October 2015 Summaries

Salesforce deployments can be cumbersome and error-prone, requiring manual steps that often lead to incomplete changesets or configuration issues. At PagerDuty, an in-house deployment system named Igor, controlled via a Slack bot called OfficerURL, simplifies this process by allowing Salesforce code to be deployed with a single command. This system leverages the tooling-force.com command line application to automate deployments, ensuring that Salesforce copies match the local working directory by removing obsolete components. The integration of version control and automated deployment scripts enhances efficiency and reduces the likelihood of errors, with success notifications and logs provided for each deployment. The setup involves specifying the target environment and using a properties file to manage different deployment scenarios, resulting in a streamlined workflow that mitigates common deployment challenges.

PagerDuty recently hosted a customer event in London, gathering thirty participants to discuss current trends in Operations, the importance of being Operationally Mature, and the adoption of DevOps to enhance business value. Key speakers included Rich Archbold from Intercom and Kit Reynolds from Trainline, who shared their experiences transitioning to more efficient operational models with the help of PagerDuty. They emphasized the significance of metrics that matter, addressing on-call burnout, and the benefits of a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to manage complex IT systems. The event highlighted the growing importance of DevOps, the need for end-to-end ownership to accelerate market speed, and the role of collaboration and specialized tools in achieving agile IT operations. PagerDuty underscored its commitment to improving uptime and engineers' quality of life by engaging with customers globally to refine their product offerings.

Creating a data-driven culture involves fostering an environment where every team member quantifies their actions, critically assesses their impact on the business, and is empowered to make decisions based on accessible data. This transformation can be achieved by ensuring everyone has access to data through dashboards or other visualization tools and by conducting training to help them extract insights. Encouraging team members to act on their conclusions and supporting actions with statistical evidence is crucial, as is relating data to specific business goals and making it actionable. Integrating analytics into everyday tools helps maintain a connection to key metrics and fosters transparency and continuous feedback, which are essential for tracking progress and driving business success.

Dead Man’s Snitch is a monitoring service designed to alert users when scheduled tasks, such as cron jobs or periodic backups, fail to execute as expected, thereby preventing silent failures. The service is easy to set up, requiring only a few seconds to create a job-specific alert, known as a "Snitch," which is triggered each time a job runs by pinging a unique endpoint. If the Snitch fails to check in within a predetermined time frame, alerts are sent via email, push notifications, or as a PagerDuty incident, ensuring immediate awareness for on-call teams. Integration with services like PagerDuty is straightforward, enhancing the reliability of monitoring systems. Dead Man’s Snitch also supports REST API, email check-ins, and Slack integration, providing flexibility and mobile updates through a free iPhone app. Developed by Collective Idea, this tool is particularly valued for maintaining confidence in system monitoring by ensuring any quiet periods are for legitimate reasons.

PagerDuty held a contest to create a new on-call alert sound, receiving entries from September 21 to October 2 and allowing participants to vote both online and at AWS re:Invent. The winning entry, created by Taavi Burns, a software developer at PagerDuty who is also a musician, features an alert that starts quietly, aiming to be less intrusive while still effective. This initiative highlighted the company's focus on allowing users to personalize their alert experiences and showcased their engagement with the community at AWS re:Invent, where they also discussed new features like Incident Urgencies that aid in improving DevOps practices. The event, which included a voting station, giveaways, and a co-sponsored happy hour, provided an opportunity for PagerDuty to connect with users and received recognition as one of the hottest products by Network World.

PagerDuty is hosting a contest to select a new custom alert sound for its app, with the winning sound being available in the November 2015 release. The competition was inspired by a particularly charming submission, leading to an open call for original sounds or songs of up to 30 seconds. The entries have been narrowed down to five finalists, and the public is invited to vote for their favorite on the voting page by October 8. Voters have a chance to win one of two mini Jamboxes. Additionally, attendees of the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas can visit the PagerDuty booth to vote and receive a pair of PagerDuty socks. The winner will be announced at the conference.