Observability Is a Data Analytics Problem

Observability, a prominent topic in the IT sector, is often associated with the "three pillars": logs, metrics, and traces, but these alone do not constitute true observability. While these telemetry signals provide essential information about system events, their mere collection does not guarantee effective observability. A broader approach, including additional signals like events and continuous profiling, is necessary for comprehensive insights and root cause analysis. Observability is defined as the capability for humans to ask and answer questions about a system, highlighting the importance of data analysis. It involves collecting diverse data sources, enriching and correlating data, and using unified querying, visualization, and alerting to fuse telemetry data, ultimately enhancing the ability to respond to ad-hoc inquiries about the system.