After testing hundreds of systems, clear brittleness patterns emerge across different domains:
Technology Brittleness - Single platform dependence (one operating system, one cloud provider) - API dependencies without alternatives - Proprietary systems without migration paths - Update requirements that can break functionality
Financial Brittleness - Single income source regardless of size - Credit-dependent cash flow - Currency concentration - Counterparty risk clustering
Operational Brittleness - Key person dependencies - Single supplier relationships - Location-specific requirements - Regulatory compliance in single jurisdiction
Social Brittleness - Narrow professional networks - Single community dependence - Reputation in one domain only - Relationship concentration
Recognizing these patterns accelerates brittleness identification and solution development.