Certain example embodiments relate to techniques for debugging and/or introspecting an integration deployed in a distributed computing environment. The integration includes operations performable responsive to receipt of instructions from an orchestrating system by public interfaces of computing systems in the distributed computing environment. The orchestrating system is remote from the computing systems. An inverse operation for at least some of the performable operations in the integration is identified. The inverse operations also are performable responsive to receipt of instructions from the orchestrating system by the public interfaces of the computing systems of the distributed computing environment. Each inverse operation reveals, upon its performance, an effect of one or more associated performable operations. The orchestrating system sends instructions to the public interfaces of the computing systems to cause the performable operations and their associated inverse operations, if any, to be performed in parallel with one another, in the debugging and/or introspection.