SRE and IT Operations play a critical role in ensuring reliable, high-performance applications. Yet, SREs (Site Reliability Engineers) often face ‘thrown-over-the-wall’ code deployments to operate without having insights into the code-level features. In my previous article (“Is your Java Observability tool Lambda Expressions aware?”), I delved into one such code-level feature: Java lambda expressions which replace anonymous inner classes.

Welcome to the Tech Garden, a place where our monitoring tools, like to diverse flora, contribute to a thriving digital ecosystem. Our journey starts with the foundational roots of Application Performance Monitoring (APM), crucial for initial growth and stability, like the roots beneath our fruit trees.

In twenty years of software development, I did not have the privilege of being on call, of tending to my software in production. I’ve never understood what “APM” means. Anybody can tell me what it stands for—Application Performance Monitoring (or sometimes, the M means Management)—but what does it mean? What do people use APM for?

Applications serve as the backbone of countless operations, driving productivity, customer experience and business success. Tracking and managing their performance is therefore critical to maintain continuity and efficiency, enabling IT teams to proactively identify and resolve issues before they lead to downtime and potential revenue loss. That’s where application performance monitoring (APM) comes in.

Every business is a software business. And by software, we don’t mean code—we mean running software serving customers in production. Those customers may be internal to the company, they may pay you money, or they may represent attention that increases ad revenue—either way, making them happy is your business. And your fast, reliable software makes them happy. Application performance monitoring, also known as APM, represents the difference between code and running software.