Couchbase is focusing on enhancing the responsiveness of applications within distributed systems by introducing new tools and leveraging open-source projects like OpenTracing. With the increasing complexity and lower latency expectations of modern systems, identifying performance bottlenecks in distributed environments can be challenging. The company has developed Response Time Observability, a feature in Couchbase Server 5.5, which allows users to monitor response times against adjustable thresholds efficiently. This initiative builds on existing diagnostics and integrates with the evolving OpenTracing API to facilitate better system observability and collaboration with the broader tech community. Couchbase encourages feedback on these developments to continue improving its solutions.