[profmonocle]

> priority is not just high, it is critical, communicating this is lost at each layer

This was my exact thought. Why did a "fast tracked" ticket spend two days in a queue? Why did the requests to IT not also get set to urgent priority? (An IT request that blocks an urgent code change should itself be considered urgent.)

Most bizarrely to me, why the hell did they not defer updating the code to meet newer company policies? For the hardcoded variable thing, I would've said "ok, just change the value now, then create a separate, non-urgent ticket to bring that code up to our current standards."

It's sounds like their bureaucracy isn't equipped to deal with fast-tracked changes. The worrying part that management fed a critical issue into that bureaucracy and didn't prod it along until they noticed the delays. They may not fully appreciate how complex and full of roadblocks their process has become.