Understanding the “Do” phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle
1. The PDCA Cycle in 30 Seconds
| Phase | Core Question | Typical Output |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | What should we do if something goes wrong? | Policies, objectives, step-by-step procedures |
| Do | Are those plans now alive and running? | Deployed controls, trained staff, executed backups |
| Check | Did everything work the way we expected? | Metrics, audit findings, drill results |
| Act | How do we fix the gaps we just found? | Corrective actions, updated documents, new resources |
The PDCA loop keeps spinning, tightening your defenses with every rotation.
2. Zoom In: What Happens in “Do”?
Think of Plan as drawing blueprints for a new house. Do is when the builders arrive with lumber, nails, and concrete:
- Turn policy into action
- Configure backup jobs in the cloud.
- Deploy redundant power supplies or secondary links.
- Train every role
- Hold tabletop or live drills so people feel the plan in motion.
- Update phone trees and test emergency-notification apps.
- Run the processes
- Start daily off-site data transfers.
- Rotate tapes or check diesel levels in the generator—whatever the plan calls for.
- Capture evidence
- Keep logs, screenshots, sign-in sheets, or configuration files.
- This proof feeds the Check phase and satisfies auditors or regulators later.
3. A Quick Story: The Café That Stayed Open
Plan
A popular downtown café writes a continuity plan:
- Goal: reopen within four hours after a power outage.
- Procedures: battery-powered POS tablets, gas burners for cooking, and a generator.
Do
- They purchase and test the generator monthly.
- Staff practice switching the POS tablets to cellular data.
- Spare ingredients are kept in a cooler with dry ice for emergencies.
Check
During a surprise drill, power is cut. Staff restore service in 35 minutes—logs show one hiccup: the barista didn’t know where the dry ice was stored.
Act
They add clearer signage in the storeroom and repeat training with new hires. Next drill, recovery time drops to 25 minutes.
Without the Do phase (buying the gear, rehearsing the process), their elegant plan would have been useless when the lights went out.
4. Common Pitfalls in “Do”
| Pitfall | Why It Hurts | Quick Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “Paper only” plans | Policies exist, but nobody can execute them under stress. | Schedule drills; link every procedure to a person or team. |
| One-and-done implementation | You launch once, then forget. | Build routine tasks (backup verification, generator tests) into calendars with reminders. |
| No evidence collection | Auditors and leaders can’t verify success. | Automate logging and keep a simple evidence checklist. |
5. Checklist: Are You Really “Doing”?
- Backups run and restores are tested.
- Alternate work locations or cloud resources are provisioned.
- Employees have practiced their roles at least once this year.
- Incident-response numbers, apps, or call trees were tested in the last quarter.
- Documentation of each task is stored where auditors can find it.
If any box is empty, your PDCA wheel has a flat—and the next disruption could expose it.
Key Takeaway
The “Do” phase breathes life into your business-continuity plan. It transforms elegant words and diagrams into real-world muscle memory, ready for the unexpected. Skip it, and you own a binder of good intentions. Nail it, and you own resilience.
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