I've been asked to present a session at the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference on "Technical Management Techniques for Managers". Consider this an official "teaser" on a topic we'll cover in detail during the session: Handling a Crisis. I've found the analogy of a "house fire" both useful for managers to understand what to do, as well as to explain to others what's needed during a crisis.

The House is on Fire!

When faced with a severe technical crisis -- think mail server down, fried DB server, website hacked -- it's important to approach the situation methodically and in an organized manner. When the "fire alarm" sounds, be the calm leader in your organization.

• Survey the situation. What is impacted and what is the current risk? What's the possibility of the issue getting worse?
• Assemble the team. You'll need the right resources to investigate more thoroughly and come up with possible solutions.
• Act now. Get your team working to understand the problem right away. While they're doing that, you should be managing the situation with the rest of the organization.

Get the Children out First

"How could this happen?"
"Who is responsible?"
"What do we need to do to make sure this never happens again?"

These are all important questions, but they're not as immediately important as resolving the crisis quickly. The house is on fire, and you need to ensure the safety of all its occupants.

• Focus all efforts on diagnosis and resolution of the issue.
• Postpone discussions that could either become emotional or will not further crisis resolution. Don't be afraid to tell authority figures that they'll need to wait for the crisis to be resolved before receiving answers to their questions.
• Promise that a root cause analysis will be delivered to all interested parties after crisis resolution.

Arson Investigations Are Performed on Cold Ashes

Natural human reactions to crisis are to ask, "Why did this happen?"; to be emotional about the situation; or to assign blame. It's not uncommon for a manager to have a line of folks outside their office wanting to discuss the cause of the crisis. None of these actions is productive until the fire is out and all the "children" are safe. Forensic investigation of a house fire occurs only after the fire is out and the hoses are reeled.

• Debrief the team post-crisis, documenting how the situation began.
• Investigate and define operational changes that could prevent the crisis from reoccurring.
• Compile a report detailing the crisis, resolution, root cause, and recommended preventive measures. Present the report to all affected parties, especially any person with whom you postponed a conversation during the crisis: you need to maintain these people's trust.
• Insist that the preventive measures be implemented. Accidents happen, but shame on you if they happen twice. Mistakes are expensive; always learn as much as you can from them.

During the live session at the 2011 NTC, we'll talk about real-life situations and how to handle them. We'll also discuss managing projects that are not in crisis (and how to keep them that way). I look forward to seeing you in a few months.

Grant Howe brings more than 16 years of experience to his role as VP of research & development for Sage North America's Nonprofit Solutions business, based in Austin, Texas. Sage currently helps more than 32,000 unique not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. and Canada increase efficiency and more easily manage their operations through the use of technology. Howe has presented at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) since 2009. He earned a master's degree in Software Engineering from Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Oswego.

You can follow Grant on Twitter: @geekbyte