Exercises & Wargames

Planning and preparation for risks cannot be considered reliable until they have been exercised and shown to be workable.

Exercising Best Practice Guidance
(UK Resilience Academy, 2025)

Exercises & wargames are part of the same method of testing assumptions in a way that gives space to explore response, communication, and knowledge. 

The aim is to create credible and challenging scenarios that will engage participants. These can inform and validate plans and teach valuable lessons on decision-making, making people more comfortable about acting under pressure in a safe-to-fail environment. 

My skillset includes the following, which is all part of an exercise or wargame: 

Planning 

With experience in live, online, and tabletop exercises I can help steer you towards an achievable scenario which meets your objectives. 

A good foundation in planning work beforehand will clearly set expectations and allow for examination of the core questions to be answered - sometimes this can help define what is needed, or allow for a challenge to be viewed from a different perspective. 

Preparing 

Organising participants and resources, securing venues, and working to exact schedules and arranging for particular capabilities to be available, are all part of making sure delivery can happen and nobody needs to worry about event management - so you can get on with tackling the important content from the exercise or wargame itself. 

Delivery 

Once everything has been put in place, the scenario can be delivered. 

Participants will respond as they think best in the constructed narrative, with appropriate Subject Matter Expertise on hand, as well as experienced facilitation to keep things focused. 

Debriefs are a key part of this process, and are key points where data can be captured for later examination. 

Evaluation 

Being able to draw lessons from the choices made and actions taken, or not taken, is a vital part of any exercise. 

Whilst many organisations have their own methods, I can also help with examining areas for further analysis or investigation, which can lead to people making clearer decisions based on these findings.