Creating procedures for responding to disasters provides both a checklist of things to do in the given situation as well as a structured way to practice responding to the situation. The practice serves to solidify understanding of how to react, while the procedure itself provides a target of mental focus during an actual disaster. Adhering to the procedure ensures the steps taken to resolve a crisis are well-known and tested. Focus on the procedure to the exclusion of everything else.
That said, not every situation will have an associated procedure. These situations call for their own procedures. Try to create a procedure for every situation that doesn’t already have one. This diligence pays off over time, as history tends to repeat itself. In addition to this, a procedure for situations lacking a procedure provides a safety net when everything else fails. This will differ from one organization to the next, but the value is constant.
Like backups, no disaster recovery procedure is useful unless and until it is tested. Thorough testing and practicing–in a real environment if possible–quickly finds problems that will happen in the real world. Beyond having procedures for known possible failures, a procedure for situations other procedures do not cover provides a fallback for what to do in the inevitable unpredictable crisis.
In addition to the technical sector, other industries deal regularly with crisis response–fire fighters, law enforcement, paramedics. These organizations have their own procedures. These industries all predate technology, offering much to learn.