Grafana Tempo 1.5 introduces several key features, including experimental support for a new Parquet-based columnar store, which promises significant improvements in data retrieval efficiency and sets the stage for the development of TraceQL, a new trace query language. This release also incorporates usage reporting to better understand user interactions, although it can be disabled if desired. Enhancements in metrics generation now include queues and databases in service graph metrics, utilizing OpenTelemetry semantic conventions. Additionally, several bug fixes and breaking changes have been implemented, including a transition to OTel naming conventions for span metrics and a shift to tempodb_backend_request_duration_seconds metrics. Looking ahead, the development focus is on integrating TraceQL with Parquet and rewriting the WAL code to support Parquet, paving the way for the anticipated release of Grafana Tempo 2.0. Users can engage with the Grafana community through various platforms or explore career opportunities with Grafana Labs.