System designers should not blindly sacrifice consistency or availability when partitions exist. Using the proposed approach, they can optimize both properties through careful management of invariants during partitions. As newer techniques, such as version vectors and CRDTs, move into frameworks that simplify their use, this kind of optimization should become more wide-spread. However, unlike ACID transactions, this approach requires more thoughtful deployment relative to past strategies, and the best solutions will depend heavily on details about the service’s invariants and operations.