Instrumentation Planning
"What job is this telemetry helping someone accomplish?"
Every metric/span should answer a job. If you can't name the job, don't add the telemetry.
Framework Selection
| Service Type |
Use |
| HTTP/gRPC APIs |
RED (Rate, Errors, Duration) |
| Resources (pools, memory) |
USE (Utilization, Saturation, Errors) |
| Comprehensive SRE |
4 Golden Signals |
Prioritization Tiers
| Tier |
What |
Examples |
| T0: Foundation |
Must have |
Service tags, HTTP middleware, error tracking, health checks |
| T1: Performance |
Should have |
RED per endpoint, DB tracing, external service spans, context propagation |
| T2: Resources |
Should have |
USE for pools, memory/GC, queue depth |
| T3: Business |
Nice to have |
JTBD tags, user tier, feature flags |
| T4: Resilience |
Nice to have |
Circuit breaker state, retry counts, timeouts |
JTBD Context
Link observability to user value:
| Job |
Success |
Failure |
Friction |
| "Place order" |
Order created <2s |
Order error |
Retries >0, duration >5s |
| "Process payment" |
Payment success |
Declined |
Gateway timeout |
Anti-Patterns
- Measure everything → Noise, cost, no signal
- High-cardinality labels → User IDs explode storage
- 100% sampling → Unnecessary overhead
- Missing context → Can't debug without job/step
Output
Present prioritized instrumentation plan organized by tier, with specific metrics and implementation order.
References
Load based on need:
references/methodology/red-methodology.mdreferences/methodology/use-methodology.mdreferences/methodology/four-golden-signals.mdreferences/methodology/jtbd-for-backend.md
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1---2name: instrumentation-planning-53description: Plan backend observability using RED + USE + 4 Golden Signals + JTBD Use when this capability is needed.4---56# Instrumentation Planning78> "What job is this telemetry helping someone accomplish?"910Every metric/span should answer a job. If you can't name the job, don't add the telemetry.1112## Framework Selection1314| Service Type | Use |15|--------------|-----|16| HTTP/gRPC APIs | RED (Rate, Errors, Duration) |17| Resources (pools, memory) | USE (Utilization, Saturation, Errors) |18| Comprehensive SRE | 4 Golden Signals |1920## Prioritization Tiers2122| Tier | What | Examples |23|------|------|----------|24| **T0: Foundation** | Must have | Service tags, HTTP middleware, error tracking, health checks |25| **T1: Performance** | Should have | RED per endpoint, DB tracing, external service spans, context propagation |26| **T2: Resources** | Should have | USE for pools, memory/GC, queue depth |27| **T3: Business** | Nice to have | JTBD tags, user tier, feature flags |28| **T4: Resilience** | Nice to have | Circuit breaker state, retry counts, timeouts |2930## JTBD Context3132Link observability to user value:3334| Job | Success | Failure | Friction |35|-----|---------|---------|----------|36| "Place order" | Order created <2s | Order error | Retries >0, duration >5s |37| "Process payment" | Payment success | Declined | Gateway timeout |3839## Anti-Patterns4041- **Measure everything** → Noise, cost, no signal42- **High-cardinality labels** → User IDs explode storage43- **100% sampling** → Unnecessary overhead44- **Missing context** → Can't debug without job/step4546## Output4748Present prioritized instrumentation plan organized by tier, with specific metrics and implementation order.4950## References5152Load based on need:53- `references/methodology/red-methodology.md`54- `references/methodology/use-methodology.md`55- `references/methodology/four-golden-signals.md`56- `references/methodology/jtbd-for-backend.md`5758---59> Converted and distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io/claim/nexus-labs-automation) — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.60<!-- tomevault:4.0:skill_md:2026-04-13 -->
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