Telemetry Theater: When More Data Means Worse Decisions

I’ve worked with teams that collect an extraordinary amount of data. Logs, events, traces — everything is captured. The assumption is that more telemetry will eventually make decisions easier.

But when something goes wrong, or when a team wants to answer a practical question, they still find themselves digging. Hours searching through logs. Days stitching together queries. The data exists, but the decision is slow.

Over time, I’ve started to wonder whether the issue isn’t volume — it’s proximity. We tend to centralize intelligence: large models, large dashboards, large data stores. But many operational decisions don’t require perfect information or a complex model. They require a timely one. A small model running close to the source. A simple “next best action” surfaced in the workflow. A rule that handles 80% of cases reliably, even if the remaining 20% require human judgment.

I’ve seen teams hesitate because the data isn’t complete, or the model isn’t perfect. So they escalate decisions upward or delay them entirely. Meanwhile, frontline systems wait for direction. In those moments, a smaller model — or even a well-designed heuristic — could move things forward. Not perfectly, but responsibly. And often that’s enough.

The shift feels less like a technology change and more like a mindset change. Instead of asking, “Do we have all the data?” the question becomes, “Do we have enough signal to act?” Instead of sending everything to a centralized brain, we allow local systems to make bounded decisions and learn from them. When those decisions are visible and measured, the feedback loop tightens.

I’m not suggesting that big models or centralized analytics aren’t valuable. They are. But I’ve started to believe that some of the most practical gains come from distributing intelligence — making smaller, faster decisions closer to where the work happens, and not being paralyzed by imperfect inputs. Sometimes better decisions don’t come from more data. They come from clearer ownership and the confidence to act with what we have.