Mechanism
A critical capability remains necessary after the team, contract or runtime that supported it disappears.
Enabling conditions
- The system accumulates state and dependency
- Exit is deferred until deprecation
Failure modes
- Migration preserves access but loses continuity
- No owner funds retirement
Early signals
- • Critical workflows refer to vendor-specific state
- • Recovery has never been tested elsewhere
Countermeasures
- • Assign lifecycle ownership
- • Rehearse portability and exit
Diagnostic questions
- 1.What must survive a provider change?
- 2.Who owns retirement?