Observability-First Debugging

Stop guessing. Add observability. Understand what's actually happening.

Core Principle

Measure before you act. When something isn't working, the solution is almost never to guess and try random fixes. The solution is to add instrumentation that produces the specific information needed to fully explain the issue.

The Problem

Agents (and developers) fall into a guess-and-check trap:

• Try something → doesn't work
• Guess what might fix it → doesn't work
• Try another random thing → doesn't work
• User gets frusrtrated as the flailing continues

Why this happens: Insufficient data. You don't know what's actually happening, so you're shooting in the dark.

The Solution