How much of programming/IT is tiptoeing through a minefield of broken shit hoping you can remember enough edge cases from your experience that you can avoid sna

How much of programming/IT is tiptoeing through a minefield of broken shit hoping you can remember enough edge cases from your experience that you can avoid snagging on an issue which arrests your progress for large stretches of time? And how much of vaunted 10x productivity is being able to have a clear path to get up to speed and stay at speed, without such snags anywhere nearby? And how much of company problems are related to many employees being stuck in tarpits like these (and similar businessy ones)?