Need someone to lead product management at your software company? I create software for people that create software and I'm looking for my next opportunity. Check out my resume and get in touch.

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

Security & Privacy

DoubleClick's privacy settlement

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 21 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

DoubleClick has settled a privacy lawsuit with 10 states that arose after DoubleClick purchased Abacus Direct and announced plans to integrate personal information with anonymous clickstream data. ClickZ has a good summary of the issues involved in the case in DoubleClick’s Double Edge:

The states were particularly concerned about merging so-called non-personally identifiable information with personally identifiable information. More specifically, the states were interested in learning what self-reported, observed, and transactional data DoubleClick had access to and ways in which the company was planning on using it to deliver targeted online advertising to consumers.

Also see our article on Web Tracking Networks.

Recently Written

Micromanaging and competence (Jul 2)
Providing feedback or instruction can be seen as micromanagement unless you provide context.
My productivity operating system (Jun 24)
A framework for super-charging productivity on the things that matter.
Great product managers own the outcomes (May 14)
Being a product manager means never having to say, "that's not my job."
Too Big To Fail (Apr 9)
When a company piles resources on a new product idea, it doesn't have room to fail. That keeps it from succeeding.
Go small (Apr 4)
The strengths of a large organization are the opposite of what makes innovation work. Starting something new requires that you start with a small team.
Start with a Belief (Apr 1)
You can't use data to build products unless you start with a hypothesis.
Mastery doesn’t come from perfect planning (Dec 21)
In a ceramics class, one group focused on a single perfect dish, while another made many with no quality focus. The result? A lesson in the value of practice over perfection.
The Dark Side of Input Metrics (Nov 27)
Using input metrics in the wrong way can cause unexpected behaviors, stifled creativity, and micromanagement.

Older...

What I'm Reading