Working under pressure is an inevitable part of life. Even in the best run company, pressure will be on you at some point. It could come from deadlines, customer issues or even your personal life. It'll just happen. Sorry.

However, working under pressure is hard, and I've picked up some skills in doing so over the years and I would like to share them with you today.

Don't Rush

The common trap we fall into when working under pressure is to speed up. But too often we speed up too much and get into rushing territory. Working faster under pressure is important, crucial even, but working faster than you can to deliver with standards is a terrible, terrible idea.

So slow down, take a breath, try to keep calm and keep level-headed. This takes discipline, dedication and practice. Every time I find myself rushing, I take a break to reset and break the cycle.

Be Data Driven

The next trap I see folks fall into when troubleshooting under pressure, such as during an outage is they ignore the clues that are trying to help them. They'll not read error messages properly, they'll skip straight to previous solutions, such as restarting a database unnecessarily when that component is unrelated to the issue. This just wastes time and proves nothing. Work logically through the system that is being debugged. You can read more in my blog post about how to troubleshoot any problem here. In a recent issue, I rushed to restart a VM assuming that the ol' 'turn it off and on again' would fix it, but alas it did not, and it didn't really help. Of course, the service logs had the real problem.

Learn New Things

Another thing people tend to do is think to themselves, "I only have my current skills to do this job; I don’t have time to learn something new." This might seem true at first glance, but it’s not—especially today. With tools like LLMs and GPTs, it’s never been easier to get a quick lesson on something unfamiliar. By learning more, you gain a new perspective on the problem, which may unlock the solution.

Recently, I faced an issue that required me to brush up on Kafka—a technology I hadn’t touched in a while. With the help of an LLM, I quickly rebuilt my mental model, learned a few key CLI commands, and applied them to troubleshoot the issue and I could rule out lagging consumers and misconfigured topic partitions. That new perspective was exactly what I needed to move forward.

Go Down a Level

As part of troubleshooting under pressure, a rushing person often sticks to the surface or around the edges, avoiding a deeper dive into logs or databases. I’ve done this myself—hoping the answer would be on the surface and avoiding the effort of looking under the hood. But when the surface doesn’t yield answers, diving deeper is essential.

In both the examples I’ve shared, the real solutions came from going beyond surface-level symptoms. The earlier I realize this, the faster I can solve the problem—and the better prepared I’ll be for similar challenges in the future.

While diving deeper into technical details often reveals the solution, your team’s communication and collaboration under pressure are just as important.

Stay Humble and Honest

When the pressure is on, it’s easy to panic and feel like you need to have all the answers. But trying to bluff your way through a situation, especially when you don’t fully understand it, can waste valuable time and frustrate your team.

I’ve worked with people who, while well-meaning, clearly didn’t understand the terminology or concepts they were using. Their intention was to help, but their lack of clarity made it harder to get to the root of the issue.

Instead, it’s far more effective to be humble and honest. Say things like, “I’m not too sure what I’m asking here, but…” or “I’ve been told we need this; I’m not sure what it means, but I’m hoping it makes sense to you.” These statements don’t just save time—they also build trust. Your team will appreciate your authenticity and willingness to collaborate, even under pressure.

Being honest about what you don’t know takes courage, but it allows everyone to focus on solving the problem instead of untangling assumptions. When you stay humble, you create an environment where the team can work together more effectively.

Slow Down to Speed Up

Working under pressure is inevitable, but it doesn't have to hinder your performance. By slowing down, you allow yourself to think more clearly and make better decisions. Stay data-driven by paying attention to the clues and information at hand. Embrace learning new things—even under tight deadlines—as it can provide fresh perspectives and solutions. Don’t hesitate to delve deeper into the issues rather than skimming the surface.

Just as importantly, stay humble and honest. When you admit what you don’t know and ask for help, you foster trust and collaboration, making it easier to solve problems effectively. Pretending to know something you don’t wastes time and energy—yours and your team’s. Instead, focus on clear communication and authenticity, even when the pressure is on.

Remember, the key is to slow down to speed up. When you take the time to approach problems methodically, you often find more efficient paths to your goals. So next time you feel the pressure mounting, take a breath, stay calm, and apply these strategies to turn stress into success. By doing so, you not only become more effective under pressure but also build trust, resilience, and confidence in yourself and your team. And above all, don’t be the person who says, “I don’t have time to go faster.”