firefighting

firefighting
 n.

   1. What sysadmins have to do to correct sudden operational problems.
   An opposite of hacking. "Been hacking your new newsreader?" "No, a
   power glitch hosed the network and I spent the whole afternoon
   fighting fires."

   2. The act of throwing lots of manpower and late nights at a project,
   esp. to get it out before deadline. See also {gang bang}, {Mongolian
   Hordes technique}; however, the term firefighting connotes that the
   effort is going into chasing bugs rather than adding features.
    

firefighting

   1. What sysadmins have to do to correct sudden operational
   problems.  An opposite of hacking.  "Been hacking your new
   newsreader?"  "No, a power glitch hosed the network and I
   spent the whole afternoon fighting fires."

   2. The act of throwing lots of manpower and late nights at a
   project, especially to get it out before deadline.  See also
   {gang bang}, {Mongolian Hordes technique}; however, the term
   "firefighting" connotes that the effort is going into chasing
   bugs rather than adding features.

   (1994-12-01)