The quality of a product is most visible in how it recovers.
A successful transaction proves the happy path works. A failed payment, duplicate request, or interrupted update reveals whether the product was built with discipline.
Recovery is not just an engineering concern; it is a business decision. Clear states, safe retries, and honest communication protect trust when certainty is unavailable.
In my view, recovery is often a stronger sign of product maturity than feature count. The best products do not pretend failures never happen. They make the next step obvious - and avoid passing confusion or risk to the customer.