Your automation isn't broken. It's just fragile.

Muhammad Fahad Shahriar

15h • General Discussion 💬

When I first started building workflows, I always built for the "Happy Path."

Trigger happens → Data is extracted → Email is sent. Perfect, right?

But the reality of business operations is messy:

What if the API is down for 5 minutes?

What if the user inputs a typo in the email field?

What if the webhook times out?

A beginner builds a workflow assuming everything will go right.

A workflow architect builds assuming everything will eventually break.

This is why shifting to n8n changed how I build. Instead of straight lines, I now build "Error Catchers" and secondary routing. If Step B fails, the system doesn't just stop—it pings me on Slack with the exact error log and automatically retries 10 minutes later.

You don’t want an automation that requires you to constantly babysit it. You want an autonomous engine.

Question for the builders: What is the most frustrating way a "simple" automation has broken on you in the middle of the night?

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