[tqi]

[preface that this response is obviously operating on very limited context]

"Wanting to tick some meeting boxes" feels a bit ungenerous. Ideally, a production outage shouldn't be a single mistake away, and it seems reasonable to suggest adding additional safeguards to prevent that from happening again[1]. Generally, I don't think you need to wait until after multiple incidents to identify and address potential classes of problems.

While it is good and admirable to stand up for your team, I think that creating a safety net that allows your team to make mistakes is just as important.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model

[terlisimo]

I agree.

I didn't want to add a wall of text for context :) And that was the only time I've said something like that to a client. I was not being confrontational, just telling them how it is.

I suppose my point was that there's a cost associated with increasing reliability, sometimes it's just not worth paying it. And that people will usually appreciate candor rather than vague promises or hand-wavy explanations.