https://davidohnstadminnesota.com/why-privacy-first-product-development-is-critical-in-a-post-cookie-world/ Minnesota Outdoors — Hiking, Boundary Waters & North Shore Adventures Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:24:45 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.2 https://davidohnstadminnesota.com/why-privacy-first-product-development-is-critical-in-a-post-cookie-world/#comment-2389 Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:24:45 +0000 https://davidohnstadminnesota.com/?p=61#comment-2389 […] When I’m evaluating whether to invest in an AI feature, I’m less likely to be swayed by “because AI is the future” and more likely to ask: “Will this actually solve a customer problem? Can we explain it? Can we support it? What’s the ROI?” In Silicon Valley, sometimes the narrative comes first and the customer value comes second. Here, it’s the reverse. For more on this, see privacy considerations in product development. […]

]]> https://davidohnstadminnesota.com/why-privacy-first-product-development-is-critical-in-a-post-cookie-world/#comment-2379 Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:20:16 +0000 https://davidohnstadminnesota.com/?p=61#comment-2379 […] A new open-source language model gets released. Suddenly, the approach you spent two quarters designing is no longer optimal. Or your team discovers that a specific AI capability you were planning to build natively is now available through an API that’s cheaper, faster, and more reliable than building it yourself. Or—and this happened to us—you realize that the AI model you were betting on has serious limitations around data privacy that make it unsuitable for your enterprise customers, and you need to pivot entirely. For more on this, see privacy considerations in product planning. […]

]]> https://davidohnstadminnesota.com/why-privacy-first-product-development-is-critical-in-a-post-cookie-world/#comment-2377 Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:19:37 +0000 https://davidohnstadminnesota.com/?p=61#comment-2377 […] Jamf’s growth story is instructive here. The company started by solving a real problem: Apple device management in enterprise environments. They didn’t guess at what enterprises needed. They talked to IT directors, systems administrators, and security teams—over and over. That deep customer understanding informed every feature, every product decision, and ultimately every scaling decision. For more on this, see navigating privacy in product development. […]

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