When uptime is sacred and the stakes are high, it’s easy for engineering teams to fall into a pattern of quick fixes, solving today’s issue while quietly creating tomorrow’s problem.

In early 2025, I joined a wholesale internet fiber provider in Iceland to build a new software team and architecture in a domain where reliability isn’t a goal, it’s oxygen. What I learned is that lasting stability doesn’t come from faster firefighting, it comes from shifting how we think about fixes.

In this talk, I’ll share how we helped engineers move from reactive patching to sustainable problem-solving, building habits that prioritize clarity, maintainability, and calm under pressure. You’ll hear what worked (and what didn’t) when changing the culture around “just fixing it,” introducing blameless reviews, and designing for the next release and the next year.

You’ll leave with real techniques to help your team make fixes that last, whether you’re managing infrastructure, leading developers, or keeping the internet available for the whole population.