LOCKEDIN / FORWARD-DEPLOYED ENGINEERING 101
Understand it.
Then build it.
You can be an experienced engineer and still be new to agents. Start with what each thing is and how it helps a person do useful work. Explore 48 original introductions across software, agents, cloud, security and delivery. Start here without a model key; each topic connects to deeper instruction and practice.
- 101UnderstandPlain language, visual walkthrough, vocabulary
- 102Build with guidanceOriginal lessons, examples and knowledge checks
- 103Practise and explainRunnable labs, failure cases and handover
- 01Correlate
- 02Measure
- 03Act
Understanding a running system
What are traces, logs and production feedback?
Observability helps you understand a system from its outputs. Logs record events, metrics summarize measurements, and traces connect steps belonging to one request. An agent trace can show model calls, retrieval, tool attempts and decisions without requiring you to guess from the final answer.
An FDE must help the receiving team investigate a slow, costly or incorrect outcome after launch.
CONNECT IT TO WHAT YOU KNOW
Start with something familiar.
A trace is a journey record for a request: which services it visited, where time was spent and where it failed. A dashboard's average is only a summary of many journeys.
More logging is not always better. Record useful identifiers, durations and outcomes while minimizing sensitive prompts, credentials and customer data.
Words worth knowing
- Span
- One timed operation within a trace.
- Metric
- An aggregate measurement such as error count or latency.
- Correlation ID
- An identifier connecting related events.
ONE EXAMPLE / FICTIONAL CASE
Watch the work take shape.
A response takes 30 seconds because a tool call was retried repeatedly, not because the final model response was slow.
- 01Correlate
- 02Measure
- 03Act
Correlate
Carry a request identifier across model, tool and worker operations.
One connected traceFROM RECOGNITION TO REASONING
Explain one slow request from a synthetic trace.
- 01
Draw model → tool → retry → model with durations.
- 02
Identify the dominant delay and duplicated work.
- 03
Choose metadata to keep and sensitive content to exclude.
A trace interpretation and one concrete operational action.
Compare your reasoning when you are ready
A total duration does not identify the cause. Correlated spans reveal repeated tool calls, while a bounded retry policy prevents the same issue from consuming unlimited work.
Keep notes in your own working copy. Moving through these cards does not record completion.
TURN THE IDEA INTO USEFUL WORK
You can now go deeper.
More logging is not always better. Record useful identifiers, durations and outcomes while minimizing sensitive prompts, credentials and customer data.
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