"Organizations optimize locally even when the system suffers globally.
The quote is short, but the word organizations carries the weight. In a reliability improvement that shifts risk elsewhere, it tells you where reality will push back, even when the plan looks clean.
In a reliability improvement that shifts risk elsewhere, people argue about preferences when the real issue is structure. You see it in a retry policy change that turns one failure into a storm, where the system teaches everyone the wrong behavior. Clarity is not certainty; it is a small commitment the team can execute without reopening the decision at every update.
Eliyahu M. Goldratt is a reminder to keep it concrete. Name the cost you are accepting so you can defend it later. Save it where decisions live.