๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ถ๐๐ป'๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐๐. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐.
On 8 September, a technical fault in the UKโs air traffic control flight data system led to around 2,000 flight cancellations, grounded aircraft and widespread disruption. I saw it up close: a colleague visiting me from overseas was caught up in the chaos.
I can't say how NATS prepared internally, and I wonโt speculate. But as an outsider looking in, it reinforced a point I come back to often. At scale, resilience has to be designed in long before the worst day arrives, through an operating model that can โPlan, Prepare and Performโ, and adapt to whatever form unexpected events take.
A month before the outage, I published my framework on exactly this: The Three Ps of Performant Systems. It now feels worth revisiting. The original, in full framework, is reposted below.
โ Plan: map the blind spots, the unhappy paths and the โwhat if?โ scenarios.
โ Prepare: stress test your runbooks and escalation paths while the sun is shining, not once the storm arrives.
โ Perform: the final 10% is how your team acts under pressure, so rehearse it and build the crisis muscles before they're needed.
Forewarned really is forearmed. Resilient systems give you more than hope: if the worst happens, the way back to normal is a clear, well-trodden path.
Original Three Ps of Performant Systems publication post here:
https://www.ianfinn.co.uk/perspectives/2026/8/4/your-next-incident-wont-define-your-systems-fortunes-your-work-before-the-storm-will
The Three Ps of Performant Systems Framework (ยฉ 2026 Ian Finn. All rights reserved.)
