design for failure??

[Galaril]

Does anyone have any idea what might be meant by :""software developers designing for failure?"I read this and didn't have a clue.

[TredWel]

If you design a product, make sure that if it enters a state in which it fails, the failure is obvious and gives useful information about the failure to both the user and the developer.

It also means that the device, when it fails, causes as little damage as possible.

[Marc Vaughan]

Yeah thats what I'd expect - its could also be referring to 'defensive coding' which is coding in such a manner where you anticipate even (in theory) impossible circumstances occuring and make the program recover and stay on its feet.