Observability that matters | Tom Oketch | #LeadDevAustin

The term observability has recently earned somewhat of a cult status — rapidly ascending to the ranks of “agile”, “digital transformation”, “microservices” and other such highly regarded (and perhaps often misused) labels. Suddenly every team wants to incorporate the pillars of observability into their ecosystem.

But observability for observability’s sake has no inherent benefits. What is the goal of being able to dissect your services or trace transactions across multiple service boundaries? How do these newfound principles and practices translate into meaningful actions and outcomes? And how can you make sure you’re not falling into the trap of the bandwagon fallacy?

This talk explores some of the emerging anti patterns around observability, their pitfalls, and how to avoid them. It also explores how teams can focus on achieving the right kind of insight into how their systems are performing and being utilized - observability that matters.

About Tom Oketch
Tom is a senior technologist at ThoughtWorks who routinely works with delivery teams to foster a culture of collaboration, trust and shared ownership of quality. He has a penchant for getting things shipped, as well as bridging the gap that often exists between ops and engineering.

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