SYSE.36:1 - Problem frame

Use this pattern when a software service looks healthy in its infrastructure dashboard while users cannot complete their tasks, or when a reliability target exists without an agreed meaning or response. Start with one named service, its users, configuration and task class, then define what a good result means to those users.

Apply the Method separately to a platform service used by developers and to an application used by its own users. Neither measurement supplies the other’s. The first result is a task-level measurement definition and exercised instrumentation, or an exact measurement gap. A service-level objective, SLO, additionally needs an agreed target, time/event basis and policy for acting on the resulting error budget.

If adequate measurement and an agreed objective already exist, use them for the relevant decision. A one-off correctness check need not become a permanent SLO. This pattern does not define the application’s business meaning, certify every use of the service or turn reliability into a complete measure of user value.