APM is Legacy. Distributed Tracing is Designed for Modern Teams

The author reflects on their extensive experience with Application Performance Monitoring (APM) systems and the evolving landscape of observability, noting a significant shift in the market towards modern concepts like distributed tracing and the integration of metrics and logs. With a history in implementing APM systems and involvement with Gartner's APM Magic Quadrant, the author observes that while traditional APM tools were not initially designed for microservices, the rise of projects like OpenTelemetry offers a new approach to automatic instrumentation and lightweight trace collection. This shift challenges the traditional APM vendors, who have a vested interest in maintaining proprietary agents despite the industry's move towards open-source solutions. The author emphasizes the need for modern teams to consider distributed tracing as part of a broader observability strategy, while acknowledging ongoing confusion as companies and analysts transition towards these newer methodologies.