This sounds nice until you have to debug a crazy error that only happens in production.

Wouldn't this represent 0.1% of your usage? Meanwhile the thinking portion is 99% of the job and the act of using the UI to enact the changes on any editor is the other 1%.

Making 1% of 1/10 of 1% more effecient seems like a curious optimization.

Honestly, if you have to hop on production to debug a crazy error, you have two bugs. The infrastructure being so different on production compared to development or local is a fixable issue. As are any other differences between production and local that make difficult to debug in these special cases. It takes a long time. It's a substantial effort. But it is worth while.

You're quite green, aren't you?

It may seem that way, but no I've crossed that chasm long ago. I've debugged on production more than I would ever care to remember. But in all honesty it is easier than ever to stay completely off of production. It's also extremely cost effective. It's not simple and it is work, but it has never been easier to actually be successful at staying off if production.

Easier then ever maybe but still probably impossible to avoid. It's not that anyone wants to mess up with live, it's more like you don't have a choice.

Really? I haven't allowed people to log directly only a production environment in almost 10 years. There is definitely a choice.