Document five recovery components for every important…

When This Fires

• When designing any important recurring process — build the recovery plan at design time
• After a process failure that took too long to detect or recover from
• During process architecture reviews when assessing resilience
• Complements Design three operating modes for every important process (three operating modes) with the recovery path when even minimal mode fails

Common Failure Mode

Vague recovery plans: "If my exercise habit breaks, I'll get back into it." This lacks all five components: no specific failure mode, no detection trigger, no ordered steps, no time target, no verification. When the habit actually breaks, "getting back into it" produces weeks of vague intention without structured restoration.

The Protocol

(1) For each important process, write a recovery plan with five components: Failure mode: "This process has failed when [specific, observable condition]." Detection: "I will detect this failure when [trigger — e.g., 'my weekly review shows zero sessions for two consecutive weeks']." Recovery steps: ordered procedure to restart. (1) Identify the minimal viable version (Start every new agent at under two minutes with zero…). (2) Set the trigger (Agent triggers must be observable or measurable — vague…). (3) Execute the first session within 24 hours. (4) Follow The first five consecutive executions of a new trigger… (protect first five executions). Time target: "Full recovery to target operating mode within [timeframe]." Verification: "Recovery is confirmed when [metric] reaches [level] for [duration]." (2) Write this plan when the process is healthy — not during the crisis of its failure.