A system for determining a root cause of a performance issue of a software application executing in a distributed computer system. The system includes constructing a hierarchical graph of metrics of a component of the distributed computer system based on search traces of the metrics of different users. A parent-child edge between a first metric and a second metric in the hierarchical graph is constructed when there is a sequential association between the search traces. A sibling edge between the first metric and the second metric in the hierarchical graph is constructed when there is no sequential association between the search traces. A metric investigation recommendation is provided to address the performance issue based on traversal of the hierarchical graph of the metrics.