I was about to ship a product with no operational metrics. I figured this out while we met to decide the MVP options for User Analytics. We were arguing against page load times or counting how long an error condition existed. We delineated the page load times from things like abandoned pages. I realized User Analytics tell us how a user behaves interacting with our product. Operational metrics show how an application behaves (including platform & infra) when a user or system interacts with our product.
If we’re to bow to the alter of first rule of Devops: Systems Thinking, User and Applications both matter. A product shouldn’t deliver without being able to get insights across the full spectrum that runs from system to user.
Now, I have to figure out how to get Operational Metrics in my MVP. After turning a blind eye for while, my conscious is bearing the burden. For the user and the application (Because together they are the system), we care about behavior.
