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PROJECT UPDATES

What we’ve been doing, where we’ve been travelling, and what’s next.

Contingency Planning

This month, I've completed a comprehensive update of the Contingency Planning Workspace for Taiwan. I've re-written the air evacuation plan, shelter-in-place plan and domestic relocation plan. These plans are now significantly more detailed and are broken down into phases and actionable steps. I've also added a new plan for responding to major earthquakes.

I've also completed two new Contingency Planning Workspaces for South Korea and Japan. The Japan workspace incorporates a detailed plan for responding to a major earthquake.

These contingency plans are extremely detailed, covering every aspect of planning. I've also spent a significant amount of effort on decision-making frameworks, ensuring organisations can take the appropriate actions at the appropriate time.

If your organisation has operations in Taiwan, South Korea or Japan, I'd be happy to provide an online demo of the workspaces. Get in touch and we can set up a time to chat.

Crisis Simulation Exercises

We have no more slots for crisis simulation exercises in 2024. If your organisation is interested in conducting a crisis simulation exercise in Q1 2025, please let me know.

TRAINING

Training workshops and customised training solutions.

Crisis Response Workshops

This month, I delivered a focused two-day masterclass in crisis response and crisis communications.

During the workshop, I go beyond the basics and get into the practical aspects of actually managing a crisis. I covered techniques for leadership, decision-making, impact assessment, information management, task management, resource management and more. The crisis communication section provided a contemporary take on crisis communications, and focused on how organisation can communicate with employees, employee families, and the media during a crisis.

If your organisation would be interested in conducting training for your crisis management or executive teams, please let me know.

View our other training workshops here.

PUBLICATIONS

We’ve published a number of books on crisis management, travel security and security evacuations.

The Crisis Simulation Handbook

The Crisis Simulation Handbook is a comprehensive guide to designing and delivering world-class crisis simulation exercise. This book compiles 24 years of experience, starting from the Sydney Olympics in 2000 to now.

From a reader: "Just read your book, The Crisis Simulation Handbook. It’s excellent, full of practical advice and by far, the best publication I’ve seen on this topic. Thanks for writing and publishing it."

Learn more and download a sample here.

View all our publications here.

Buy copies for your team

Several highly regarded organisations (and one prestigious university) have purchased copies of our books for their teams. If your team would benefit from the knowledge and experience contained in our books, please reach out. We'd be happy to provide a discount for bulk orders.

STATION XV

Updates on our in-house gear, sharing a behind-the-scenes look at our design and manufacturing processes.

I've had a few people approach me and ask about the name 'Station XV'.

The original Station XV had quite a interesting history. Station XV was one of several experimental stations operated by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. It was located 12 miles North of London, on the busy A1 Barnet Bypass, near Borehamwood,

Station XV was focused on inventing, designing, and crafting various gadgets and gear used by British and Allied secret agents and resistance fighters. They worked on the development of camouflage, sabotage, and subterfuge devices. The work done there played a key role in supporting the SOE's espionage and guerrilla warfare efforts across Europe and other theatres of war during the war.

While we're not in the business of crafting gear for secret agents and resistance fighters (mostly), we've embraced the same spirit by adopting an experimental mindset, by focusing on rigorous testing, and by pushing the boundaries of practical design.

Check out the full range of Station XV bags and accessories here.

APPLICATIONS

Updates on our applications.

Whistler

Whistler is a simple and secure whistleblowing application that enables organisations to receive and manage confidential reports from whistleblowers. We launched Whistler site.time | date: '%Y' | minus:2015 years ago. We've recently updated the application to version 2.0, increasing the level of encryption and adding case management tools, amongst a host of other improvements.

Pricing for organisations starts at $19 a month.

If you're looking for a simple and secure whistleblowing solution for your organisation, you can learn more here.

Incident Manager

Incident Manager is the first application that's focused on team performance during an incident. Major incidents are already inherently challenging. There's no point in adding an additional layer of complexity by forcing teams to use software that increases cognitive load and only serves to make the situation more difficult to manage. Incident Manager doesn't get in the way of teams. Instead, it makes them more effective at managing complex incidents.

Please reach out if you'd like a demo.

Exercise Manager

Exercise Manager is a unique application that makes it easy to plan and deliver crisis exercises and monitor team performance across your organisation. After using this application for our own exercises, we're making Exercise Manager available to our clients as well.

Please reach out if you'd like a demo.

Tenacio

Tenacio is a project management application designed for people like me who are juggling a diverse range of projects. Tenacio cuts through the myriad of projects and tasks and tells you what you need to work on next. It does this based on the deadlines you set and your preferences for when you like to work on different activities.

I've been using Tenacio to manage my own projects for the last 4 months and it's already bringing some much-needed order to the chaos. If you'd like to try Tenacio, get in touch.

READING LIST

Links to interesting articles worth your time.

Global Catastrophic Risk Assessment. I mean, why not (Rand). Read here.

Kim’s Costly Gamble: Why North Korea’s Ukraine Deployment Could Backfire. North Korea’s deployment of combat troops to Russia for Ukraine's frontlines reveals Kim Jong-un’s desperation for cash but presents significant risks for his regime. (The National Interest). Read here.

Denial Without Disaster—Keeping a U.S.-China Conflict over Taiwan Under the Nuclear Threshold. Vol. 1, An Overview of Ideas for U.S. Conventional Joint Long-Range Strike in Support of Escalation Management (Rand). Read here.

How supply chains fuel transnational conflict in the Middle East. Transnational conflict in the Middle East is fuelled by both ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ trade. Mapping these cross-border dynamics can help understand and address violent conflict. (Chatham House). Read here.

5 Questions About the Cease-Fire Between Israel and Hezbollah. Limited strikes could continue even after the truce (Foreign Policy). Read here.

Is Militancy Surging in Indian-Administered Kashmir?. An uptick in terrorist incidents as a new government settles in raises questions about discontent in the region (Foreign Policy). Read here.

That’s it for this month, folks.

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Grant Rayner

Spartan9