Observability Practical By Samson Tanimawo, PhD Published May 8, 2026 4 min read

Noise vs Coverage: The On-Call Trade-off

Tightening alerts reduces noise but risks missing real incidents. The framework for finding the right balance.

The cost of noise

Sleep loss; alert fatigue; ignored real alerts. The expensive failure mode.

Aim: real-page rate above 70%.

Customer-impacting incidents detected by users instead of alerts.

Aim: external-detected incidents below 5% of total incidents.

Both metrics together drive policy. If noise is too high, tighten. If coverage is bad, loosen or add alerts.

Quarterly review. Traffic shifts; alerts need recalibration.