What's a real error vs an expected 'miss' result?

Not every deviation is an error. Customer has no email = exception, not failure. API down = transient error. Auth failure = critical error. The distinction decides if your flow logs, retries, or pings a human.

Try this first

1. 1Define 3 categories clearly: 'expected miss' (data choice, no action), 'transient' (retry fixes), 'critical' (human needed).
2. 2Handle expected miss with a continue path, not an error route. Log for traceability, no alert.
3. 3Handle transient with retry plus exponential backoff. Alert only after N consecutive failures, not the first.
4. 4Handle critical immediately with notification to the owner plus dead-letter record. Don't wait for a scheduled review.
5. 5Document per flow where each category applies. Otherwise your error channel clogs with things needing no action.

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