If You're Going to Fail, Fail Safely

Harm mitigation is crucial in minimizing negative impacts when things go wrong. Seatbelts exemplify this concept by protecting passengers during car accidents. To effectively mitigate harm, it's essential to assume failure modes and understand the worst-case scenarios for different users. Designing systems to fail safe or fail secure can help protect critical assets. Feature flags and kill switches enable developers to quickly address issues without causing further damage. Balancing competing priorities is vital in managing risks and ensuring reliability while maintaining speed, ease of use, and future planning.