What Does Observability Mean for Developers?

In a discussion on the OpenObservability Talks podcast, Dotan Horovits and guest Liran Haimovitch, co-founder and CTO of Rookout, explore the evolving role of observability in software development, emphasizing its importance beyond traditional operations monitoring. Haimovitch highlights that for developers, observability is about facilitating daily tasks, such as debugging and understanding application behavior in cloud environments, rather than just assessing system uptime or bottlenecks. The conversation touches on the challenges developers face with specialized observability tools like distributed tracing and metrics, which are often more accessible to centralized teams with dedicated expertise. Haimovitch argues for a more inclusive approach to observability tools, suggesting they should be tailored to everyday developers to enhance their connection to production environments and improve software quality. Additionally, the discussion suggests that observability should be integrated into pre-production environments to streamline development processes, and that a shift in focus is needed to empower developers as key consumers of observability solutions.