Why SLOs are essential for observability

In the shift from traditional monitoring to a DevOps and observability-focused approach, the emphasis has moved from tracking granular resource consumption metrics to measuring speed and quality through service-level indicators (SLIs) and service-level objectives (SLOs). This transition addresses the challenges posed by cloud environments and variable workloads, where setting thresholds can be difficult and maintaining a vast array of metrics becomes cumbersome and less valuable. The focus on speed and quality aligns IT efforts with business goals by using simple, understandable metrics that reflect the customer experience, such as error-free transaction percentages and response times. By setting SLIs and SLOs, organizations can effectively communicate performance and reliability to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, reducing alert fatigue and enhancing the relevance of alerts. This approach fosters business alignment by highlighting critical issues that impact user experience and provides a clearer indication of where improvements are needed, thereby bridging the gap between IT operations and business objectives.