How can you standardize debugging processes in a team?

The best approach is to use TDD, in which case you don't need to debug. What you're doing in a debugger is writing ad-hoc tests. Everything you do in the debugger can be turned into an actual test. The presence of a bug is really the absence of a test. Write those tests first, before you write the code. Write the minimal implementation—exactly enough code to get the test to pass. If the code needs more capability, add another test before you modify it. If you do that and still have bugs, write more tests to pinpoint the bug.

In my opinion debugging is more about building the knowledge about the tools and systems we have and creating great run-books which always work. 1. Create a single place where the metrics go. 2. Create a single place where logs go. 3. Create all the alerts and dashboards organised in one place with proper categorisation and hierarchy. 4. Add details to the alerts, like dashboards, log queries and runbooks. 5. Standardise access management for team, so people have access to resolve the issue. 6. Shadowing on call people can also help in general communication skills required to resolve the issue, all instructions should always be in the runbook.

To define common goals and expectation, one of the key step is to agree on which tools to be used. This mean that you have to find a good logger, debugger and alert system.

Debugging should always start with the "3 Pillars of Observability" - Metrics, Traces, and Logs. You make sure that at the very least, you have something that can show you the problem, the extent of the problem, and how it happened. This is true universally for all platforms and forms the backbone of Monitors and Alerts. Next, your CI/CD should have Unit Testing automated and Test Cases/Smoke Testing/Dev Test submission for any work as completed. This allows you to trace to when, where, and how something broke as well as avoiding issues in the first place. Treat your work as a team and organization, not the role you play in it getting done. It will change the way you operate and how the team takes accountability collectively.

One way to achieve this for a new team is by constant brainstorming and coming up with effective causes and solutions to most situations occuring frequently. Coming up up with a common set of goals and expectations should be an outcome that should still be living out of learnings that keep happening. These should never stay constant in an ever changing world.

In our team, we make debugging smoother by sticking to a consistent coding style and conventions. This means everyone follows the same rules for how code looks and is named, making it easier to understand and fix issues in each other's work. By enforcing these practices, we boost teamwork, cut down on debugging time, and keep our codebase neat and organized. Regular code reviews and documentation help everyone understand our debugging methods, creating a more efficient and collaborative development environment.

Don't write in a guideline what you can provide in a template. For some workflows (e.g. AI model development), there is a set of steps that almost everyone will probably need to follow during their development process - templates are excellent for those workflows.

To enhance debugging processes within a team, the adoption of a consistent coding style emerges as a pivotal step. This involves adhering to unified rules and conventions for code writing, fostering readability, and understanding, and simplifying the troubleshooting process. In my workflow, emphasis is placed on coding patterns, clarity through comments, and adherence to a robust architectural framework. Regular code reviews are integral to maintaining high standards. Distinct testing and debugging environments are maintained, and meticulous documentation, coupled with Git patterns, ensures an organized and efficient codebase. Teams can fortify their coding endeavors, ensuring a streamlined and productive development process

Adopting a consistent coding style is key to standardizing debugging processes. Using a style guide, linter, or code formatter ensures adherence to best practices, reducing syntax errors and enhancing readability. For example, in my experience, this has greatly improved code maintainability. While I agree with the importance of these practices, ongoing team discussions are crucial for refining the coding style based on evolving project needs.

Using standard linters like Eslint and other codestyle conventions while annoying due to certain decisions taken by authors of said coding style are key to ensuring easy and readable code. Style tooling also ensures that null or undefined dependencies are not baked into the codebase

Most of the popular version control systems like Github, Bitbucket, etc. can be integrated with bug-tracking systems like Jira, Asana, etc. This helps in the effective tracking of the bugs as the bug-fix PRs are automatically tagged with the issue in the bug tracker.

Use a version control system (VCS) to track code changes and pinpoint regressions. Integrate it with your bug tracker for seamless version association with reported issues. Leverage a centralized bug tracker to document, assign, and prioritize bugs. Clear labels, categories, and searchable fields aid efficient issue management and resolution.

Proper use of Version Control System eg. Git is one of the most important and effective ways to track where your code went wrong and for which feature. We should have 2-3 branches eg. Dev, Qa and Prod and rest all should be feature branches. If there is any bug in your dev environment one can easily trace back the feature which introduced the bug and can correct the mistakes made. Properly integrating VCS with your tracking application can ease the job of bug tracking, severity mapping and labelling much easier.

I've found using git easier to track back causes of an issue whenever it occurs. By reverting back to working code you can easily pin point the exact issue.

My personal opinion, based on my experience: 1- For small projects, just GitHub alone, with its integrated project, issues, and so on. 2- For bigger projects with more team members involved, add Jira to the combo.

By introducing a common code editor and linter the first step of standardization of code formatting, readability and compatibility would be ensured. There are various debugging tools, one major player can be your code editor which can help you in debugging, introducing breakpoints, and code analysis. For logging there are various libraries one can use eg. For python there is loguru and Structlog. One major Highlight to have a good quality code is to follow TDD, Test Driven Development. Even before starting to write the code write the in-depth low-level documentation for the same inculcating all the possible test cases, pre conditions and expected outcome in a specific scenario. It is highly useful in writing robust and bug free code.

Selecting the right and techniques are one of the key points in the debugging process, impacting TAT. One may spend hours together scratching his head in frustration, if a robust logging mechanism is not in place. - Identity problem areas/blocks where extensive logs are needed - Add descriptive, insightful and crisp messages, rather than simple print statements - Log input/output parameters to APIs, as and when needed - Utilize/create dashboards, breaking an application into microservices to track, categorize and group errors - Add sequential logs, making it easier to identify what line of code is failing - Ensure logs have timestamps added to them - Introduce logs at the proper level - debug/info/error/critical

Effective logging and exception handling with clear error messages are the important pillars of debugging. This really helps when there are issues in the production environment. The logging levels and the error codes to be used can be documented so that the development and quality assurance team are well aware of it. Strict code reviews are needed to ensure that the above set conventions are implemented while developing the code. Apart from this, the modern IDEs help in debugging the code locally and also remotely by using breakpoints and inspection tools.

If the team is diverse in terms of knowledge and experience, it may be necessary for each team member to use the tools they are most comfortable with. One requirement is that the results and processes employed by one team member should be understandable by others. Even when different tools are used, reporting should be standardized.

Select tools and methods that suit the technologies and languages used in your project. For example, use integrated development environments (IDEs), debuggers, and profiling tools. Familiarity with these tools helps developers identify, isolate, and resolve issues efficiently.

A few ways to achieve this, 1. Expose debug apis which would capture and return all the downstream calls request & response, db output and print logs at debug level. Additionally, it could also send flags to downstream apis for them to also enable debug flows. This would help in debugging a request end to end. 2. If cost permits, enable opentelemetry like tools for better observability. 3. For each repo, make sure the owners maintain the readme file which should have all details on how to bring up the system for local debugging. 4. Avoid bugs, integrate quality gate tools in CI pipelines to detect code smells during development process itself. Enforce a strict code review culture in the team.

To enable debugging we also need to have: 1. Standardisation of the defect logging process to include reproduction steps, configuration and source files, and escalate time sensitive issues (things that may change over time/get deleted or won't be reproducible) 2. Common issue/Troubleshooting documentation 3. Knowledge sharing and mentorship during investigations

Once you are in a debugging mode, prioritize what needs to be done first. This may mean having everyone brainstorm a major problem, or having people go after smaller issues that will bring the code up to an operational standard, before tackling bigger issues. Code is never 100 percent. Draw the line at what percent is acceptable and debug to that first, based on your timeline, and then refine.

For me, test driven development has been very successful. Defining the test specs before the implementation, and automating the execution of them is a very good start.

Regularly analyze past debugging processes to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. Encourage open feedback and suggestions from all team members. Don't be afraid to try new debugging tools, techniques, and workflows. Experimentation and adaptation are key to staying ahead of evolving codebases and complex issues.

For improving the debugging process, I think using ITIL system we should open a task for the dev or support team to do the following things: 1. Knowledge transfer for how the issue was identified which can be done either weekly or bi-weekly. 2. Creating knowledge base/SOP which contains steps for anyone to review so that the team members can identify new issues by understanding and creating a correlation of the issues that they have already encountered in the past.

For efficient debugging procedures, use version control, build testable code, embrace logging, make use of debugging tools, perform code reviews, and keep documentation.

Since all developers have different experiences and understanding, constantly reviewing and improving the debugging process is important especially when a new member joins the team or a team member finds out a better way to go about debugging. Reviewing the process will also ensure the alignment of all team members and clear doubts for those who may be abit confused or new to the system.

In our team's journey towards standardizing debugging, the sixth and final step is a continuous cycle of review and improvement. Regular evaluations gauge the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of our debugging processes, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas for enhancement. Crucially, we actively seek feedback from stakeholders—users, clients, and managers—incorporating their insights to adapt our processes. This iterative approach ensures alignment with project goals and expectations. It propels our team into a perpetual state of learning and growth, fostering an environment where we consistently evolve as programmers.

Since all developers have different experiences and understanding, constantly reviewing and improving the debugging process is important especially when a new member joins the team or a team member finds out a better way to go about debugging. Reviewing the process will also ensure the alignment of all team members and clear doubts for those who may be abit confused or new to the system.

Try to pair people to debug together sometimes. Tips and tricks can be shared, good practices can be developed. Younger teammates can learn from experienced teammates. An extra pair of eyes can always help.

It will be helpful to build software that never needs a debugger attached to find out why something is not working. The software should instead be observable. The logs should be clear, standard metrics such as success rate and latency of different operations should be exposed, and even better, code should be adequately instrumented. While debugging, the traces from a well-instrumented code will show, for example, how long a database operation took, if it was successful at all, what line was making an API call, the call stack, etc. When done properly, even non-team members should be able to hop in and find a bug quickly.

Documenting code with comments, doc strings and other practices will ensure that debugging is always more efficient! Plus, if you plan before you code, you often end up handling more edge cases and grey areas, which lead to lesser bugs. Lastly, a change in environment is the best strategy to debug, whether it’s a cat nap, a walk outdoors or just dancing it off! Works like magic! :)

Clear documentation of the code setup to be followed by everyone, so that it will easy for debugging, also creating proper unit test cases scenarios also help us to debug the code without calling abstracted interfaces by mocking

In my experience, at least 80% of the errors seen by a new member (for that matter even an experienced member on a new change) will be the one already seen / debugged / fixed in the past. Hence, it is important to a have proper documentation on the possible errors and the methodology to be used for debugging them. No KT to a fresher can match the well properly maintained documentation. The main mis conception is people asume documentation is a one-time process and they do not update them timely, which makes it ineffective. So, to summarize 1. Have a well-maintained documentation on the frequent errors. 2. Update the documentation in right intervals. 3. Clearly mention whom to contact when.