Draft: Blog: Observability for Efficient DevSecOps Pipelines

Closes #34296 (closed)

Context

This blog extends the talk story for "Observability for Efficient DevSecOps Pipelines" at Cloudland 2023 (slides) by putting effort into working demo examples with

1. Slow pipeline for analysis extended and reviewed examples
2. Implement tracepusher into GitLab CI/CD with all mistakes and bugs documented for users, as a new Open Source project highlight with OpenTelemetry.
3. Explore Datadog CI Visibility as GitLab integration with the slow pipeline for analysis, and highlight other integrations.
4. Dive into cost efficiency, forecasting and reducing CO2 emissions. Show TAMland from GitLab infrastructure team.
5. Explore security observability content, and cross-link Fantastic Infrastructure as Code Security Attacks and how to find them blog post.
6. Add specific optimization tips for CI/CD based on the learnings (also showcasing features, competitive content with merge trains, matrix builds, rules, etc)
7. Invite users to think about the most inefficient workflows in CI/CD and ask them how AI can help. (worked great at Cloudland BoF sessions, context in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/corporate_marketing/corporate-marketing/-/issues/7506#note_1438037204)

The blog post builds on these foundations

• the Monitor CI webcast from 2020 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/brand-product-marketing/product-marketing/-/issues/3521
• the first iteration of the pipeline efficiency docs https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/pipeline_efficiency.html
• many events and talks ("Efficient DevSecOps Pipelines in a Cloud-Native World", slides at KubeCon EU 2023), more in https://dnsmichi.at/talks/
• a question at Chemnitz Linux Days to focus more on OpenTelemetry/Observability with Pipeline Efficiency, which inspired a new FY24 talk "Observability for Efficient DevSecOps Pipelines" (slides)
• research with OpenTelemetry tracing gitlab-org/gitlab#338943
• ideas collected for documentation updates in gitlab-org/gitlab#367062
• AI feature proposal to fix pipelines fast gitlab-org/gitlab#386863 (closed)
• Learning Observability https://o11y.love/
• Learning eBPF and writing about it in my newsletter, https://opsindev.news/archive/2023-06-08/#the-inner-dev-learning-ebpf
• Thought leadership strategies in FY23 and FY24

Review notes

1. The title is intentional, and leaves out GitLab. This blog post should reach a wider audience and inspire folks using competitive projects to consider using GitLab with a wealth of resources for pipeline efficiency.
2. The blog picture is intentional. I was searching on Unsplash for "Austria from above" and found a somewhat chaotic wood forrest with small mountain streets. This touched me how I feel looking at pipelines, choosing the right path and it is hard still.
3. The length was kind of expected for a tutorial blog post. It is a balance between practical examples and ideas discussions for greater efficiency.
4. The mention of eBPF tools for cost efficiency, profiling, and security observability is intentional. It repurposes my investments into thought leadership ideas that can help with efficiency, and some of the tools need more attention and visibility in the wider community. For example, Kepler helps reduce CO2 emissions, an important topic imho.
5. The AI section invites for discussion but does not spoil planned features. Might need a legal banner at the bottom to not take the information as granted.
6. The content is also competitive, following the ~"dev-evangelism" content strategy in FY24. The observability stories are not told by GitHub yet.
7. Verify that the product direction is aligned with what is shared in the blog post.

Checklist for writer

• Link to issue added, and set to close when this MR is merged
• Due date and marketing milestone (e.g. Mktg: 2021-03-28) added to title for the desired publish date
• If time sensitive
  • Added ~"priority" label if blog needs to run in the next few days
  • Mentioned @sgittlen to give her a heads up ASAP
• Blog post file formatted correctly, including uploading and embedding in markdown any accompanying images
• All relevant frontmatter included
• Review app checked for any formatting issues
• Reviewed by fellow team member(s)
• Reviewer(s) marked approved before sending to blog team
  • Any required internal or external approval for this blog post has been granted (please leave a comment with details)
  • Reviews by Legal team if necessary according to SAFE guidelines
• Assign to @Sgittlen for final review

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