Default to Responsible

In high-stakes engineering environments, I’ve found that the healthiest team cultures embrace a counterintuitive mindset: when something goes wrong, default to assuming you might have caused it until proven otherwise.

This isn’t about blame — it’s about responsibility. Instead of saying “It’s probably someone else’s change,” you ask, “Could it have been mine?”

This mindset feels disarming at first. It strips away defensiveness and accelerates problem-solving. People quickly mobilize around the issue rather than around self-defense.

It’s not about being blameless — it’s about being responsible. It’s a cultural habit worth building.