When Murphy arrives

One of the lessons in life is that shit happens, and this is why you have to design for failure as Tom Graves talks about.

One example is when you design a web-based system that require an internet connection. Our production system works like this, and the fall back solution is to have printed papers on set.

Another example is handling of media on set. A lost card or a lost disk could in worst case mean a catastrophe for the production. This is why you need a workflow to manage this safely and a plan B when Murphy visits.

Third, your software provider may sun-set your application, without offering another solution. This is especially relevant for media that need to be stored for ages. Lesson learned here is not to use an application for long term storage, instead keep media files in a common format and projects in public readable formats.

Cloud providers may close their business, and leave you in the cold. Don’t rely on only one provider for all services and have a copy of all data at another place are good old advises.

Finally, you need to design for privacy as there are bad guys out there, and the risk of getting hacked is a real threat.

But, film production and publishing is digital, and for a huge part, we can’t have manual work-arounds. This is why design for failure is even more important than before.

In the end, you have to balance between seeing possibilities with IT and avoid risks at all cost. This is why risk management is important.