Write Failure Modes as Verbs

If you cannot phrase the failure as an action, you cannot guard it well. Why it matters FMEA is useful because it forces specificity. A failure mode is the way a function fails: duplicates invoices, skips required approvals, sends to inactive customers, overwrites source fields, or retries until a rate limit blocks the queue. Once the failure mode is a verb phrase, the team can name effects, severity, causes, detection signals, and controls. Vague nouns create vague guardrails. 'Bad data' might require validation, reconciliation, or a human review depending on what the automation does with it. 'Duplicates vendor payments above…

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