Date: Mon, 08 Jun 2020 07:00:00 -0400
<div class="wp-block-jetpack-markdown"><h3>Summary</h3> <p>You spend a lot of time and energy on building a great application, but do you know how it’s actually being used? Using a product analytics tool lets you gain visibility into what your users find helpful so that you can prioritize feature development and optimize customer experience. In this episode PostHog CTO Tim Glaser shares his experience building an open source product analytics platform to make it easier and more accessible to understand your product. He shares the story of how and why PostHog was created, how to incorporate it into your projects, the benefits of providing it as open source, and how it is implemented. If you are tired of fighting with your user analytics tools, or unwilling to entrust your data to a third party, then have a listen and then test out PostHog for yourself.</p> <h3>Announcements</h3> <ul> <li>Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.</li> <li>When you’re ready to launch your next app or want to try a project you hear about on the show, you’ll need somewhere to deploy it, so take a look at our friends over at Linode. With the launch of their managed Kubernetes platform it’s easy to get started with the next generation of deployment and scaling, powered by the battle tested Linode platform, including simple pricing, node balancers, 40Gbit networking, dedicated CPU and GPU instances, and worldwide data centers. Go to <a href="https://www.pythonpodcast.com/linode?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">pythonpodcast.com/linode</a> and get a $60 credit to try out a Kubernetes cluster of your own. And don’t forget to thank them for their continued support of this show!</li> <li>You listen to this show because you love Python and want to keep your skills up to date, and machine learning is finding its way into every aspect of software engineering. Springboard has partnered with us to help you take the next step in your career by offering a scholarship to their Machine Learning Engineering career track program. In this online, project-based course every student is paired with a Machine Learning expert who provides unlimited 1:1 mentorship support throughout the program via video conferences. You’ll build up your portfolio of machine learning projects and gain hands-on experience in writing machine learning algorithms, deploying models into production, and managing the lifecycle of a deep learning prototype. Springboard offers a job guarantee, meaning that you don’t have to pay for the program until you get a job in the space. Podcast.__init__ is exclusively offering listeners 20 scholarships of $500 to eligible applicants. It only takes 10 minutes and there’s no obligation. Go to <a href="https://www.pythonpodcast.com/springboard?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">pythonpodcast.com/springboard</a> and apply today! Make sure to use the code <em>AISPRINGBOARD</em> when you enroll.</li> <li>Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Tim Glaser about PostHog, an open source platform for product analytics</li> </ul> <h3>Interview</h3> <ul> <li>Introductions</li> <li>How did you get introduced to Python?</li> <li>Can you start by describing what PostHog is and what motivated you to build it?</li> <li>What are the goals of PostHog and who are the target audience?</li> <li>In the description of PostHog it mentions being a product focused analytics platform, as opposed to session based. What are the meaningful differences between the two?</li> <li>Customer analytics is a rather crowded market, with a large number of both commercial and open source offerings (e.g. Google Analytics, Heap, Matomo, Snowplow, etc.). How does PostHog fit in that landscape and what are the differentiating factors that would lead someone to select it over the alternativs?</li> <li>For anyone interested in using PostHog, do you offer a migration path from other platforms?</li> <li>necessary features for a customer analytics tool</li> <li>privacy and security issues around analytics</li> <li>How is PostHog implemented and how has its design evolved since you first began building it? <ul> <li>reason for choosing Python</li> <li>benefits of Django</li> </ul> </li> <li>thoughts on introducing Channels</li> <li>option to include it as a pluggable Django app</li> <li>integration points</li> <li>data lake integration</li> <li>challenges of providing understandable statistics and exposing options for detailed analysis</li> <li>Having data about how users are interacting with your site or application is interesting, but how does it help in determining the useful actions to drive success?</li> <li>business model and project governance</li> <li>What are the most complex, complicated, or misunderstood aspects of building a product analytics platform?</li> <li>What have you found to be the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you have learned in the process of building PostHog?</li> <li>When is PostHog the wrong choice?</li> <li>What do you have planned for the future of PostHog?</li> </ul> <h3>Keep In Touch</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://github.com/timgl?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">timgl</a> on GitHub</li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/timgl/?originalSubdomain=uk&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/timgl?lang=en&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@timgl</a> on Twitter</li> </ul> <h3>Picks</h3> <ul> <li>Tobias <ul> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Tim <ul> <li><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/303439/triumph-of-the-city-by-edward-glaeser/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Triumph Of The City</a> by Edward Glaeser</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3>Closing Announcements</h3> <ul> <li>Thank you for listening! Don’t forget to check out our other show, the <a href="https://feeds.fireside.fm/pythonpodcast/rss">Data Engineering Podcast</a> for the latest on modern data management.</li> <li>Visit the <a href="https://www.pythonpodcast.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">site</a> to subscribe to the show, sign up for the mailing list, and read the show notes.</li> <li>If you’ve learned something or tried out a project from the show then tell us about it! Email <a href="mailto:hosts@podcastinit.com">hosts@podcastinit.com</a>) with your story.</li> <li>To help other people find the show please leave a review on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast.-init/id981834425?mt=2&uo=6&at=&ct=&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">iTunes</a> and tell your friends and co-workers</li> <li>Join the community in the new Zulip chat workspace at <a href="https://www.pythonpodcast.com/chat?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">pythonpodcast.com/chat</a></li> </ul> <h3>Links</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://posthog.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">PostHog</a></li> <li><a href="https://mixpanel.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">MixPanel</a></li> <li><a href="https://amplitude.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Amplitude</a></li> <li><a href="https://heap.io/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Heap</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/heap-with-dan-robinson-episode-36/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Data Engineering Podcast Episode</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://snowplowanalytics.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Snowplow</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/snowplow-with-alexander-dean-episode-48/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Data Engineering Podcast Episode</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://looker.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Looker</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/looker-with-daniel-mintz-episode-55/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Data Engineering Podcast Episode</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://www.snowflake.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">SnowflakeDB</a> <ul> <li><a 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state management for React.js</li> <li><a href="https://react-redux.js.org/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Redux</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.typescriptlang.org/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">TypeScript</a></li> <li><a href="https://pypi.org/project/django-stubs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Django Stubs</a></li> <li><a href="https://channels.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Django Channels</a></li> <li><a href="https://sentry.io/welcome/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Sentry</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.pythonpodcast.com/episode-61-sentry-with-david-cramer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">Podcast Episode</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/intro/reusable-apps/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Pluggable Django App</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/postgresql-with-jonathan-katz-episode-42/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">PostgreSQL</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extract,_load,_transform?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">ELT</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_lake?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Data Lake</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.optimizely.com/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Optimizely</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_toggle?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Feature Flags</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.pythonpodcast.com/feature-flags-episode-239/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">Podcast Episode</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://posthog.com/handbook/strategy/roadmap?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">PostHog Roadmap</a></li> <li><a href="https://posthog.com/handbook?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">PostHog Employee Handbook</a></li> <li><a href="https://matomo.org/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Matomo</a> (formerly Piwik)</li> </ul> <p>The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Freak_Fandango_Orchestra/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Freak Fandango Orchestra</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">CC BY-SA</a></p> </div> <img alt="" height="0" src="https://analytics.boundlessnotions.com/piwik.php?idsite=1&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pythonpodcast.com%2Fposthog-product-analytics-episode-266%2F&action_name=Open+Source+Product+Analytics+With+PostHog+-+Episode+266&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pythonpodcast.com%2Ffeed%2F&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" style="border: 0; width: 0; 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