsiveness of my Exercise Control team to roll with decisions made in exercise play was crucial, but this could have been made easier with a more complete picture of the response.
There were some challenges along the way, but I thoroughly enjoyed Exercise Unified Response. Whilst I hope we never have to do it for real, the learning that will be taken from it will improve emergency responses in London and further afield. As my own reflections solidify I’m sure there will be more posts on Unified Response, but if you do have questions please get in touch.
