Oh hi

Liz Fong-Jones (方禮真)@lizthegrey.com · 2w ago

It's out! As of today you can order the PRINT 2nd edition of Observability Engineering from any major bookseller; no more waiting for preorders. Co-written w/ @charity.wtf, @gmiranda23.bsky.social, @aparker.io & guest authors Buy: www.indiebound.org/book/9781098... or www.amazon.com/Observabilit...

It's out! As of today you can order the PRINT 2nd edition of Observability Engineering from any major bookseller; no more waiting for preorders. Co-written w/ @charity.wtf, @gmiranda23.bsky.social, @aparker.io & guest authors Buy: www.indiebound.org/book/9781098... or www.amazon.com/Observabilit...

I know I'm late to the party to @charity.wtf's post "Is it ethical to use AI?", where she argues that "AI is just technology". It's been festering inside me. (Especially as both have provided thoughtful and nuanced writing on many topics over the years.) charity.wtf/p/make-ai-bo...

Is it ethical to use AI?

On externalities and engagement, the problem with purity politics, and why we need to make AI boring again

charity.wtf

We're doing an AMA in a week and a half! Sign up now and send us your toughest questions, we'll do our best. 🐝

Honeycomb@honeycomb.io · 3w ago

Observability Engineering's second edition catches up on everything that's changed in observability since 2022. @charity.wtf, @lizthegrey.com, George Miranda, and @aparker.io are doing a live AMA on July 29. Bring your hardest questions, they're asking for it. 🐝 go.hny.co/44aBtPt

Love it. Why stop there? nines don’t matter until you don’t have them nines don't matter if the answer is slop nines don't matter when you are the training data four nines of confidently incorrect nines don't matter when you’re the product "human in the loop" is what you say when you've...

Justin Garrison@justingarrison.com · 3w ago

I had to update @charity.wtf’s quote for 2026

Years ago, I predicted columnar storage would remake the landscape of observability. I thought a wave of new columnar-backed tools would displace the creaky old three pillars model with tech that is faster, easier, cheaper, better in every way. Well, I was half right. charity.wtf/p/have-you-h...

Have you heard? Clickhouse is winning the observability wars!

Years ago I predicted that columnar storage would remake observability. What I didn't see coming: vendors would build it, nerf it, and sell a worse version back to you as "Datadog, but cheaper"

charity.wtf

Honeycomb put an LLM into their dashboard and it's actually really helpful. I can ask it a question about prod and it looks up all the data, answers my question, gives me links to the deterministic evidence that proves its theory.

@charity.wtf mentioned @chadfowler.com’s Phoenix Architecture in a conversation last week. I’m still catching up, but really impressed by the framing.

Kevin Stewart@kstewart.me · last mo.

One of the best and most considered pieces on AI that I have seen so far: charity.wtf/p/make-ai-bo... Read it! And follow @charity.wtf

Is it ethical to use AI?

On externalities and engagement, the problem with purity politics, and why we need to make AI boring again

charity.wtf

People really hate AI mandates -- unsurprisingly, since most are terrible. But they don't have to be. Used wisely, the mandate is an effective tool for driving and funding organizational change. More in my piece, "In defense of AI mandates." charitydotwtf.substack.com/p/in-defense...

In defense of AI mandates

When you need to execute a coordinated change on a tight timeline, a mandate is the best and most honest way to fund it.

charitydotwtf.substack.com

woohoo, one testimonial for the new "Observability Engineering", chapter 29: "Build vs Buy (vs Open Source)"! in which we take on the evergreen question of "which do you hate more, your money or your time?" honeycomb.io/book

Honeycomb’s O’Reilly Book Observability Engineering, 2nd Ed.

Let authors Charity Majors, Liz Fong-Jones, George Miranda, and Austin Parker explain how to apply Observability successfully in your organization.

honeycomb.io

tim (auto mode)@tds.xyz · last mo.

oh, this is great. i work on system like little baby where observability is not a major concern but this build/buy chapter is a great expression of things i've been labouring to explain to my senior leadership for weeks now. there's wisdom in this book that reaches far beyond o11y!

I feel this in my bones

Charity Majors@charity.wtf · last mo.

as promised, here is my post on AI and ethics. I think unilateral disarmament in the face of powerful new tools is neither wise nor effective. I think those of us in tech have a particular responsibility to engage, participate and build better solutions. charitydotwtf.substack.com/p/make-ai-bo...

Loved this. In a world of sloppy discourse around AI, Charity gives a call to arms to engage.

Charity Majors@charity.wtf · last mo.

as promised, here is my post on AI and ethics. I think unilateral disarmament in the face of powerful new tools is neither wise nor effective. I think those of us in tech have a particular responsibility to engage, participate and build better solutions. charitydotwtf.substack.com/p/make-ai-bo...

as promised, here is my post on AI and ethics. I think unilateral disarmament in the face of powerful new tools is neither wise nor effective. I think those of us in tech have a particular responsibility to engage, participate and build better solutions. charitydotwtf.substack.com/p/make-ai-bo...

Make AI Boring Again

On the ethics of engagement, the problem with purity politics, and a world worth fighting for

charitydotwtf.substack.com

I have two guest chapters in this! 😀

Charity Majors@charity.wtf · 2mo ago

ah yes...I should also post about OUR book. the 2nd edition of "Observability Engineering" is now available for download.. and you can download it for free on the honeycomb site. this was supposed to be an update, and ended up being a total rewrite (& then some). 😅 www.honeycomb.io/blog/the-sec...

If you're going to pass your writing through an LLM then please ask it to make the post as short as possible so I don't need to read yet another generic rephrasing of the same thing

Usually breeze through a Table of Contents. If I pause, that's a Good Sign™. I paused several times, stopped and came here. Free!! If you're coding or code adjacent, this will be a Bible going forward.

Charity Majors@charity.wtf · 2mo ago

ah yes...I should also post about OUR book. the 2nd edition of "Observability Engineering" is now available for download.. and you can download it for free on the honeycomb site. this was supposed to be an update, and ended up being a total rewrite (& then some). 😅 www.honeycomb.io/blog/the-sec...

having the telemetry to know how your system is performing allows you to make better design decisions! so far we haven't needed a dedicated performance engineer at Honeycomb, but if you're interested in taking that on as a chunk of your job, see job-boards.greenhouse.io/honeycomb/jo...

Performance engineering isn't just about changing code in place, it's also about offering customers options that align better with their needs. In the chapter, I discuss how the SWITCH() operator in Honeycomb Calculated Fields came to be, after I noticed customers doing IF(EQUALS(), IF(EQUALS()...

Charity Majors@charity.wtf · 2mo ago

parts 4 and 5 feature a list of guest contributors i'm particularly proud of, from the Clickhouse chapter to a Fin case study, a @lizthegrey.com chapter on performance engineering, a Hansen Ho chapter, a chapter on telemetry pipelines from our friends at Bindplane, etc

ah yes...I should also post about OUR book. the 2nd edition of "Observability Engineering" is now available for download.. and you can download it for free on the honeycomb site. this was supposed to be an update, and ended up being a total rewrite (& then some). 😅 www.honeycomb.io/blog/the-sec...

The Second Edition of Observability Engineering Is Here

IT’S HERE it’s here it’s here it’s here!!!! The second edition of Observability Engineering is available for download, and since Honeycomb is the sponsor, you can now download it from our website (th...

honeycomb.io

Doug Winter@doug.winter.cx · 2mo ago

Both Cat and Charity are very much worth reading.

I get asked to read and blurb a lot of books. It's always an honor to be asked -- writing a book is a TON of work -- but I almost never do. If I wouldn't chase you down on the street and urge you to read a book, it feels wrong to blurb it. I would chase you down to read this. My blurb is true.

Dr. Cat Hicks

Leading the science of software success

drcathicks.com

Cat Hicks@grimalkina.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Today's book post is going to be short and joyful, because we've been learning a lot of science but it's time to ride into the weekend with some celebration. I'd like to share some of the early reviews of The Psychology of Software Teams!! 🥹🥹🥹

I have to admit to you I'm obsessed with this one. 😂🤠 “Dr. Cat Hicks is a category of one. If there are any other psychologists that have devoted their career to researching software practitioners, I am unaware of them" - @charity.wtf , cofounder & CTO at honeycomb.io

i love this. 😭 * Truth is what it is (ideally something we can potentially measure) * Faith is what we believe is true (measurement is always inexact, or delayed, or…) * Beauty is what we’d like Truth to be or become — John Wilkes
(Borg/Omega talks on distributed systems, 2021)

@teqnomad.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Let me squeeze it into here... "Truth is what is - ideally something we can potentially measure. Faith is what we believe is true. (Measurement is always inexact, and delayed, and ...) Beauty is what we'd like Truth to be or become."

"what if we just fix it"

TypeError@fubarchitect.com · 3mo ago

i think @charity.wtf wrote the honeycomb "what if we just fix it" sticker that i can't find a photo of rn, but it splits the difference nicely between 'agency is cheap actually' and 'just doing what we want is where the problems come from'. also the mechanic clown on the sticker helps clarify

Damn, every time I listen to @scalingdevtools.bsky.social I learn something. Another great episode with @charity.wtf: scalingdevtools.com/podcast/epis... Takeaways: - AI is like compilers - Writing is thinking - Developers MUST learn the language of business - AI makes best practices mainstream

After our rousing discussion of pastoralism today I was reminded of this really moving essay by @charity.wtf charity.wtf/2025/07/09/t...

Thoughts on Motivation and My 40-Year Career

I’ve never published an essay quite like this. I’ve written about my life before, reams of stuff actually, because that’s how I process what I think, but never for public consumption. I’ve been pus…

charity.wtf

I swore I was never going to write another book but I can't think of better people to break that promise to than @charity.wtf and @lizthegrey.com. observability engineering, 2nd edition, is out today! go.hny.co/4ex1QUx

Honeycomb’s O’Reilly Book Observability Engineering, 2nd Ed.

Let authors Charity Majors, Liz Fong-Jones, George Miranda, and Austin Parker explain how to apply Observability successfully in your organization.

go.hny.co

Yes.

Jared@jarede.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Hmmm. Now that everyone is using AI to transcribe and record (online) Interviews... do you think it's fair for candidates to ask for a copy of the transcription? cc @charity.wtf

writing my second response on AI, this one on ethics. here's my list, what am I missing? come on bsky, you were built for this day 😉 * datacenters that are too loud and use fresh water * data labeling work that is extractive & exploitative, chasing low pay * models trained on data without consent

this last line is brilliant, and exactly the right way to think about it. curiosity, communication, instrumentation, ownership.. these things do not guarantee great engineering, but they get you the best engineering this team can deliver. 🥂

Fabien Niñoles@ninoles.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I think the relation between them is related to a few shared attitudes: - curiosity - wide knowledge - good and open communication - good instrumentation - share ownership Get this, and although it doesn't guarantee great engineering, it gets you the best engineering the team can deliver.