Why Observability Matters

Overview

We’ve alluded to the notion that code in production is what’s important, but we want to say that explicitly right now: if our code is not in production, it creates a carrying cost with nothing to offset it, which is an unsustainable situation.

However, being responsible for code running in production is a much different proposition than writing code whose tests pass and that we can use in our development environment. Seeing our code actually solve real users’ problems and actually provide the value it’s meant to provide can be a sometimes harrowing learning experience about what it means to develop software. Of course, it’s also extremely rewarding.

That’s what this section of the course is about. Well, it’s really a paltry overview of a deep topic, but it should give us some areas to think about and dig deeper, along with a few basic tips for getting started.