O11ycast Ep. #83, Observability Isn't Just SRE on Steroids with Dan Ravenstone
Jun 11, 2025
Dan Ravenstone, an observability engineer with 25 years of experience, shares his insights on the vital role of observability engineers in enhancing user experience. He discusses how these engineers bridge technical performance and real-world customer feedback. The conversation touches on mobile observability challenges, the need for clear terminology in the field, and practical strategies for implementing telemetry. Ravenstone emphasizes building collaborative relationships across teams to improve observability practices and drive better product outcomes.
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Observability Centers On The User
- An observability engineer champions the user by connecting product, support, and engineering perspectives.
- They must understand the whole user journey and translate it into instrumentation and culture.
NOC Beginnings Sparked His Passion
- Dan began in monitoring by setting up a NOC and learned the value of underappreciated monitoring roles.
- That NOC experience sparked his passion for observability and long-term engagement with monitoring tools.
Observability Goes Beyond Point-In-Time Alerts
- Observability peels back monitoring's limitations to reveal trends and root causes rather than point-in-time alerts.
- It shifts teams from reactive firefighting toward earlier detection and understanding of system behavior.