When some of it worked.
WHAT A PARTIAL FAILURE IS
An operation spanning several systems where some steps succeeded.
WHY IT IS THE HARD CASE
There is no transaction across systems to roll back.
WHAT EXAMPLES LOOK LIKE
An account created but its database missing A payment taken but the order not recorded A record updated in one system and not the other
WHAT NOT TO DO
Pretend it did not happen.
WHAT THE APPROACHES ARE
Compensating actions, undoing what succeeded Retrying forward until complete Recording the incomplete state and resolving later
WHAT COMPENSATION MEANS
An explicit action reversing an earlier one.
WHY IT IS NOT A ROLLBACK
The effect happened, and the reversal is another event.
WHERE THAT MATTERS
A refund is not the absence of a payment; both exist.
WHAT RETRYING FORWARD REQUIRES
Each step being idempotent.
WHY THAT IS USUALLY PREFERABLE
Completing is simpler than reversing.
WHAT TO RECORD
The operation, its steps, and which completed.
WHY
It is the only way to resume or reverse correctly.
WHAT TO BUILD
A process finding and resolving incomplete operations.
WHAT TO ALERT ON
Operations incomplete beyond an expected period.
WHAT TO NEVER LEAVE
An inconsistency nobody is told about.
