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> Before you embark on a rebuild, you should have solid data (ideally backed up by logs) about which features your users are using, which ones they care about,

> Before you embark on a rebuild, you should have solid data (ideally backed up by logs) about which features your users are using, which ones they care about, which ones are "nice to haves", which ones were very necessary to get to the stage you're at now but have lost their importance in the current business environment, and which ones were outright mistakes. This is so important. I've been on many a project where, 3 months in, we wish we had historical tracking data on user activity to back up our instincts to cut a particular feature that seems worthless. The worst part? Even if you add it immediately, you'll have to wait 2-4 weeks to get a sufficient amount of data.

manicdee 8y ago
Also important to realise that a feature that is rarely used (view history, remove user) might be more important than one used more often (dashboard widget that nobody pays attention to)
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  Yup; statistics are only part of the picture and value of a story. Compliancy is another one for example; sure, few people will use the 'download all my data' and 'delete my account' options, but they're mandatory for GDPR compliance and not offering them may cause a huge fine. There's a lot of these compliancy features.
kornish 8y ago
> The worst part? Even if you add it immediately, you'll have to wait 2-4 weeks to get a sufficient amount of data. I think this was the problem a product like Heap [1] was designed to solve: just track all user actions, forever, and then assign pipelines after the fact based on what you want to check up on. Don't work at Heap or anything, just love the team and product. [1]: https://heapanalytics.com/ https://heapanalytics.com/
- civilitty 8y ago
  Any solutions (technical or procedural) that are capable of maintaining user privacy? I don't think "just track all user actions, forever" is going to be a legally defensible solution for much longer, even in the US.
  - kornish 8y ago
    Tracking events without user IDs would still allow for aggregate feature usage tracking. Out of interest, what makes you think that an application won't legally be able to record the ways in which a user interacts with that application? Obviously I'm not speaking for Heap; just curious.
    - CalRobert 8y ago
      We need case law to settle the matter but in general, the GDPR indicates that if you don't need to collect the data in order to perform the requested activity, you need explicit consent for collecting it, and will be held to a high standard in court if this every comes in to question.
      - kornish 8y ago
        Very good to know. Correct me if I'm wrong - seems like anonymizing the usage data complies with the GDPR, and thus the grandparent post still stands.
        noir_lord 8y ago
        As long as you anonymise in a way that you can't de-anonymise it should be OK.
        wierd0 8y ago
        >>it seems/should GDPR, I'm hoping that I don't have to bother my users with a "do you consent to" popup when the only thing I want to do is to log server-side the API calls so that I can see patterns in usage and such. If I were to show such a "do you consent to" popup users might mistakenly think I'm one of those techcrunchers with hundreds of data partners that all get to see your PII. I do not want to affiliate myself with those type of actors. Anonymously of course. Should be fine, yeah?

manicdee 8y ago

Also important to realise that a feature that is rarely used (view history, remove user) might be more important than one used more often (dashboard widget that nobody pays attention to)

Cthulhu_ 8y ago
Yup; statistics are only part of the picture and value of a story. Compliancy is another one for example; sure, few people will use the 'download all my data' and 'delete my account' options, but they're mandatory for GDPR compliance and not offering them may cause a huge fine. There's a lot of these compliancy features.

kornish 8y ago

> The worst part? Even if you add it immediately, you'll have to wait 2-4 weeks to get a sufficient amount of data. I think this was the problem a product like Heap [1] was designed to solve: just track all user actions, forever, and then assign pipelines after the fact based on what you want to check up on. Don't work at Heap or anything, just love the team and product. [1]: https://heapanalytics.com/ https://heapanalytics.com/

civilitty 8y ago
Any solutions (technical or procedural) that are capable of maintaining user privacy? I don't think "just track all user actions, forever" is going to be a legally defensible solution for much longer, even in the US.
- kornish 8y ago
  Tracking events without user IDs would still allow for aggregate feature usage tracking. Out of interest, what makes you think that an application won't legally be able to record the ways in which a user interacts with that application? Obviously I'm not speaking for Heap; just curious.
  - CalRobert 8y ago
    We need case law to settle the matter but in general, the GDPR indicates that if you don't need to collect the data in order to perform the requested activity, you need explicit consent for collecting it, and will be held to a high standard in court if this every comes in to question.
    - kornish 8y ago
      Very good to know. Correct me if I'm wrong - seems like anonymizing the usage data complies with the GDPR, and thus the grandparent post still stands.
      - noir_lord 8y ago
        As long as you anonymise in a way that you can't de-anonymise it should be OK.
        wierd0 8y ago
        >>it seems/should GDPR, I'm hoping that I don't have to bother my users with a "do you consent to" popup when the only thing I want to do is to log server-side the API calls so that I can see patterns in usage and such. If I were to show such a "do you consent to" popup users might mistakenly think I'm one of those techcrunchers with hundreds of data partners that all get to see your PII. I do not want to affiliate myself with those type of actors. Anonymously of course. Should be fine, yeah?