Stoppability test plan
Scenarios, triggers, the person who halts, and the target time for each.
Stoppability testing
Before launch and after each major change, test that the people authorized to halt the system can do it within the target time, and that cases in flight stop safely.
- 1 Evidence
- 2 Authority
- 3 Decision
- 4 Consequence
- 5 Challenge
- 6 Reconsideration
- 7 Correction acts here
Where it acts
At Correction, one of the seven stages every consequential decision passes through. It tests that the people authorized to halt the system can do it within the target time.
Steps
Put the mechanism in motion
3 steps, in order. Check each one off as it is done; the records below show the work was done.
0 of 3 steps complete
Records this mechanism keeps
What a team running this mechanism keeps, and what each record is for.
Drill log
Each drill's time to halt, the state cases were left in, and the restoration steps taken.
Launch gate checklist
Confirms drills ran and their gaps closed before deployment.
Reuse-ready snippets
Copy policy, audit, and incident language
Use these snippets in requirements, audits, and postmortems with the mechanism permalink.
Policy requirement
Policy requirement (MEC-12 Stoppability testing) - Run halt drills before launch and after each major change. - Publish time-to-halt targets and the roles authorized to halt. Reference: https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/stoppability-testing
Product requirement
Product requirement (MEC-12) - Each drill logs time to halt, the state cases were left in, and whether they were restored. - The launch gate checks that drills ran and their gaps are closed.
Audit evidence checklist
Audit evidence checklist (MEC-12) [ ] Drill logs record time to halt and the result. [ ] The people authorized to halt are named. [ ] Each gap a drill found is tracked to a fix.
Postmortem trigger
Postmortem trigger (MEC-12) Trigger review when a drill is skipped, a time-to-halt target is missed, or a real halt fails in a way the drills did not test.
Example usage
A halt drill before automated approvals go live
One scenario with each part of the mechanism in place.
How it plays out
A benefits team drills a halt on its automated approval flow a week before launch. The on-call operator halts approvals in 3 minutes against a 5-minute target, but 40 approvals already in the queue are sent anyway. Launch waits until queued approvals hold at the halt.
Anti-patterns
Common failure cases and counterfactuals
Each case passes on paper and fails in operation. The counterfactual shows what would have worked.
Stoppability assumed, not tested
The team relies on a documented halt path that no one has run.
Counterfactual: Halt drills run before launch and after major changes, and log their results.
Exception: A drill in a staging copy counts if it uses the production halt controls and permissions.
Testing the switch, not the halt
The drill confirms the switch flips, but queued jobs and downstream systems keep acting on decisions already made.
Counterfactual: The drill checks what happened to queued cases and downstream systems after the halt.
Exception: Work already finished downstream can stay in place if the drill shows each item can be reversed.
Diagnostics for this mechanism
Tools that size the risk this mechanism addresses.
Diagnostic
Delegation audit
Walks a team through one workflow against six questions and returns an exposure score, the permissions nobody can justify, and whether its decisions can be undone. Start here when the system keeps no decision records yet; use the record conformance checker once it does.
Cite this page · v1.2.1 · updated Oct 6, 2026 · CC BY-SA 4.0
APA
Ethotechnics Institute. (2026). Stoppability testing (MEC-12). Ethotechnics Institute. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/stoppability-testing
MLA
Ethotechnics Institute. "Stoppability testing (MEC-12)." Ethotechnics Institute, 2026, https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/stoppability-testing.
Chicago
Ethotechnics Institute. "Stoppability testing (MEC-12)." Ethotechnics Institute. Oct 6, 2026. https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/stoppability-testing.
BibTeX
@misc{mechanism_stoppability-testing,
title={Stoppability testing (MEC-12)},
author={Ethotechnics Institute},
year={2026},
howpublished={Ethotechnics Institute},
url={https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/stoppability-testing},
version={v1.2.1}
}
RIS
TY - WEB TI - Stoppability testing (MEC-12) AU - Ethotechnics Institute PY - 2026 UR - https://ethotechnics.org/mechanisms/patterns/stoppability-testing ER -