Observability, For The Rest Of Us

In 2018, Observe recognized the challenges associated with fragmented data in modern, stateless applications that rely on microservices, leading them to explore the potential of OpenTracing for improved observability. Despite initial enthusiasm, they found limited adoption of distributed tracing libraries among customers, as most companies prioritized new features over implementing tracing due to the time investment required. To address customer dissatisfaction with existing logging and metrics tools, Observe focused on creating a system that treats all telemetry data as events, allowing seamless movement between logs and metrics while retaining context. By transforming incoming data into understandable formats called Resources, Observe provides real-time insights without requiring customers to completely overhaul their logging systems. Although distributed tracing remains an important future goal, the company currently emphasizes enhancing observability through dynamic data structuring and incremental improvements, aligning with the needs of most engineering teams that start their observability journey with logs and metrics.