Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In this episode of Grafana’s Big Tent, Grafana founder Torkel Ödegaard joins Mat Ryer and Tom Wilkie for a wide-ranging conversation about how Grafana began, why design and usability mattered from day one, and how the project evolved into a platform used by tens of millions — from developers to power stations and even space missions.
The discussion digs into the philosophy behind Grafana’s growth, what it’s like to maintain an open source codebase for over a decade, and how those early decisions shaped Grafana 12. Along the way, Torkel and Ryan McKinley break down the biggest ideas behind the latest release, including dashboards as code, schema-first APIs, Git sync, new dashboard layouts, SQL expressions, drill-down apps, and the new Grafana assistant.
This episode is part origin story, part deep technical dive — and a look at where Grafana is headed next.
Timestamps:
3:10 — Why Grafana was originally built
8:00 — Why design and usability mattered from day one
10:05 — 12 years of Grafana and what it takes to maintain it
14:45 — What drove Grafana’s growth and adoption
15:20 — Grafana 12 overview
16:25 — Dashboards as code and schema-first APIs
18:10 — Git sync, governance, and safer dashboard workflows
20:10 — Drill-down apps and lowering the learning curve
30:00 — New dashboard layouts, conditional panels, and tabs (experimental)
47:15 — SQL expressions and joining data across sources
50:45 — SCIM, identity sync, and enterprise authentication
56:30 — What’s next for Grafana: APIs, UI, and AI
Links/resources:
Learn more about Grafana's Big Tent: https://bigtent.fm/
Get started with the Grafana Cloud forever-free tier: grafana.com/g/cloud
Have a question? Ask Grot, your AI helper: grafana.com/grot
Reach out in our community forums: https://gra.fan/communityyf
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Thanks for watching!
👍 Was this video helpful? Like and subscribe to our channel for more videos.
Connect with Grafana Labs:
X: (twitter.com/grafana)
LinkedIn: (linkedin.com/company/grafana-labs/)
Facebook: (facebook.com/grafana)
#Grafana #Observability
In this episode of Grafana’s Big Tent, Grafana founder Torkel Ödegaard joins Mat Ryer and Tom Wilkie for a wide-ranging conversation about how Grafana began, why design and usability mattered from day one, and how the project evolved into a platform used by tens of millions — from developers to power stations and even space missions.
The discussion digs into the philosophy behind Grafana’s growth, what it’s like to maintain an open source codebase for over a decade, and how those early decisions shaped Grafana 12. Along the way, Torkel and Ryan McKinley break down the biggest ideas behind the latest release, including dashboards as code, schema-first APIs, Git sync, new dashboard layouts, SQL expressions, drill-down apps, and the new Grafana assistant.
This episode is part origin story, part deep technical dive — and a look at where Grafana is headed next.
Timestamps:
3:10 — Why Grafana was originally built
8:00 — Why design and usability mattered from day one
10:05 — 12 years of Grafana and what it takes to maintain it
14:45 — What drove Grafana’s growth and adoption
15:20 — Grafana 12 overview
16:25 — Dashboards as code and schema-first APIs
18:10 — Git sync, governance, and safer dashboard workflows
20:10 — Drill-down apps and lowering the learning curve
30:00 — New dashboard layouts, conditional panels, and tabs (experimental)
47:15 — SQL expressions and joining data across sources
50:45 — SCIM, identity sync, and enterprise authentication
56:30 — What’s next for Grafana: APIs, UI, and AI
Links/resources:
Learn more about Grafana's Big Tent: https://bigtent.fm/
Get started with the Grafana Cloud forever-free tier: grafana.com/g/cloud
Have a question? Ask Grot, your AI helper: grafana.com/grot
Reach out in our community forums: https://gra.fan/communityyf
---
Thanks for watching!
👍 Was this video helpful? Like and subscribe to our channel for more videos.
Connect with Grafana Labs:
X: (twitter.com/grafana)
LinkedIn: (linkedin.com/company/grafana-labs/)
Facebook: (facebook.com/grafana)
#Grafana #Observability
