Panic-Driven Development: My Experience and How to Avoid It

A Wake-Up Call: The Panic Is Already Here

If you ask a random developer whether they know what DDD, TDD, or BDD is, they will most likely answer "yes." After all, understanding and applying core development paradigms is essential for a good developer. However, if you ask about PDD, far fewer developers will recognize the term. Some may have never encountered this approach to writing code, some may already be using it unconsciously, and some not only know about it from experience but, most importantly, understand how to avoid Panic-Driven Development.

This is critical because PDD is an extremely dangerous approach to development—one that harms both developers and companies alike.

Panic-Driven Development is when the phrase "there’s still time" turns into "there’s still a night."

I hope this definition of PDD made you smile—because that would mean you've probably never been in truly terrifying and hopeless situations. I, for one, no longer laugh at jokes about deadlines, overtime, broken production, and critical bugs.

That’s why, in this post, I want to share my story and the lessons I’ve learned. But first, let’s break down what PDD actually is and why it’s such a serious problem.

What Is Panic-Driven Development and Why Is It a Trap?

Panic-Driven Development is an approach to software development that emerges in situations where decisions are made in haste due to urgent deadlines—often without proper analysis or planning. This leads to numerous problems for both developers and businesses.

Developers work under constant stress, without the opportunity to analyze the situation and make well-thought-out decisions. The business also fails to get the desired outcome: instead of rapid and high-quality improvements, they end up with a system that, at best, doesn’t function as expected, and at worst, brings the entire business to a halt because the system is broken and completely non-functional.

Alternatively, the project may simply fall apart because people are physically incapable of sustaining such a work pace and level of stress for long. This results in resignations, leading to constant employee turnover, and, eventually, the project starts sinking.

At first glance, it may seem that the negative consequences of this approach affect only employees who work nearly around the clock in highly stressful conditions. The company, on the surface, appears to benefit: reduced labor costs by having employees do the work of three people and accelerated development because no one is taking proper breaks.

However, a closer analysis reveals that, in reality, everyone suffers.

That’s why Panic-Driven Development is an extremely harmful and destructive approach, offering no long-term benefits for either the company or its employees. It functions like a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode.

SOS: How to Tell If You're Already in Chaos

Developers and businesses share common enemies—deceptive, ruthless, and nearly invisible. That’s why it’s crucial to recognize them early, so you can understand what you’re dealing with and have a chance to fight back.

They are all interconnected, and if you fail to spot one of them at the beginning or choose to ignore it, the others will inevitably follow. They never come alone.

The Eternal Flame: Perpetual Urgent Tasks

At first glance, this may seem like a normal situation for any project or business—after all, it’s up and running, evolving, and generating revenue. And considering that nothing in our world is perfect, critical bugs in production are bound to occur. In the best-case scenario, they make business operations more difficult; in the worst case, they bring everything to a standstill. That’s why fixing such defects in the code becomes a top priority and an urgent necessity.

I understand situations where you have to make tough decisions under extreme time pressure and compromise in order to resolve such problems. Sometimes, the only way out is to sacrifice your personal, off-the-clock time to fix the issues.

But when new features themselves become "urgent tasks," and an entire project has too little time for proper implementation, that’s a warning sign—for both the business and the developers—that you’re facing one of your worst enemies: the eternal flame.

The Empty Compass: Lack of Planning

Few people enjoy planning—it seems dull and unexciting. It’s much more tempting to dive straight into a new, engaging task than to spend time on prior analysis and estimation. This applies to all levels: strategic planning (defining product development strategies and business goals), project planning (timelines, budget, and assigned teams), technical planning (translating requirements into technical solutions, architecture, and technologies), and team-level planning (sprint planning and individual task breakdown).

Even the absence of planning at the lowest team level can lead to serious consequences, such as delayed releases, constant overtime for employees, and, as a result, slower business growth or operational difficulties. Now, imagine what happens in companies with no strategic planning at all...

So, when you realize that you’re constantly going in circles and have no clear path toward achieving your goals, you’re facing your second enemy—the empty compass.

The Code Swamp: Technical Debt

Most compromises made while working on urgent tasks boil down to simplifying code and skipping tests. As a result, technical debt starts accumulating—something that will have to be dealt with sooner or later.

At first, this might seem like just another part of the development process. After all, nothing in this world is perfect, and sometimes compromises have to be made. However, it’s crucial to recognize the boundary between a normal workflow and a serious problem that’s pulling you into a swamp.

If you’ve made a compromise and introduced technical debt into the system, it must be addressed as soon as the high-priority task that caused it is completed. But more often than not, one urgent task is immediately followed by another, then another—and the cycle continues indefinitely. Technical debt keeps growing, making each new task harder and harder to complete—or even outright impossible.

And that’s your third enemy—the code swamp.

The Brick Wall: Lack of Communication

Communication with colleagues and management may seem simple, but in reality, it requires a great deal of effort and resources. We are all human, and sometimes, conveying our thoughts in a clear and understandable way can be challenging. Differences in personalities, experience, and moods often lead to misunderstandings. This can make it feel like a waste of time, and instead, you might be tempted to solve problems on your own.

On top of that, some developers believe they are too skilled to ask for advice and feel embarrassed about not knowing something. Others are so confident in themselves and their knowledge that every conversation with colleagues—every technical meeting and code review—turns from a discussion into a full-blown argument. They are convinced that their solution is the best and refuse to compromise.

We often avoid difficult conversations with management, especially when it comes to requesting more time to fix our own mistakes in the code. As a result, communication gradually fades away until it is reduced to nothing more than brief daily standups. Problems remain unaddressed until the very last moment—when they inevitably surface in production.

So, if you feel that communication with your colleagues and management is difficult or completely absent, then you are facing a ruthless enemy—the brick wall.

The Gray Fog: Stress and Burnout

Have you ever had dreams about your job? And I don’t mean ordinary dreams where you’re chatting with colleagues over coffee about the latest framework release. I mean truly haunting, suffocating, and never-ending loops of nightmares.

You’re stuck, desperately trying to solve a problem with no clear way out... And then—finally!—you find the solution. After a week of struggling, you’ve cracked it. You close the task, relieved that this project is finally behind you...

But suddenly, everything resets. Your solution turns out to be wrong, and you’re back at it again, clueless about what to do next.

And it feels like this nightmare lasts forever, repeating itself over and over again. But when you wake up, there’s no relief. You don’t feel safe knowing it was just a dream. Instead, you realize—it’s only the beginning. Another exhausting, never-ending workday awaits.

At this point, forcing yourself to work feels nearly impossible. You have no energy left. But you still can’t rest—because the project is on fire. There’s no time, not even for a short break, a quick coffee, or a moment to disconnect.

Unfortunately, this enemy comes last—and if you recognize yourself in this description, it’s already too late to find an easy way out. You need to make time for rest now, because in this state, you’re at your least productive, and with every passing hour, things will only get worse.

And that’s your most dangerous enemy—the gray fog.

Living on a Volcano: My Year in Panic Mode

This was a truly terrible year—one after which I can no longer smile at the usual jokes about overtime, deadlines, and bugs in the code. A year that taught me to leave my laptop at the office instead of taking it home. A year after which I had to spend months recovering just to regain the desire to live and work again.

For those who haven’t experienced anything like this, it may seem laughable—like, "Oh, come on, you haven't seen real problems yet, haha." But trust me, I’ve seen a lot, and this will undoubtedly remain one of the worst memories of my life. It’s always better to learn from other people’s mistakes than to test them on yourself.

I know that many people start their workday at 10 or 11 a.m. with a cup of coffee, watching a new video from their favorite blogger or going for a morning run. My workday started at 5 a.m.—and not with a cup of cappuccino on lactose-free milk, but with a list of tasks that had to be completed by tomorrow and a pile of bug reports from QA testers. Time was critically scarce, so I had to stay up until midnight, and sometimes, there wasn’t even time for sleep. Coffee was the only thing keeping me afloat. Sometimes, I even had to work on weekends.

And I wasn’t the only one with this schedule—many of my colleagues were in the same boat. That’s how we pushed toward the release. The release was something I both eagerly awaited—because it meant this nightmare would finally end—and feared more than anything. Because, as experience shows, the last few days before and after a release are usually the worst.

And then, finally, release day arrived.

Some unfinished work and bugs had to be ignored—there was simply no more time, and the release had to happen today. To be honest, the day was pure chaos—everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong. We should have allocated more time for preparation, but once again, there was none. So, we had to work with what we had. I don’t think I’ve ever been as nervous as I was during that release—because there was no turning back. If something went wrong, it would be easier to fix all the issues that arose than to roll back the entire release.

After about 12 hours of deployment, we finally did it—the project went live. At first glance, it seemed like we had succeeded. But in reality, it was just the beginning. After all, what could be worse than bugs in a development environment?

Right—bugs in production.

We spent another two weeks fixing all the critical errors before we could finally breathe and get some much-needed sleep. But we were still left with a huge pile of technical debt, which we would have to deal with sooner or later—while simultaneously working on new features. And considering that the next project was already lined up, waiting for us to start, and we still had 2–3 weeks of technical debt to clean up, the team’s enthusiasm was at an all-time low.

You might think that this was simply the result of an unprofessional team, and that’s why everything turned out this way.

But no. I can honestly say that everyone who worked alongside me was a true professional. If it weren’t for their dedication and responsibility, this project never would have seen the light of day.

Survival Guide: How to Tame the Panic

Plan and Decompose Tasks Yourself

Always break down your tasks, no matter how simple they may seem at first glance. Complexity can often be hidden beneath what appears to be an easy task.

When you decompose tasks yourself, you can account for all the hidden nuances that a manager, client, or even another developer might overlook. This also gives you greater control over the development process and allows you to flag potential issues early.

Additionally, breaking down tasks independently helps you gain a deeper understanding of the work ahead and take full ownership of its execution—rather than simply following someone else’s, possibly suboptimal, plan.

Explain Why Rushing Will Lower Quality or Lead to Problems

Always clarify what problems rushing can cause, what risks it carries, and, most importantly, how and at what cost these consequences can be fixed. It’s crucial to document such risks in writing and ensure that all stakeholders are aware of them.

Remember: if management consciously chooses to simplify and rush development despite being fully aware of the risks and potential issues, you are not obligated to take responsibility for the consequences by working overtime to fix them. In such cases, it’s important to clearly define the scope of your responsibility and agree on a realistic action plan with everyone involved.

It’s also critical to choose compromises that do not affect code quality, because no one knows how many years—or even decades—you might have to work with this code and what problems it could cause in the future. And for taking this approach, your future self, your colleagues, and even management will thank you.

Make Time to "Clean Up" Old Code

If you spend 15 minutes every day searching for the right clothes in a messy closet, the solution isn’t to get faster at digging through the pile. It’s to take an hour, clean up, and organize everything once and for all.

The same applies to programming: if you’re constantly digging through messy code for hours instead of reading it easily—something needs to change. This should be openly discussed with your team and management, emphasizing the importance of refactoring and outlining the problems caused by poor-quality code—both the ones you’re facing now and those that could arise in the future.

That way, even if management rejects the idea of refactoring, at least they’ll understand why developing new functionality takes as long as it does.

Learn to Say "No"

Never accept a task without a clear understanding of deadlines and available resources. It’s crucial to be aware of how much time a task will require and what obstacles might arise along the way. This is especially true for high-priority and urgent tasks that need to be completed as quickly as possible.

If you try to explain the risks of rushing and the importance of high-quality code but no one listens—if all you hear is "It just needs to be done ASAP!"—then it’s better to say no upfront rather than being afraid to push back. Because the consequences could be far more painful for both you and your mental health.

Suggest Process Improvements

Every company has its own unique workflows. Even when a company follows SCRUM, it’s usually an adapted version of the methodology that best fits the specific needs of the business and its product.

But unfortunately, processes are rarely perfect, especially in young companies. That’s why it’s important to identify inefficiencies in existing workflows and not be afraid to speak up about them. If you see opportunities for improvement, don’t hesitate to suggest changes—clearly explaining how your proposals can help the team work more efficiently and avoid unnecessary stress.

However, remember that process changes don’t happen overnight. So even if not all of your ideas get accepted right away, keep the conversation going and demonstrate the value of improvements through action.

Finding the Way Out: What Panic Has Taught Me

The most important lesson I’ve learned is that work should stay at work. You must set clear boundaries for yourself—once your work hours are over, the laptop closes, the computer shuts down, and the job is done.

Then, your personal time begins—time that you can dedicate to anything but work. Otherwise, everything blends together, leaving you in a situation where neither your work gets done properly, nor do you get any real rest.

It’s also crucial to take analysis seriously. Your analysis should be as thorough as possible so that before you even start working on a task, you already know exactly what needs to be done, in what sequence, and what obstacles might arise.

And, of course, the most important factor—how much time it will take, both in the best-case scenario and, more importantly, in the worst-case scenario. Because things rarely go according to the most optimistic plan. More often than not, you’ll have to deal with every single possible problem—and then some.

And finally, you must learn to say "no"—because no one else will do it for you. If you can already see the disaster coming, and no one wants to listen because they’re hoping for a miracle, it’s better to push back immediately rather than getting dragged into a mess.

Fighting against Panic-Driven Development is not just about professional growth—it’s about protecting your mental health and overall quality of life.

It’s important to remember: real professionalism isn’t about working nonstop. It’s about the ability to plan effectively, uphold code quality, and maintain a healthy balance between work and life.

Only by doing this can you achieve long-term success without losing your love for what you do.