SE Radio 717: Eric Tschetter on Decoupling Observability
From Software Engineering Radio - The Podcast for Professional Software Developers by SE-Radio Team
April 23, 2026 · 1h 0m · Episode 717
About this episode
The episode discusses the importance of decoupling observability in software systems, focusing on the challenges and benefits of a new architectural framework.
In this episode, host Amey Ambade sits with Eric Tschetter, co-founder of Apache Druid and Chief Architect at Imply, to dissect the critical move toward Decoupling Observability. To begin, they define three pillars—logs, metrics, and traces—and consider why the rise of microservices has made traditional, tightly coupled stacks a major source of pain. Such coupled systems can lead to issues such as vendor lock-in, prohibitive scaling costs, and operational complexity. Drawing parallels to the Business Intelligence world's separation, Tschetter presents an architectural solution with four distinct layers: Ingest/Route, Data Storage, Query/Compute, and Visualization. This framework aims to provide flexibility to combat the limitations of monolithic observability tools. The conversation moves into the practical challenges and significant benefits of this decoupled model, focusing heavily on data portability and the role of technologies such as OpenTelemetry in standardizing schemas so that data can flow freely between multiple back-ends. A significant portion of the discussion is dedicated to the Query/Compute layer, specifically how Apache Druid addresses the unique demands of…
People in this episode
Host: Amey Ambade
Guest: Eric Tschetter
Topics covered
- Decoupling Observability
- Microservices
- Data Portability
- Real-time Analytics
- Apache Druid
- Operational Complexity
Keywords
- observability
- microservices
- data storage
- real-time analytics
- Apache Druid
- OpenTelemetry
- logs
- metrics
- traces
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Apache Druid, Imply
Products: OpenTelemetry
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