Journal

Observability as product

Dec 18, 2024

Treating telemetry as a product unlocks consistency and trust.

When observability is treated as a product, it gains design, governance, and ownership. That is the shift Signalforge is enabling. Teams get a consistent experience, and operators gain confidence that the system tells the truth.

Key moves

  • Standardize telemetry naming and structure.
  • Anchor dashboards to user journeys.
  • Build response playbooks with human context.

Seen in these systems

Patterns involved

Operational takeaway

  • Define telemetry ownership, naming conventions, and a single source of truth for dashboards.
  • Ship a minimum readiness checklist (health checks, logs, and failure alerts) with every release.
  • Produce audit artifacts for every run so investigations start with evidence, not guesswork.
  • Tie each alert to a recommended action, not just a metric.
  • Review dashboard accuracy quarterly and deprecate stale signals.

Counterexample

When observability is bolted on after launch, teams chase noisy metrics, dashboards drift away from reality, and failures are noticed only after users complain. The system may still run, but it no longer tells the truth.