The very similar "stepped in it" definitely has the same connotation in English.

But it needs the "it". "step in" alone or in any context where "it" isn't a mystery doesn't do it.

"step into the function" or "step into the hallway" doesn't do it even slightly.

The opposite even. In the case of "step into the hallway" where "step" does actually refer to literally using ones feet, saying step is a bit more sophisticated option for something like walk or go, invoking a sense of dancing vs merely relocating. So the "step in" is actually more elegant and tasteful.

Stepping into into or through a function doesn't invoke any dancing, merely the non-continuous, non-analog nature of the process.

But "here's where we stepped in it" has exactly the image and meaning he means.

Perhaps there is some other word in Russian that would do a better job of expressing something that proceeds in hard jumps? Maybe "step" was always just a too-literal translation from English or other languages because there is obviously a Russian word for "step"?

Is the 90-degree shape of stair called a step in Russian? Were instructions called steps in Russian before the western world put our own words for computer stuff into everyone else's languages overnight? Would a 400 year old document describe the recipe for a soup as a set of steps? In that case "step" was not merely a too-literal translation.

"I stepped into a management role. Then I had to scrape it off my shoes."