"Good judgment is knowing which problems not to solve.
In a hotfix request that bypasses the normal path, the facts arrive out of order and everyone wants the next step to feel obvious. The fork is real even if nobody names it.
Under pressure, vague plans become brittle plans. The cost shows up later as rework and quiet blame, because no one can point to the chosen tradeoff. Name what you are refusing to optimize, so future changes do not quietly destroy the property you thought you were protecting. If you cannot describe the boundary simply, the boundary will not survive escalation and reorgs.
Defer deliberately: name the deferred item and the trigger that makes it urgent again. That is what makes execution calmer. Make it falsifiable.