Managing crises

- [Voiceover] No matter how well you plan, sometimes things go wrong. It's always possible for a runtime error to sneak through even the best QA teams. Or worse, a security hole, and don't even get me started on what can happen with servers. The bottom line is that, as CTO, you will be responsible. The best advice I've seen is from Steve Tobak, contributor to many magazines like Inc. and Entrepreneur, and author of Real Leader Don't Follow. He spells out a five step process for handling crisis. Okay, something bad happened, really bad, the first step is to take a deep breath and access the situation. Don't blame. Don't panic. Don't try to fix it. Just access it. How bad is it? Where is it broken? Who is working there? Get a good understanding of what went wrong and where, and with whom, and who was affected. Then contact anyone involved, any stakeholders, anyone who has domain knowledge that could help fix it, anyone who has a stake at issue. This is important because anyone who has…