Almost every continuity plan in Los Angeles County was written after something happened, which is the wrong order and still worth doing. The reason is simple: the next disruption is already scheduled. Power shutoffs, smoke, a water main, a landlord selling, the one person who knows the system leaving. A plan written now is a decision made calmly instead of at 6am on a bad day.

There is a second reason, less obvious. Having one changes what you can sign. Some commercial contracts, institutional buyers and insurers now ask whether a continuity plan exists, and a few require one. Requirements vary by buyer and by policy. Not yet confirmed by LAEDC. It is cheap to have and awkward to be asked for and not have.

Two pages. Not a binder. A plan long enough to need finding is a plan nobody opens. Everything that matters fits on two sides, and the test of it is whether someone else could follow it while you are unreachable.

Write it for the three things most likely to happen to you, not for everything that could. For most businesses here that is: we cannot get into the building, we have no power, and the one person who does the thing is not available.