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1.3. Asking your first question

From a suggested question through to the answer

If you are not sure what to ask, do not type anything yet — press one of the suggested questions first.

Suggested questions​

When you open the chat window, a few questions appear as buttons under the greeting. Pressing one fills the input box. It is not sent straight away, so you can edit it before sending.

Suggested questions follow the tools you selected​

This catches people out if they do not know it.

The suggested questions change with the tools you select

If you see no suggested questions at all, you have not selected a tool. Select at least one in the tool selector above the input box.

Select several and you get the questions for each area together.

When you type it yourself — just three things​

One. Say what it is about​

Without a subject, the widget has to ask you back.

Not thisThis
"How is the response time?""How is <app name>'s response time?"
"The pod won't start""The <app name> pod in the prod namespace won't start"
"This query is slow""This query is slow on <DB name> — SELECT …"

Two. Say when​

A question about metrics needs a time.

"yesterday afternoon" · "the last hour" · "over three days"

Three. Say what you want to know​

The same subject gives different answers depending on what you ask.

What you wantAsk like this
Current state"…how is it?"
Cause"…why did it get slow?"
What comes next"…when will it hit the limit?"
Whether anything is off"…is there anything unusual?"

If there is a button, use the button​

For charts, resources, logs and SQL, do not type — press the AI button next to them.

Three things are handed over automatically.

  • What you were looking at (the subject)
  • The values currently on screen
  • The analysis instructions for that kind of data

You get a more accurate answer than by typing the same question. Part 6 covers where the buttons are in each console.

While the answer is coming​

  • The Send button becomes Stop response
  • The answer arrives a piece at a time
  • If it is going the wrong way, stop it and ask again

Questions that query several metrics take a while, because the widget queries, calculates and draws in sequence.

After you get an answer​

You can keep asking​

It remembers your previous question, so you do not have to name the subject again.

"How was <app name>'s response time yesterday?" → "And what about CPU at that time?"

New chat when the subject changes​

When you want to ask about something entirely different, press New chat in the header. Otherwise the earlier conversation can pull the answer in the wrong direction.

If you do not trust the answer​

Look at the charts and tables that came with it. The figures are more precise than the prose.

If a number looks wrong, narrow the time range and ask again.

Things to try on your first day​

  1. Select one tool and press a suggested question
  2. Open a chart and press its AI button
  3. Turn on Always on top (the pin) in the header, then work in the console while reading an answer

Once you have done these three, the rest works much the same way.

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