If everyone has the same "Use X or else Y or else Z" cascading list... That reminds me of "The Power of Two Choices in Randomized Load Balancing" (1991) [0] paper, where writeups and visualizations occasionally get posted to HN.

In short, you can get pretty good outcomes for a low cost by picking 2 random alternates, then going with whatever one measures as healthier.

[0] https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/963420