Timeouts:?

Short answer: Set timeouts on all inter-service calls to avoid hanging indefinitely. If a service call exceeds the timeout, it should return an error and trigger fallback mechanisms.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

If Payment is down, the Order service fails fast with a circuit breaker instead of hanging every checkout thread.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.