What to do when Dave leaves

Dave is a single point of failure

Dave means well. Dave also has a vacation, a new job, or a burnout cliff. When the process lives in Dave, the organization does not have a process — it has a person.

The 48-hour triage

1. Inventory logins in a shared vault. Rotate anything that was only in Dave’s email.
2. Export the critical sheets and forms. Snapshot before you “clean up.”
3. Interview Dave (or peers) for the undocumented exceptions — those are the real system.

The 90-day fix

Move high-risk workflows off hero knowledge: board documents, volunteer credentials, family records, intake. Prefer systems with clear ownership, audit trails, and a vendor who answers the phone.

Continuity is a feature. Ask for it explicitly when you buy.