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Over the past few years, I’ve sat in too many rooms having the same conversation. Different companies, different titles, different budgets — but the same underlying issue. Everyone’s chasing observability, yet no one’s really getting the value they expected.
The tools have changed. The logos have changed. But the outcomes? Not so much.
A Familiar Trap
What we see today isn’t failure due to poor tooling — it’s failure due to too much tooling.
Enterprises, especially the large ones, have assembled an impressive lineup of platforms over the years. Each with its own purpose. Each working perfectly in its own silo.
But collectively?
They don’t solve the real problem: helping teams move faster, with more clarity, and fewer fire drills.
And now, we’re watching mid-sized enterprises fall into the same trap — trying to mimic the big players, without the budgets or bandwidth to manage the complexity that comes with it.
It’s like hiring five elite chefs to cook breakfast. You’ll get quality — but you’ll burn through time, money, and harmony.
The Cost No One Talks About
Every tool adds cost.
Not just in licenses — but in hiring, training, integration, and internal politics.
- Who owns what?
- Which team’s dashboard is the source of truth?
- How long does it take to find the root of an issue — and who gets blamed in the meantime?
The emotional and operational toll is real.
And if you’re running a business, these delays and misalignments bleed into customer experience, SLAs, and revenue risk.
The Open Source Illusion
There’s another layer to this story. Many leaders believe open-source tools are the escape route — lower cost, more flexibility, faster innovation.
That’s partly true. But here’s what doesn’t get said enough:
Open source requires ownership.
It’s not just a technology decision — it’s an organizational shift.
- You need teams who understand how to operationalize it.
- You need alignment on standards, governance, and accountability.
- And you need to treat observability not as infrastructure, but as a core business capability.
That’s where most mid-market firms get stuck — halfway between potential and paralysis.
So, What’s the Way Forward?
This isn’t a call to buy new tools.
It’s a call to change the way we think about observability.
At the executive level, we need to ask better questions:
- Is our observability strategy actually helping us respond faster and smarter?
- Are we collecting data, or creating understanding?
- Are we building a culture of visibility, or a stack of dashboards?
Until we move the conversation from tools to outcomes — from engineering detail to business resilience — we’ll keep repeating the same story with different budget lines.
My Take
Observability isn’t a line item in IT anymore — it’s showing up in executive reviews, customer escalations, and boardroom discussions.
The companies that get it right won’t be the ones with the longest stack. They’ll be the ones who’ve simplified, focused, and made clarity a cultural priority — not just a technical ambition.
We don’t need more dashboards. We need better decisions.
And that starts with rethinking the way we’re approaching all of this.
