Telemetry and Observability Explained: The Data Product Teams Miss (and Why It Matters)

When a new feature flops or user engagement mysteriously tanks, product teams often find themselves in a familiar spot: scratching their heads, wondering what went wrong.

Was the feature not intuitive? Was the value unclear? Or did the product just not work?

The truth is, most teams don’t have a clear view of what really happened.  Not because they’re not talented, but because they’re missing the visibility. They know what happened, but they don’t understand why. And in fast-moving environments where priorities shift quickly, why is everything.

That’s where telemetry and observability come in.

In this article (and in our latest episode of the Product Builders Podcast), we break it all down with Andrew Tunall, President and CPO of Embrace. We explore what these terms mean, why they matter across all functions (not just engineering), and how the best teams are using them to get closer to the user and build better products as a result.‍

What Are We Even Talking About? A Friendly Guide to Telemetry and Observability

Let’s start with the basics. You don’t need to be a platform engineer to understand this stuff, promise. 🤞

Imagine you’re driving and something feels off. The engine sputters, and a warning light flashes. The car’s telling you something. That’s telemetry: your product’s way of sending signals about what’s happening under the hood. In the context of digital products, telemetry can include:

• How long a screen takes to load
• Whether a feature triggers an error
• What users tap, swipe, or ignore

It’s the automatic collection of data from your product — things like errors, performance metrics, user actions, and system health. This data is sent (“tele-metered”) back to the team so they can analyze how the app is behaving.

But data without context isn’t super helpful. Observability is about connecting the dots. If your app is a car, mobile observability is the dashboard that tells you what’s going on while people are driving it.

• It lets you see inside your mobile app after it’s out in the world.
• It tracks things like crashes, slow load times, bugs, or even battery drain.
• It helps teams understand how users are actually experiencing the app, not just whether the app is working technically, but whether it’s working well for real people.

Together, telemetry and observability give you a complete picture of product performance. And they’re not just for engineers debugging code. They’re for anyone trying to build a better experience.

‍Why Product Teams Can't Afford to Ignore This Data‍

Product decisions should be rooted in reality, not guesswork. But when you're only looking at what users did, and not why, you're flying blind.

Let's say you launch a new feature and nobody uses it. The assumption might be: users didn't like it. But what if they never even saw it? What if the screen timed out? Or the feature never loaded properly? What if it crashed? Or was buried three clicks deep?

Without telemetry and observability, you don't know if the problem is experience, execution, or performance.

As Andrew put it:‍

"If you don't understand the difference between them not engaging because the product doesn't work, and them not engaging because they don't like the product, you don't know where to spend your time."

This insight hits especially hard for product and design teams, who often rely on behavioral analytics (like funnels or heatmaps) to explain what users are doing. But as Andrew pointed out, traditional analytics tools only tell you what happened, not why. That's the gap observability fills. It connects product behavior to technical performance, so you can stop guessing and start prioritizing what matters.

‍From Siloed Data to Cross-Team Collaboration

Historically, observability tools lived in engineering. They were used to monitor backend systems and debug issues. But today, user experience spans every team, and so should performance insights. Users judge an experience not just by how it looks or what it does, but by how fast, seamless, and reliable it feels. That means every team — product, design, DevOps, marketing — needs to pay attention to performance.

Everyone on the team needs to see and interpret performance data. Why?

• Product managers need to know if a release introduces new friction
• Designers need to know if users have seen and interacted with their work
• Business leads need to understand where drop-offs happen and why

When everyone can see the same user-focused telemetry and interpret it through the same lens, collaboration gets easier. You stop pointing fingers. You start solving real problems. Together.

Andrew calls this a shift toward user-centered observability, and it's helping teams break down silos and align around KPIs that actually reflect user experience. And in a hybrid world where teams are distributed, timelines are compressed, and communication breakdowns are common, data is the great unifier.‍

How To Build a Culture of Observability

Good news: building a culture of observability doesn’t mean adopting a dozen new tools or spinning up a brand-new team. You don’t need to be a massive tech org to get started with observability. And you definitely don’t need to rip up your current process. It starts with curiosity and a willingness to ask better questions.

Instead of asking:
‍“Did we ship the feature?”

Start asking:
“Did it work the way we intended — for the people we built it for?”

Here are a few ways teams can build this mindset into their workflow:

🔎 Watch user behavior, not just error logs
Focus on how users move through the product, not just where errors occur. Where are people dropping off? What’s being seen or tapped?

🧩 Get teams looking at the same data
Give product, design and engineering access to the same metrics so they can spot patterns together. If you’re all trying to solve the same problem, start with the same source of truth. Shared dashboards = shared insights.

⚡Design for performance, not just aesthetics
A beautiful UI that takes forever to load still loses users. Reliability is part of the experience. Design experiences that are not only attractive but also fast and reliable.

🛠️ Start with lightweight tools
You don’t need a NASA-level setup. Even simple dashboards and tools can reveal big insights fast.

📊 Use data as a design input
Let telemetry guide prioritization, shape UX decisions, and bring clarity to cross-team discussions.

‍Observability Is the Feedback Loop You’ve Been Missing

In today’s shipping-obsessed culture, speed is everything. But speed without feedback? That’s how broken experiences reach users.

Telemetry gives your team real-time visibility. Observability turns that data into understanding. Together, they create a continuous loop of learning and iteration. The best teams aren’t just pushing features live. They’re watching, adjusting, and improving — fast.

If you’re serious about building better products, it’s time to start asking better questions. If you're eager to learn more or have any questions, give us a shout! We're always here to help.