BJ -Developing Empathetic Programmers: Reflections

bj-prework-task-c-reflections.md

1. Empathy plays a central role in my life. It is what enables me to foster friendships, create new relationships and effectively collaborate professionally. It is something I have always valued but in my daily life it is most useful when interacting with my significant other of almost 9 years. Empathy is what allows us to stay connected and understand how our behaviors are affecting the relationship and each other. It is what allows us to argue but still reach resolutions and compromises. It is the most effective tool in staying happy and in love.

2. As outlined in ‘Why Is Empathy Essential for Design’ this practice is vital to creating quality software, or really quality anything. It is what allows a software designer to keep the end user in mind and not approach the task at hand as an automaton. By designing software with an empathetic approach one can avoid preconceived notions that may not be a priority for users. Similarly it can prevent wasted resources by preventing the creation of something that will not be successful. Most importantly, empathy allows a developer to determine which opportunities will make the best products and ensure an understanding of how people will actually use them.

3. In all collaborative environments empathy is essential. It is easy to get caught up in your own thoughts, feelings, emotions and to-do list. Empathy is what allows you to effectively communicate with other members of the team through the combination of active listening and self-awareness. It is especially helpful when giving or receiving criticism as it allows the process to be constructive. Being empathetic within the team environment fosters the best environment for avoiding unnecessary conflict and misunderstand. It enables everyone to feel heard and valued.

4. During my time working at a music house in NY I was part of a small but extremely collaborative team attempting to juggle an amount of work that would have been difficult for a group twice our size. Needless to say everyone was working at capactiy and trying to handle as much as possible without shifting their burdens to other team members. It became clear that my co-worker Alex was simply not speaking up about how overwhelmed he was with the list of tasks he had and the deadlines that were required. Utilizing empathy I determined that he was concerned about speaking up because he knew that everyone was working hard and felt like he should be pulling his weight. I could also see that some of the tasks he was being asked to accomplish were simply too new to him, and wasn't yet able to turn them around quick enough. I shifted the tasks so that I could take on some of his more time-sensitive tasks that I was more adept at and he took on some of my conversely less urgent but still important items. Through active listening and empathy a problem was averted, everyone continued to contribute and the team was able to meet its deadline.

5. I find it most difficult to be empathetic when I am feeling stressed out, in particular when I am time crunched. I think the most effective method for improving this will be to incorporate mindfulness practice as well as studied self-awareness so as not to lose patience and burden team members with a poor attitude when things get difficult. By identifying this trigger I can pre-determine tactics for diffusing these lapses and hopefully employ them in the difficult moments.