Plan for “graceful Degradation” to Save Yourself the Hassle When Something Breaks
Your plans will collapse. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how prepared you are, at some point something will go wrong. Your losses will not be determined by how much you can prevent the breakdown, but rather by how you handle it when they do.
As author Seth Godin notes, at some point everything breaks down. Rather than trying to prevent interruptions from occurring, you should probably put some effort into building a fault-tolerant device so that the damage doesn’t ruin you. Godin gives an example of air conditioning in your home:
For example, air conditioners gradually lose their charge. When they do, icing can occur. When this happens, the drain trays overflow and water leaks out.
The smart builder thus foresees all this and connects the pallet to some kind of downpipe, rather than making it rot the beams or destroy the ceiling.
You can apply this principle to everything. You may have a strong career right now, but without a contingency plan, you could find yourself unemployed amid a downturn in the economy. You may be making payments on your debt now, but if sudden expenses hit you, your entire budget could be thrown out of action. Whatever your situation, planning for disruption and giving yourself an elegant way to deal with degradation can be critical.
Graceful degradation | Seth Godin