11. Empathy for Everyone

A great man once said, “If empathy for the users is the key to a product’s success, then empathy for your team is the key to getting a great product shipped.” As UX designers we talk a lot about empathy for the end users- getting in their head, understanding their perspective and reasoning, and creating an experience that exceeds their expectations. But how often do we attempt to do the same for our own team? For the stakeholder that always disagrees with us, the product manager that’s always asking for things out of the blue, or the developer who always pushes back on that fancy new design? Understanding our teammate’s perspective and how they see the product, creating a shared understanding and shared experiences fosters better relationships. It allows us to work more closely together with fewer conflicts. It increases overall team health, which allows us to work more collaboratively and ultimately, more efficiently. It just makes work way more pleasant overall. Topics:• 01:58 – Jeremy’s words of wisdom• 03:32 – Daniel’s words of wisdom• 05:10 – It’s like when you really want pizza• 05:58 – Be intelligent with your empathy• 08:30 – How do your decisions impact your team?• 10:15 – Tom’s words of wisdom• 11:16 – User stories for your team• 13:25 – Set expectations for responsibilities• 14:20 – Respect your teammate’s skills• 16:10 – Team user stories can help identify Overlaps• 17:10 – Derek’s words of wisdom• 20:16 – Sharing empathy with your team creates less chaos• 22:05 – Recommendations• 27:03 – An ode to bigbrother82 Helpful Links:• Stakeholders are People Too• Behavior Driven Development• Why Empathy is the Secret Sauce for Good Software Development• The five keys to a successful Google team• Episode 10. Interview: Tom Greever —– Thanks for listening! We hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you liked what you heard, be sure to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! If you enjoyed today’s episode, please leave a comment and a five-star review. It helps us out a ton. If you haven’t already, sign up for our email list. We won’t spam you. Pinky swear. • Check out our website • Follow us on twitter • Find us on Facebook •