Observability and Traceability Analysis
Core Goal
For a selected operation, determine whether support can reconstruct:
Inbound request/event
→ business operation
→ routing decision
→ concrete implementation
→ external interaction
→ external result/error
→ internal result
Traceability Dimensions
At each step inspect:
- timestamp
- request/operation identity
- target/entity identity
- business operation
- selected implementation
- mode/config context
- downstream command/API operation
- downstream-generated identifiers if naturally available
- result/error
- duration
Do not assume custom IDs can be propagated to external systems.
Gap Matrix
| Flow Step | Existing Evidence | Missing Evidence | Troubleshooting Impact | Proposed Improvement |
|---|
Classify:
- TRACEABLE
- PARTIALLY TRACEABLE
- BLIND SPOT
Important Distinction
- Source code establishes architectural behavior.
- Audit/log records establish what happened in a particular execution.
- Neither should be mistaken for the other.
Output
docs/reverse-engineering/observability/<scope>-traceability-analysis.md
4.0 Source-of-Truth Constraint
Do not promote architecture claims merely because logs show one execution.
Runtime logs prove execution truth for that instance. Source/wiring proves architectural behavior.
Cross-reference both when possible.