Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
OpenTelemetry has officially graduated from the CNCF! In this episode of the Grafana OTel Community Call, we are celebrating this milestone by looking back at the project's journey, evaluating the current state of its signals, and discussing what this long-term stability means for the future. We will also explore what lies ahead on the project roadmap and where the community needs contributors next.
Guests: Marylia Gutierrez (linkedin.com/in/maryliag/), Ted Young (linkedin.com/in/ted-young/), and Tiffany Hrabusa (linkedin.com/in/tiffany-hrabusa/),
Hosts: Nicole van der Hoeven (linkedin.com/in/nvanderhoeven/), Tiffany Jernigan (linkedin.com/in/tiffanyfayj/), and Imma Valls (linkedin.com/in/imma-valls/)
Join the conversation, bring your questions, and if it sparks something for you, jump in and help us build and improve OpenTelemetry together.
#opentelemetry #grafana #observability
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Welcome and host intros
1:20 Meet the guests: Tiffany, Ted and Marylia
2:27 Why it's called "graduation"
3:04 CNCF maturity levels: sandbox, incubating, graduated
5:17 The timeline: sandbox in 2019, graduated in 2026
6:55 Is OpenTelemetry now the de facto observability standard?
9:11 Second largest CNCF project: contributors and adopters
10:40 Vendor neutrality as a graduation criterion
12:17 Earning a status: triager, approver, maintainer
14:16 How to get noticed: review PRs and help the small SIGs
15:36 Why AI-generated contributions won't earn you a status
17:28 Documentation requirements for graduation
19:42 Findability and the Ecosystem Explorer
20:15 What semantic conventions actually are
24:03 Stability, 0.x versions and the CNCF's versioning feedback
30:51 Boring by design: how OpenTelemetry got its name
33:21 Signal stability: traces, metrics and logs
35:04 Where profiling fits in
36:24 Baggage: the fourth stable signal and what it's for
40:27 Measuring adoption and localizing the docs
42:01 Blueprints: guidance for complex production environments
43:55 AI and OpenTelemetry: the GenAI SIG
45:47 AI-assisted maintenance, Weaver and spec-driven instrumentation
47:18 AI slop, maintainer load and contributor empathy
50:03 Post-graduation roadmap: stability, deployment, security
53:07 Ease of use and declarative configuration
54:40 How we got started
1:04:32 Graduation isn't the finish line
OpenTelemetry has officially graduated from the CNCF! In this episode of the Grafana OTel Community Call, we are celebrating this milestone by looking back at the project's journey, evaluating the current state of its signals, and discussing what this long-term stability means for the future. We will also explore what lies ahead on the project roadmap and where the community needs contributors next.
Guests: Marylia Gutierrez (linkedin.com/in/maryliag/), Ted Young (linkedin.com/in/ted-young/), and Tiffany Hrabusa (linkedin.com/in/tiffany-hrabusa/),
Hosts: Nicole van der Hoeven (linkedin.com/in/nvanderhoeven/), Tiffany Jernigan (linkedin.com/in/tiffanyfayj/), and Imma Valls (linkedin.com/in/imma-valls/)
Join the conversation, bring your questions, and if it sparks something for you, jump in and help us build and improve OpenTelemetry together.
#opentelemetry #grafana #observability
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Welcome and host intros
1:20 Meet the guests: Tiffany, Ted and Marylia
2:27 Why it's called "graduation"
3:04 CNCF maturity levels: sandbox, incubating, graduated
5:17 The timeline: sandbox in 2019, graduated in 2026
6:55 Is OpenTelemetry now the de facto observability standard?
9:11 Second largest CNCF project: contributors and adopters
10:40 Vendor neutrality as a graduation criterion
12:17 Earning a status: triager, approver, maintainer
14:16 How to get noticed: review PRs and help the small SIGs
15:36 Why AI-generated contributions won't earn you a status
17:28 Documentation requirements for graduation
19:42 Findability and the Ecosystem Explorer
20:15 What semantic conventions actually are
24:03 Stability, 0.x versions and the CNCF's versioning feedback
30:51 Boring by design: how OpenTelemetry got its name
33:21 Signal stability: traces, metrics and logs
35:04 Where profiling fits in
36:24 Baggage: the fourth stable signal and what it's for
40:27 Measuring adoption and localizing the docs
42:01 Blueprints: guidance for complex production environments
43:55 AI and OpenTelemetry: the GenAI SIG
45:47 AI-assisted maintenance, Weaver and spec-driven instrumentation
47:18 AI slop, maintainer load and contributor empathy
50:03 Post-graduation roadmap: stability, deployment, security
53:07 Ease of use and declarative configuration
54:40 How we got started
1:04:32 Graduation isn't the finish line
