This document discusses the evolution of observability from network/device monitoring (Wave 1) to application performance monitoring (Wave 2) to the current focus on observability (Wave 3). It notes that observability moves past proprietary data formats and interdependence of early solutions by enabling instrumentation once and observation anywhere. The document advocates for teams to own end-to-end observability of their services and dependencies, and notes that observability data can help teams understand where to invest engineering time to most directly impact customers and business goals.

1. 3rd Wave
Observability:
Open or Bust
Paige Cruz
Developer Advocate
November 2023

2. “ Navigating today’s IT
infrastructure is like
exploring underground
caves. You wander around
in the dark, crawling
systems, sifting through
lots of data to try and
understand what’s going
on.
- splunk.com circa XXXX
”

3. “ Navigating today’s IT
infrastructure is like
exploring underground
caves. You wander around
in the dark, crawling
systems, sifting through
lots of data to try and
understand what’s going
on.
- splunk.com circa 2005
”

7. 7
80s -
early 00s
Wave 1
Network +
Device
Monitoring
mid 00s -
late 10s
Wave 2
Application
Performance
Monitoring
late 10s -
now
Wave 3
Observability
7

11. Wave 1
Network/Device
Monitoring

12. The 80s

13. “Is the
network
down?”

14. The 90s

17. Wave 2
Application
Performance
Monitoring

18. 18
80s -
early 00s
Wave 1
Network +
Device
Monitoring
mid 00s -
late 10s
Wave 2
Application
Performance
Monitoring
18

19. The 00s

20. “What’s my
application
doing?”

22. Wave 3
Observability

23. 23
80s -
early 00s
Wave 1
Network +
Device
Monitoring
mid 00s -
late 10s
Wave 2
Application
Performance
Monitoring
late 10s -
now
Wave 3
Observability
23

25. Monitoring

26. Observability

29. Evolving past APM…
Proprietary
Data Formats
Data Volume Interdependence
Ephemerality
29
29

30. “Why is
______?”

31. 31

32. 32

33. Instrument once,
observe
anywhere

35. If you rely on one or two experts to tell you if the system is working fine, where to get health
data about the infrastructure, how to interpret the charts and traces on your dashboards….
You have a “Katie”
35

36. If you rely on one or two experts to tell you if the system is working fine, where to get health
data about the infrastructure, how to interpret the charts and traces on your dashboards….
You have a “Katie”
36
Teams own more services than ever in cloud native environments. Today you have a
responsibility to understand your “service neighborhood” - dependencies both in and
outside of your organization.
You build it, you run it, you observe it

37. If you rely on one or two experts to tell you if the system is working fine, where to get health
data about the infrastructure, how to interpret the charts and traces on your dashboards….
You have a “Katie”
37
Teams own more services than ever in cloud native environments. Today you have a
responsibility to understand your “service neighborhood” - dependencies both in and
outside of your organization.
You build it, you run it, you observe it
Being able to tie the work you do to impact on customers, users, or key business goals is
critical for growing your career. Observability data can and should drive conversations
about where to invest engineering time.
Develop yourself

39. Paige Cruz
@paigerduty@hachyderm.io
paigerduty@chronosphere.io
www.paigerduty.com