Re:Fedora considers “privacy-preserving” telemetry
by deafpolygon on Saturday July 08, 2023 @08:06AM
(#36643597)
I think this is a good view and explanation. At the end of the day though, the only thing that matters is what you pointed out:
> But a relationship should be consensual, not forced. I have zero issues with opt-in telemetry. When it's not opt-in, though, it's an invasion and adversarial.
That's it. No matter how many ways you dice it - collecting data without consent or forcing opt-out is an invasion. As more and more of our lives shift to being online, our privacy and our sense of autonomy in a digital world is ever increasingly paramount.
Re:Fedora considers “privacy-preserving” telemetry
by haswell on Saturday July 08, 2023 @10:12AM
(#36644603)
> Not just the PM. The entire company.
Ideally, yes. In practice, and especially in larger shops, it’s the PM’s job to own this relationship and to make sure the important players have this understanding.
> But a relationship should be consensual, not forced.
Absolutely agree here.
Honestly, I can't actually remember specific examples. It's not something I dwell on. But I know that's it's happened several times that software has been made much less useful to me because features have been removed on the basis of being rarely used, ignoring the fact that even though they're rarely needed, when they are needed, they're indispensible.
More often, though, the bad telemetry-based decisions I've seen are around UI changes. Things like a laser-focus on reducing the number of clicks it takes to perform things, even though sometimes reducing the number of clicks for a thing adversely impacts the usability of it.
For bad telemetry-based UI decisions, my standout example if Firefox, although that's hardly the only one.
> But good telemetry in the hands of a good product team can be immensely beneficial for decision making and can protect customers from bad decisions.
This was actually my point of view a few years back, when telemetry started to become popular. And, as a dev who sells software commercially, I totally understand the value on that side. My experience with products that have used it, though, has shifted my view.
All that said, I do agree that it's possible to use telemetry in a way that is good for users. But I don't think it's common, and I think the reason for that is economics and human nature.
Once you start measuring a thing, that tends to become a goal rather than just a data point. And since the industry is all about maximizing velocity, that effect is even stronger. Doing proper usability studies is a slow and expensive process. Telemetry can be a useful thing as part of that process, but the tendency is to make it pretty much the entire process. That does a disservice to everybody.
> the PM understands that data is not an alternative to having a relationship with customers, I think data is pretty important.
Not just the PM. The entire company. But a relationship should be consensual, not forced. I have zero issues with opt-in telemetry. When it's not opt-in, though, it's an invasion and adversarial. I presume that's not the sort of relationship a good PM wants.