"Expert judgment is shaped by the failures it has survived.
Pressure does something predictable: it narrows attention. In a hotfix request that bypasses the normal path, that narrowing turns into a demand for certainty you cannot honestly provide.
When the decision stays implicit, the system still commits—by drift, escalation, or whoever speaks last. You see it in bad news delayed because it sounds like incompetence, where the first clear call happens after the cost has already been paid. A clean stop line prevents optimism from keeping a failing bet alive long after the evidence turns. The system learns from what you allow under pressure, not from what you say you value in calm weeks.
Name the signal that ends the attempt and the action you will take when it appears. That is how you stay decisive without pretending to be certain. Write it so execution is obvious.