In a session from the Testμ 2022 conference, Vinayak Hegde, CTO-in-residence at Microsoft for Startups, and Mohit Juneja from LambdaTest discuss strategies for reducing software production failures, emphasizing the importance of quality assurance throughout the software development lifecycle. They highlight techniques such as code profiling, observability, static analysis, and code coverage to mitigate risks. Hegde elaborates on the choice of programming languages, the design by contract principle, programming safety with a focus on memory safety, and the utilization of tools like linters and static analysis for error detection. He also touches on the importance of testing and deployment strategies, including load testing, canary testing, and blue/green deployment. The session addresses production challenges like application performance management, log analytics, and distributed tracing to ensure optimal performance in live environments. During a Q&A, Hegde underscores the role of developers in maintaining software quality and the necessity of intermediate language proficiency for automation engineers, emphasizing a collaborative approach to quality assurance within teams.