A failure mode is a characterization of the way a product or process
fails.
Rather than the simple description of symptoms that many product users
or process participants might use, the term failure mode refers to a
rather complete description, including the pre-conditions under which
failure occurs, how the thing was being used, proximate and
ultimate/final causes (if known), and any subsidiary or resulting
failures that result.
The term is part of the engineering lexicon, especially of engineers
working to test and debug products or processes. Carefully observing
and describing failure conditions, identifying whether failures are
reproducible or transient, and hypothesizing what combination of
conditions and sequence of events led to failure is part of the
process of fixing design flaws or improving future iterations.
Over time, as more is understood about a failure, the failure mode
evolves from a description of symptoms and outcomes (that is, effects)
to a systematic and relatively abstract model of how, when, and why
the failure comes about (that is, causes).
The more complex the product or situation, the more necessary a good
understanding of its failure modes is to ensuring its proper operation
(or repair). Cascading failures, for example, are particularly complex
failure modes. Edge cases and corner cases are situations in which
complex, unexpected, and difficult-to-debug problems often occur.
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Originally Posted by Faisal
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