One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that ensures that progress is made in an environment that supports execution of obstruction-free operations. During execution, when a process pi invokes an operation, the system checks a panic flag, which indicates whether a progress-ensuring mechanism is to be activated. If the panic flag is set, the progress-ensuring mechanism is activated, which causes the system to attempt to perform the operation by coordinating actions between processes to ensure that progress is made in spite of contention between the processes. On the other hand, if the panic flag is not set, the system attempts to perform the operation essentially as if the progress-ensuring mechanism were not present. In this case, if there is an indication that contention between processes is impeding progress, the system sets the panic flag, which causes the progress-ensuring mechanism to be activated so that processes will coordinate their actions to ensure that progress is made.