Microservices rules #11: Track and improve metrics
architecting microservices rulesExplore DDD workshop, April 14-15, 2025, Denver - Designing microservices: responsibilities, APIs and collaborations. Early bird discount ends March 7th. Learn more and enroll.
This is another article in the series about microservices rules: what good looks like, which are a set of principles and practices for using microservices effectively. The other articles about microservices rules are:
- Microservices rules #1 - continuous delivery/deployment
- Microservices rules #2: Implement fast, automated deployment pipelines
- Microservices rules #3: Apply Team Topologies
- Microservices rules #5: Deliberative design
- Microservices rules #10: Big/risky change => smaller/safer and (ideally easily) reversible changes - part 1 - incremental architecture modernization, part 2 - continuous deployment, part 3 - canary releases, part 4 - incrementally migrating users
Using the microservice architecture can be challenging. You must make many architectural design decisions that can be very consequential, even small missteps can have far-reaching impacts. You can minimize the risk of making bad decisions by using Microservices rules #5: Deliberative design and Microservices rules #10: Make smaller, safer, and reversible changes. But there’s always a chance that something will go wrong, especially if it’s your first time using microservices. Consequently, it’s essential to follow Microservices rules #11: Track and improve metrics.
In this article, I outline three key categories of metrics you should track to ensure your microservices development stays on course.