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ENGINEERING · CRISIS RESPONSE

Software project rescue and crisis response

Software project rescue is senior engineering help when software is in trouble: an outage, a failed release, a stalled build or a vendor who vanished. We stabilize the system first, then fix the cause, at any company size.

Production down? Get helpBook a 20-minute call (opens Google Calendar in a new tab)
Led by Thanos GkanasCo-Founder, engineering

The drawing shows an error spike after a deploy and, under it, a trace of one request stuck waiting for a database connection because earlier ones were never released.

When production is down or the people who built your software are gone, you need an emergency software developer who works on the system first and the paperwork later. We contain the damage, restore service, find the root cause and leave you with a plan so the same failure does not come back. Crisis response is part of our custom software development for startups, and we stay until things are stable.

01SOUND FAMILIAR?

Signs you need software project rescue

A crisis is anything hurting customers or the business right now that your team cannot resolve alone.

  • SYMPTOM 01

    Checkout has been failing since this morning's release

    Usually means: A change shipped without a tested way back, and nobody is sure which part broke.

  • SYMPTOM 02

    Our developer stopped answering and we cannot deploy

    Usually means: The keys, accounts and knowledge sit with one person, and the handover never happened.

  • SYMPTOM 03

    The agency says it is nearly done, every month

    Usually means: Scope, quality or both have drifted, and no one outside the agency has read the code.

  • SYMPTOM 04

    The app crashes whenever traffic spikes

    Usually means: A shared resource, often the database or its connection pool, runs out under load.

  • SYMPTOM 05

    We think someone got into our systems

    Usually means: Contain first: rotate credentials, close the gap and keep the evidence, then work out what was touched.

  • SYMPTOM 06

    Every fix seems to break something else

    Usually means: The critical paths have no tests, so each patch is a guess.

Led by Thanos GkanasCo-Founder, engineering

If production is down right now, use the urgent path and tell us what broke and what changed last.

Production down? Get help

02WHAT WE DO

What a software project rescue includes

Every rescue follows the same order: stop the damage, fix the cause, then hand over a system your team can trust.

  • Production incident response

    We join your incident channel, take the technical lead and keep one written log of what we see, try and decide. The first goal is to stop the damage: roll back, switch off the failing feature or add capacity, whichever restores service with the least risk.

  • Root cause analysis and the real fix

    Once service is back, we trace the failure to its cause in the code, the data or the infrastructure. Then we fix that cause properly and add the test or alert that would have caught it.

  • Codebase takeover when a developer or agency is gone

    We recover access to the repository, hosting, domains and third-party accounts, and move them into accounts you own. Then we get the code building and deploying again, read how it works and write that down.

  • Stalled project recovery

    For a project that is late and over budget, we review what exists, what works and what is left. You get an honest estimate, a smaller plan that can ship and a clear call on what to keep, fix or drop.

  • Security incident containment

    If you suspect a breach, we rotate credentials, close the gap, preserve the logs and check what data was reachable. We keep what is confirmed apart from what is suspected, so your decisions rest on facts. Compromised dependencies are a common entry point; see npm supply chain attacks in 2026: what startup teams should change.

  • Postmortem and handover

    Every rescue ends with a short written postmortem: what happened, why, what we changed and what to watch. Your team gets the runbook, the access list and a ranked list of the risks that remain.

  1. T0 alertcheckout returning errors
  2. T1 triagelogs, traces, last deploy
  3. T2 mitigateroll back the last deploy
  4. T3 root causepool connection not released
  5. T4 patchedfix shipped, postmortem scheduled
Illustration of an incident, from the first alert to the postmortem

03IN BRIEF

When a project needs rescuing

Software project rescue is for any situation where your software, or the project building it, has stopped moving and the normal team cannot recover it alone. That includes outages and failed releases, a developer or agency who has disappeared, a build that is months late, and suspected security incidents.

It also covers the quieter cases: a release that keeps failing, a launch date that has moved three times, or code that nobody left on the team can change safely. A simple test helps. If customers or revenue are hurting now, and nobody on the team can say when it will stop, it is time to bring in outside help. If the trouble is slow rather than sudden, an audit may be enough. If the app was built with AI tools and the code itself is the problem, a vibe code audit after the rescue finds what has not surfaced yet.

How production incident response works with a small team

With a small team, production incident response works best when one person leads the technical work, one person talks to customers and everyone else fixes. We take the technical lead so your founders can handle customers, investors and staff. We open one channel and one written timeline, so nobody repeats a test or loses a finding, and each decision is logged with its reason for the review later. We choose the safest move that restores service, such as a rollback or a feature switch, over a clever fix under pressure. Once things are stable, we slow down and do the root-cause work properly. If the failure points to how you deploy and monitor, a DevOps consultant can set up the pipeline, alerts and rollback path that make the next incident shorter and calmer.

04STEP BY STEP

How a rescue runs

  1. 01

    Audit

    Triage. We get access, read the logs, traces and recent changes, and agree with you on the safest way to restore service. You get a written status of what is known and what is not.

  2. 02

    Build

    Stabilize and fix. We restore service, then trace the failure to its root cause and fix it with a test or an alert. Every change is small, reviewed and reversible.

  3. 03

    Ship

    Hand over. We write the postmortem and the runbook, move every account into your name and agree what your team, or ours, does next.

05ENGAGEMENT OPTIONS

Ways to get rescue help

  • Incident advice

    A senior second opinion while your own people work the problem.

    You get

    • Live review of logs, traces and recent changes
    • A clear next step at each decision
    • A short written summary

    Typical shape

    Thanos and your on-call person, one or more working sessions

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Hands-on rescue

    We take the technical lead until the system is stable and the cause is fixed.

    You get

    • Incident lead and a written timeline
    • Root-cause fix with tests or alerts
    • Postmortem and runbook
    • Accounts moved into your name

    Typical shape

    Thanos leads, from the first day until stable

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

  • Stabilization period

    A senior engineer stays on after the incident to clear the remaining risks.

    You get

    • A ranked list of remaining risks
    • Fixes for the top items
    • Monitoring and on-call set up for your team

    Typical shape

    Reviewed weekly, for as long as you need

    Quoted after a short call

    Ask for a quote

06WHO IT IS FOR

Who crisis response is for

  • Founders whose product is down

    Customers are affected now, and you need senior hands on the system, not advice by email.

  • Teams left without their developer

    A freelancer, agency or early engineer has gone, and someone has to take over the code and the accounts.

  • Projects that keep slipping

    Deadlines have moved more than once, and you want an outside view of what is real and what can ship.

Thanos Gkanas

07LED BY

Who leads the rescue

Thanos Gkanas leads engineering at BrainStormers and takes the technical lead on every rescue. He keeps the written timeline, makes the rollback calls and writes the postmortem with you.

The first job in an incident is to stop the damage. The second is to write down why it happened, before anyone forgets.

Thanos GkanasCO-FOUNDER · ENGINEERING
Thanos Gkanas
Co-Founder & Head of Engineering
Thanos's profileLinkedIn

08

Related engineering services

Once the system is stable, a software code audit finds the problems that have not failed yet. If you need help on the product side too, our software product development services cover product and engineering in one plan.

  • AI code fixes

    Senior review and repair for apps built with AI coding tools: security, data and scale problems found, ranked and fixed.

    Thanos

  • Code audit

    An independent source code audit of security, architecture, tests and delivery risk, written up as a ranked fix list.

    Thanos

  • DevOps consulting

    CI/CD, infrastructure as code, monitoring and on-call that a small team can run, set up with your developers.

    Thanos

  • Product and engineering

    When the fire is out, plan what comes next with both founders.

    Roger and Thanos

09INSIGHTS

Engineering guides from Thanos

Thanos also writes our startup security alerts, which track the issues worth acting on. To see where your own app is most exposed, run the AI-built app risk check.

  • AI CODE FIXINGGUIDE

    How to measure and reduce technical debt

    How to measure technical debt, the types that hurt startups most, and a step-by-step way to reduce technical debt while you keep shipping features.

    Thanos Gkanas

  • AI CODE FIXINGGUIDE

    Is vibe coding bad? What breaks when AI-written code reaches users

    Vibe coding is fast until real users arrive. What breaks when AI-written code ships, which apps are fine to build this way and the checks that catch problems early.

    Thanos Gkanas

  • STARTUP ENGINEERINGGUIDE

    The MVP development process, step by step

    The MVP development process in six steps, from the riskiest assumption to a launch decision, with MVP testing methods and minimum viable product examples.

    Thanos Gkanas

  • AI code risk check

    Ten questions that show where an AI-built app is most likely to break: security, data, payments or operations.

    10 QUESTIONS · ABOUT 2 MIN

10FAQ

Software project rescue questions

What counts as a software crisis?

A software crisis is any problem that is hurting customers or the business now and that your team cannot resolve alone. Typical cases are a production outage, a failed release that cannot be rolled back or a suspected breach. A developer or agency who has disappeared counts too, and so does a project that keeps missing its dates.

What happens in the first day of a rescue?

We get access, read the logs, traces and recent changes, and agree with you on the safest way to restore service. Then we act on it, often by rolling back, switching off the failing part or adding capacity. You also get a written status: what is known, what is fixed and what comes next.

Our developer or agency disappeared. Can you take over the codebase?

Yes. We start by recovering access to the code, hosting, domains and third-party services, and moving them into accounts you own. Then we get the project building and deploying again, read through how it works and write that down. You end up with a working setup and a list of risks, whoever builds next.

Can you rescue a project that is behind schedule and over budget?

Yes, if there is a working core to build on. We review what exists, test what works and estimate what is really left. Then we propose a smaller plan that can ship, with a clear call on what to keep, fix or drop. If part of it should be restarted, we say so and explain why.

Do you fix the root cause or only stop the outage?

Both, in that order. Stopping the damage comes first, because customers feel every minute of an outage. Once service is stable, we trace the failure to its cause, fix it properly and add a test or an alert that would catch it next time. The written postmortem records both steps, so your team can check the reasoning.

What access do you need to start?

To start, we need read access to the code repository, the hosting or cloud console, the logs and monitoring, and the error tracker if you have one. For the fix itself, we need permission to deploy, or someone on your side who can. We use named accounts, never shared passwords, and you remove our access when we finish.

Will you work with our existing on-call people?

Yes. Your on-call people know the system's history, and we want them involved. We can take the technical lead and the written log while they run the checks and changes they know best. Afterwards they get the runbook and the postmortem, so the next incident starts from a better place.

Led by Thanos GkanasCo-Founder, engineering

Talk to Thanos about crisis response

Urgent requests jump the queue

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NEXT STEP

Stabilize it first

Tell us what is broken and what changed recently. We start with the safest way to restore service.

You’ll talk to Thanos

Production down? Get helpBook a 20-minute call (opens Google Calendar in a new tab)