If it doesn't fit, buy a bigger hammer.
When in doubt, use brute force. - Ken Pittman
There's also:
When all else fails, use brute force. When brute force fails, you aren't using enough.
Or:
If it doesn't work, force it. If it breaks, then it obviously needed to be replaced anyway.
I once saw this in someone else's code:
//Kludge it till it works...Grrrrr!
referring to the next section of code below. Sometimes when stuck, nothing else works and you just need a SpikeSolution, this mindset can at least get a first draft, which can be ReFactored later. Not that I am advocating kludges or lack of planning. But after trying all other DecisionRoutinesWhenStuck, KludgeItTillItWorks helps to start tame the problem. Just DoSomeThing instead of getting trapped by AnalysisParalysis.
I know the feeling. It is one of fighting a battle in a war that has already been lost.
It worked for biology, assuming you have a lot of patience. (GodIsQuickerThanEvolution)
I once contracted on a system where they tested against testing/staging sub-systems and production sub-systems in odd unpredictable phases. I couldn't predict what production part and test part they'd match up on any day, and they wanted it to self-detect its production state based on the ever-changing environment it was in, so the code I added eventually looked something like:
// section X
If <criteria> then // adjust criteria accordingly
x = production_version_of_this_section()
else
x = testing_version_of_this_section()
end if
...
// section Y
If <criteria> then // adjust criteria accordingly
y = production_version_of_this_section(x)
else
y = testing_version_of_this_section(x)
end if
...
// section Z
If <criteria> then // adjust criteria accordingly
z = production_version_of_this_section(y)
else
z = testing_version_of_this_section(y)
end if
...
// section etc..
I feel sorry for the poor maintainer hired after I left. I felt bad about leaving such a mess, but did my best per circumstance. I would have lobbied for formal config flags, but the person I would be lobbying to had recently quit, and non-technical managers were all that were left.