Global

Logging, error handling and observability standards for developers

A ready-made course you customise for your organisation, with a live session deck and two surveys. You only add the 10 details that are specific to your organisation.

See the live deckSee the full outline
Try the coursePreview the survey
Length
35 min
Lessons
6 lessons
Frequency
At onboarding, after a hard-to-trace incident
Last reviewed
21 Oct 2026
Error handling that helps the next person
What would you do?

A handler logs the error and then swallows it, so the caller thinks the payment succeeded

Try it: this is one of 16 interactive activities in the course.

What's included

Three pieces that work together

Copy once, get everything. Learners prepare on their own, you answer questions live, and the surveys tell you what stuck.

Self-paced course

Short lessons with real workplace scenarios, not walls of text.

  • 6 lessons, about 35 minutes
  • Process, scenario, timeline, accordion and quizzes

Live session deck

An AhaSlides presentation to run after the course, in person or online.

  • 10 slides
  • Quiz, poll, ranking, word cloud slides
  • A closing slide for your contacts

Two surveys

Find out what landed, and whether people use it on the job.

  • Post-course feedback, about 2 minutes
  • 30-day check-in
  • Anonymous by default
  • Results feed your next refresher

Learning objectives

At the end of this course, learners can

Each objective and the lesson that covers it.

IDObjectiveSourceWhere it's covered
TO 329.0Achieve ≥ 80% on the final assessment-Whole course
SO 329.1Write a log line that a stranger can act on: level, event, identifier and outcomeBest practice; OWASP Logging Cheat SheetWhole course
SO 329.2Name the data that must never reach a log (secrets, full card numbers, personal data) and show how to mask it + your infoISO/IEC 27002:2022 control 8.15; organisation data policyWhole course
SO 329.3Handle an error so the next person can find the cause, without hiding it or leaking detail to usersBest practiceWhole course
SO 329.4Choose a sensible alert threshold and say who is paged + your infoBest practiceWhole course
SO 329.5Apply the retention and audit-trail rules of your organisation + your infoISO/IEC 27002:2022 control 8.15Whole course

Your part: what a template can't do for you

  • Your workplace details: fill in the 10 highlighted fields so the course describes your own policies, contacts and locations.
  • Records: record completion in your own LMS or record system.

Course outline

6 lessons, about 35 minutes

Minutes per lesson are an estimate, shared out by page count.

ContentInteractiveVideoYou customise
1

An outage nobody could trace

3 pages

7 min
Before you beginNoteList
The night shiftTextImage
What the team could not answerTimelineQuiz
2

What to log and what never to log

3 pages

6 min
Anatomy of a log lineAccordion
Sort the fieldsSorting activity
CheckFlashcardsMatching quiz
3

Error handling that helps the next person

3 pages

6 min
Catch, add context, rethrow or handleProcess
Spot the bugScenarioQuiz
Review snippetTextMulti-select quiz
4

Monitoring and alerting basics

3 pages

6 min
SignalsTabs
An alert that cried wolfScenarioQuiz
Who gets pagedNoteYour info
5

Audit trails, retention and speaking up

3 pages

6 min
What an audit trail recordsTableNoteYour info
Raise it earlyProcessYour infoKey fact
CheckQuiz
6

Review checklist and final assessment

2 pages

4 min
The reviewer's checklistChecklistYour info
PracticeQuizKey factNoteButtonYour info

Live deck and surveys

10 slides to run live, two surveys to close the loop

Pink slides are interactive. Both surveys are anonymous; pink questions are written for this course.

ContentTitle, agenda, "bring a recent log line
PollHow easy is it to trace a failed request in your system today?
QuizWhich is the better log line? (payment_failed order=A-1042 reason=card_declined ✔ · error · oops · FAILED!!!)
Content · customiseWhat good logs contain; masking rules {{DATA_CLASSIFICATION_POLICY_LINK}}
RankingOrder these by how much they help in an incident: request id, timing, user message, stack trace, environment name
QuizA handler logs an error and returns success. What is wrong? (The caller never learns of the failure ✔)
Word cloudThe log message that cost you the most time
ScaleHow confident are you reading an alert and deciding what to do?
Q&AAsk the trainer anything
Content · customiseClosing {{HELP_CONTACT}}, {{COURSE_URL}}, {{SURVEY_2_URL}}
Post-course feedback: 11 questions, about 2 min
  1. Overall rating 5 stars
  2. Relevant, realistic, right length, helpful activities agree/disagree grid
  3. What was most useful? multi-select
  4. Confidence before this course, and now 1-5 scale
  5. Confidence in log content · masking · error handling · alert tuning · audit trails grid
  6. In the last incident, how long did it take to find the failing request? multiple choice
  7. What one log message would you improve first? short text
  8. I can say ‘I did not log enough there’ without feeling judged. 1-5 scale
  9. One thing we should change or add open text
  10. Would you recommend this course? NPS
30-day check-in
  1. Have you used what you learned since the course? multiple choice
  2. How confident are you today? Compare with day 1 1-5 scale
  3. Do you know where to find the team logging standard and incident route? yes / no / not sure
  4. A moment where the training helped, or where you weren't sure open text
  5. Which topics should the next refresher focus on? ranking

Results show whether people use the training on the job, not just whether they finished it.

Make it yours

10 fields to fill in, and you're ready

Everything else is done. These are the details only your organisation knows; each one is highlighted inside the course.

  • How to report an incident or near miss{{INCIDENT_ROUTE}}
  • Link to the log retention policy{{LOG_RETENTION_POLICY_LINK}}
  • Security team contact{{SECURITY_CONTACT}}
  • Link to the engineering standards or style guide{{ENGINEERING_STANDARDS_LINK}}
  • Where completion is recorded{{LMS_OR_RECORD_SYSTEM}}
  • Link to the post-course and 30-day survey{{SURVEY_2_URL}}
Show all 10 fields
  • Link to the data classification policy{{DATA_CLASSIFICATION_POLICY_LINK}}
  • Who to ask for help or to report a concern{{HELP_CONTACT}}
  • Link to the self-paced course{{COURSE_URL}}
  • Link to the baseline survey{{SURVEY_1_URL}}

FAQ

Common questions

Can I run logging, error handling and observability standards for developers training online?

Yes. The course is self-paced and online, and the live deck lets you add a live session in the room or online.

How often is this training needed?

At onboarding, after a hard-to-trace incident, and before a logging standard is rolled out.

Who needs this training?

Developers on enterprise platforms and the code reviewers who approve their changes; run by engineering managers with L&D.

What records should I keep?

Record completion in your own LMS or record system, so you can show who finished the course and when.

Can I edit the content?

Yes, everything. Change the wording, swap scenarios for ones from your workplace, add your logo, or remove parts that don't apply.

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Last reviewed: 21 October 2026Templates are a starting point, not legal advice.

Ready to run it?

Open the live deck to see how the session runs alongside the course and both surveys.

See the live deck