[DOCS-11406] Clean up inaccurate mentions of metrics

[rtrieu]

What does this PR do? What is the motivation?

Received internal feedback that "metrics" is being used incorrectly in several areas in ~/browser/data_collected. This is a sweep and check for inaccurate usage of metric/metrics throughout the docs, since metrics now exist with the introduction of RUM without Limits.

Merge instructions

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• Ready for merge

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Additional notes

[github-actions]

✅ Documentation Team Review

The documentation team has approved this pull request. Thank you for your contribution!

[github-actions]

Preview links (active after the build_preview check completes)

Modified Files

• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/browser/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/browser/frustration_signals
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/browser/monitoring_page_performance
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/browser/monitoring_resource_performance
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/browser/optimizing_performance/
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/browser/tracking_user_actions
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/explorer/watchdog_insights
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/guide/compute-apdex-with-rum-data
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/android/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/flutter/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/ios/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/kotlin_multiplatform/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/mobile_vitals/
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/react_native/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/roku/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/mobile_and_tv_monitoring/unity/data_collected
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/platform/dashboards/performance
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/platform/dashboards/testing_and_deployment
• https://docs-staging.datadoghq.com/rtrieu/docs-11406-cleanup-inaccurate-metric-mentions/real_user_monitoring/platform/generate_metrics

[brett0000FF]

Approving this for now so it's not blocked, but I have a suggestion on the terminology.

It looks like the goal was to separate the new RUM without Limits metrics from raw event data, which makes sense. However, completely replacing the word 'metric' might be an overcorrection that makes things less clear for users.

For example, directly replacing metrics with "telemetry" seems a bit too vague. Our users understand telemetry to mean logs, metrics, traces, but in these examples they are still referring to specific metrics.

What if we standardized on this rule instead?

• We keep calling the event-level data (like view.time_spent) metrics.
• We call the aggregated rum.measure.* data Performance Metrics.

I think this would create the intended distinction while still using terms our users know.

[MaelNamNam]

I suggested some changes on /browser/data_collected.md. Could you apply the comments also to the iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, Roku, and Unity pages please?

Thanks a lot 🙇

[brett0000FF]

@MaelNamNam - Thanks for your replies!

That got me thinking some more, so I did some digging. I found that the term measure is already an established concept for a similar idea:

• In Logs, measures are defined as quantitative facets used for aggregation.
• In CI Visibility, users can add custom measures to their pipelines (like dd_measures.binary_size).

With that in mind, it seems like we could adopt this term here? For example:

The RUM SDK generates events that have associated measures and attributes. Measures are quantifiable values (for example, view.time_spent), while attributes are descriptive labels used for filtering (for example, device.type).

What do you think about this? All good either way! Just wanted to offer another idea. Thanks! 🫡

[MaelNamNam]

@brett0000FF measure is not a bad idea, I'm just wondering wether it could cause additional confusion with "RUM Measure", which is one of the new SKUs we introduced with the launch of RUM without Limits.

[brett0000FF]

I'm just wondering wether it could cause additional confusion with "RUM Measure", which is one of the new SKUs we introduced with the launch of RUM without Limits.

@MaelNamNam - Noted! Good point. Our terminology debt definitely makes these challenges tricky. 😅

[MaelNamNam]

Haha and wait till we start tackling miss-usage of tag versus attribute 😱