Classification Notice for Log Search Optimism
The search began with confidence. The search has returned 47,000 lines. The search needs to be more specific. The search was already specific.
CLASSIFICATION NOTICE RE: Log search optimism TYPE: Sequential specificity reduction
The Initial Search
The search began with the keyword "error" in the last two hours. This was a reasonable starting point. Errors are what was being looked for.
The search returned 47,000 lines.
47,000 lines represents two hours of errors across all services that write to this log destination. Some lines are noise. Some are expected errors. Some are the relevant ones. The ratio of relevant to total is not immediately known.
The Refinement
The search was refined with the service name. This is correct behavior: the error is in a known service. Specifying the service reduces the scope.
The search returned 3,200 lines. Still too many to read.
The Further Refinement
A timestamp range was added: the fifteen minutes around when the error was first observed.
The search returned 847 lines. Getting closer.
The Arrival
A specific error message, known from the user report, was added.
The search returned 12 lines. The error was on line 4 of those 12. The line showed the stack trace, the request ID, and the timestamp.
The Pattern
The log search began optimistically with broad terms and required four refinements to reach the target. The refinements were correct and were the correct process.
The optimism at the start ("searching for errors") was accurate in direction and inaccurate in scope. The accuracy improved as scope was reduced.
This is the log search pattern. It will be the same next time. The number of refinements required will be between two and five. The error will be there.