2023 Year in Review - Observability around the World

Deep into the winter of 2023 and counting down the last hours, I find myself working on this last task of the year. It's that time where one steps back and reflects on the past year of activities and travels.

This is also always one of the easiest articles to write, going back now since this blog started, meaning I've been doing them over 18 years now. Who would have imagined back in 2005 when I started publishing articles for this blog that I'd be at it 18 years later and have garnered almost 2.6 million views?

It takes a bit of research every year to get this article done, as I've been traveling, speaking, publishing, socializing, and generating so much content throughout the year. It's always fun to see all the code, writing, and travel adventures passing the review as I sit here in contemplation of what is coming for the new year.

Open Dashboard and Visualization Workshop - Finalizing Perses Dashboard

Getting started with Perses

Back in December of 2022 I started a series taking you on a tour of the Perses project. These articles covered this fairly new open dashboard and visualization project targeting cloud native environments. I used a getting started workshop to guide you through this series and to provide a hands-on experience for those new to visualizing observability data. 

In the previous article you expand visualizing data resulting in a more advanced dashboard and I provided links to the actual online workshop content. 

In this article, you'll finalize this advanced dashboard for your on-call teammates and end up with what we refer to as an advanced++ dashboard. 

Let's finish our dashboard building, shall we?

Cloud Native Predictions 2024 - Stress, Careers, and Costs

As the year 2023 winds down, there is time for reflection and looking back. I've done that every year on this blog with year in review articles. This year I thought I might take all the new learnings around cloud native observability, add in some insights from all the events I attended related to observability, and try to predict what the biggest changes might be for 2024.

In this article I plan to lay out three top predictions based on my experiences over 2023 in the cloud native domain, with a big focus on the observability arena. This has been my first complete year focused on these topics and the change in technologies I've been focusing on up to now meant I could approach this with zero bias. I just researched, then went hands-on with open source projects mostly found in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) domain, and went on the road to events to put an ear to the ground. 

While many predictions you find out in the wild tend to be about the next big technology breakthrough or about the expanded use of an emerging technology in larger organizations, this time around I've found myself thinking about this in a slightly different way.

Let's take a look at my top three predictions and the thoughts behind them for 2024.

KCD Oslo 2024 - Observability for you and me with OpenTelemetry

The first event I'll be speaking at in 2024 is the Kubernetes Community Day (KCD) in Oslo, thanks to the acceptance of one of my favorite getting started in cloud native observability talks.

Events like KCD Oslo 2024 are essential CNCF community driven and sponsored gatherings in various countries around the globe for developers, engineers, DevOps, managers, and Site Reliability Engineers (SREs). 

The official CNCF site states that, "KCDs are community-organized events that gather adopters and technologists from open source and cloud native communities for education, collaboration, and networking. These fun, locally-defined events help grow and sustain Kubernetes and other Cloud Native communities."

Just last year I spoke at KCD Czech & Slovak and KCD Denmark, really enjoying the community atmosphere combined with enterprise practitioners. They are well organized, well attended, and my talks were so much fun with the engaged and enthusiastic audiences.

On 25 January in Oslo, I'll be on stage again at  a KCD introducing you to cloud native observability.

Open Dashboard and Visualization Workshop - Advanced Perses Dashboard

Getting started with Perses

Back in December of 2022 I started a series taking you on a tour of the Perses project. These articles covered this fairly new open dashboard and visualization project targeting cloud native environments. I used a getting started workshop to guide you through this series and to provide a hands-on experience for those new to visualizing observability data. 

In the previous article you began creating your first ever basic Perses dashboard and I provided links to the actual online workshop content. 

In this article, you'll expand on the previous basic dashboard and continue visualizing data resulting in a more advanced dashboard. 

Let's keep the dashboard building rolling, shall we?