When you build software, you add little hooks into the code so that, as users open a window, tap a picture, upload a file, the code tattles on them, sending some of their data to another company’s server. Log data is sowed; reports are reaped. This is known as “analytics” or, if there are people with advanced degrees involved, “data science.”
I cofounded a software company, like a doofus, so I attend a weekly analytics meeting. I nod at the Zoom camera and say things like “Not surprising to see that drop-off” or “Promising, but let’s keep our focus on the people who aren’t engaged.” My cofounder runs “product”; I’m
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