Understand The Blast Radius

One of the biggest mistakes software engineers make is jumping straight into fixing a bug without first understanding the full impact. Here are the core points from the lesson:

• Before fixing anything, assess and document the “blast radius” by asking when the issue started, who and where it impacts, and what product versions are affected
• Think ahead to the post-mortem by tracking detection, notification, response, and mitigation details early, even while still gathering info
• Communicate frequent updates to leadership and stakeholders—even if there’s no fix yet—to maintain trust and reduce panic