This was originally published on Oct. 23, 2025, and has been updated with new information.
Software developers’ relationship with their tools is, to say the least, complicated. When tools work well,...
This was originally published on Oct. 23, 2025, and has been updated with new information.
Software developers’ relationship with their tools is, to say the least, complicated. When tools work well, they fade into the background, enabling flow, creativity and speed. They simplify the complex, automate the tedious and help teams deliver better code faster.
But all too often, developer “solutions” are anything but. Many tools are difficult to set up, poorly integrated with existing workflows and overloaded with features that create friction instead of focus. And, according to Dynatrace Principal Developer Advocate Jeff Blankenburg and Principal Product Marketing Manager Sean O’Dell, the result is devs spend more time fighting the tools than solving problems.
During a recent webinar with The New Stack, From Friction to Flow: Shifting How Developers Leverage Observability, Blankenburg and O’Dell explained how observability keeps developers in the flow, spending less time debugging and more time building.
AI and vibe coding have made observability more essential than ever, they explained. When he’s working on AI-assisted code, Blankenburg said, observability means he can “watch the robot and see what it’s doing, see what it’s created, see how that stuff actually works, and be able to understand and predict the things that could potentially go wrong.”
The number one observability focus must be “solving problems before they exist,” he said. Having an observability layer in a web app enables him to “see not only when something went wrong, but how I can anticipate things that might go wrong in the future.”
The Trouble With Tools
For developers, tool sprawl translates into lower productivity, increased frustration and greater risk of burnout. AI-driven development is “a value add… it’s not going to replace an engineer,” O’Dell said. But as developers increasingly embrace AI, “how do we prevent it from becoming another tool … that nobody leverages or doesn’t properly leverage?” he asked.
But AI is also part of the observability conversation. Observability is “thinking about the logs and the traces and the analytics and the metrics that your application is generating and being able to start with those and capture those in a reliable way,” said Blankenburg.
“But where AI really kind of leapfrogs all of this is now the ability to talk to all of that data,”
With AI, “you are basically capable of asking questions of your application: What’s going on with this? Why is this an issue? What’s happening here? If you’re working in your codebase, the same thing applies. Tell me about this page. Tell me about how this file upload works. Whatever it happens to be, that kind of stuff is paramount in building real software that people are going to use,” Blankenburg said.
Shifting the Observability Narrative to DevEx
O’Dell and Blankenburg contend that the developer experience for observability shouldn’t be dictated by tool vendors. It should be shaped by developers; built on the principles of simplicity, automation and integration. The best tools are the ones that get out of the way and empower developers to move faster, with confidence.
If you’re spending more time chasing issues and less time innovating, watch From Friction to Flow: Shifting How Developers Leverage Observability, now available on demand.
Watch the Webinar on Demand
What You’ll Learn
During the webinar, they explored how observability transforms the developer experience from friction-filled to flow-driven. They also showed developers how to advocate for the tools and platforms that help them work more effectively.
By watching, you’ll leave with best practices, real-world examples and actionable tips, including:
Shift the narrative from tool-centric to developer-centric innovation.
Understand how AI and automation are reshaping the developer experience.
Identify key functionality required for seamless, integrated developer workflows.
Bridge the gap between code, debug, observe and deliver phases.
Empower developers to influence the tools and platforms they depend on.
Register for this free webinar today!
The post Unblock DevEx by Getting Observability Tools Out of The Way appeared first on The New Stack.
