060 — Andy Barrick: Observability for Salesforce, your secret weapon to stop firefighting!

How much has DevOps really changed since the AI boom? Are you truly observing your Salesforce org, or just reacting to fires? When do you pay down technical debt versus pushing for the next big feature?

If you're asking these questions, you're not alone. Host Jack McCurdy is joined by DevOps expert Andy Barrick to tackle the tough challenges facing teams today. This practical conversation covers the evolution of the field since 2022, providing actionable advice on implementing proactive observability, managing risk, and making incremental changes that deliver massive impact.

Learn more:
Read the observability whitepaper: https://grst.co/4lFfxmm
How Salesforce teams execute observability for Salesforce: https://grst.co/3GXddrU
See Flow and Apex Error Monitoring in action: https://grst.co/3IF5Eqq

About DevOps Diaries: 
Salesforce DevOps Advocate Jack McCurdy chats to members of the Salesforce community about their experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. Expect to hear and learn from inspirational stories of personal growth and business success, whilst discovering all the trials, tribulations, and joy that comes with delivering Salesforce for companies of all shapes and sizes. New episodes bi-weekly on YouTube as well as on your preferred podcast platform.

Podcast produced and sponsored by Gearset. Learn more about Gearset: https://grst.co/4iCnas2

Subscribe to Gearset's YouTube channel: https://grst.co/4cTAAxm
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gearset
X/Twitter: https://x.com/GearsetHQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gearsethq

About Gearset: 
Gearset is the leading Salesforce DevOps platform, with powerful solutions for metadata and CPQ deployments, CI/CD, automated testing, sandbox seeding and backups. It helps Salesforce teams apply DevOps best practices to their development and release process, so they can rapidly and securely deliver higher-quality projects. Get full access to all of Gearset's features for free with a 30-day trial: https://grst.co/4iKysKW

Chapters:
00:00 The Evolution of DevOps Since 2022
02:35 The Role of AI in Automation
05:21 Testing Fundamentals in DevOps
08:29 Understanding Observability in Salesforce
11:05 Reactive vs Proactive Observability
14:03 The Importance of Proactive Monitoring
16:29 Implementing Observability in DevOps
19:41 Starting Your Observability Journey
22:14 Balancing Refactoring and New Initiatives
24:56 Risk Management and Observability
27:48 Final Thoughts on Observability