Unwrapping OpenTelemetry: The what and the why

With the self-hosted release of v34.7.0, Tines now supports sending Open Telemetry (OTEL) traces to observability stacks that can ingest OTEL data, offering a new way to gain insights into system performance. This series of articles aims to define key OTEL and observability concepts, explain the importance of tracing within Tines, and demonstrate how to implement an observability stack, focusing on the design of a Grafana dashboard and troubleshooting using OTEL data. By enabling tracing, users can better understand the flow of workflows through Tines, pinpointing specific areas of latency and identifying whether issues are due to stories or actions, rather than the infrastructure itself. This capability shifts the conversation from general system slowness to more precise diagnostics, such as identifying specific slow actions within a story and addressing them directly. The series will further explore practical steps for designing and implementing an observability stack and offer guidance on effective troubleshooting techniques.