"Systems learn slower than individuals, but forget more slowly.
Six months from now, the write-up will read like inevitability. In a data pipeline change where failures can be silent, every step on the way will have sounded reasonable. That is how drift stays invisible.
In a data pipeline change where failures can be silent, you will feel pressure to keep the conversation optimistic. Optimism is expensive when it prevents guardrails. You see it in a local optimization that creates global instability. Write it for the person who inherits it later, because they will not have today’s context or today’s goodwill.
Geoffrey Vickers is a reminder to audit the argument, not the intention. Draft the future critique now: how this fails and what justification you will be tempted to use, then name one guardrail. End with one move, not three.