#Gear Up
##What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
Empathy has been an important part of my upbringing, since the time I was a child, to present day where I am a father, going through a divorce, and having to move into my sisters' house and working remotely in said house with two of my siblings who are also working remotely. As a heterosexual, white, cis, male who identifies as Christian, I have grown up and lived in a society where I rarely faced any pushback for my choices. However, having four older sisters, three of whom identify as queer, all of whom who have struggled with mental health issues, I have been privleged to see how they are viewed in society and how that has effects their lives. This has allowed me to be more aware of my own personal privleges. Although I am the youngest, people (strangers, friends, family) will often value my wants, needs, opinions over that of my siblings. As I've matured I have been able to notice when this is happening, turn to my sister(s) and ask for their input and involve them in the conversation.
During the last decade of my life I have worked as a private music instructor with students from a diverse range of ages, financial backgrounds, races, skill level, and learning ability. I always believed that I needed to know a thousand ways to teach a single concept, but it wasn't until I began studying a new instrument that I was reminded how difficult it can be to grasp a new concept. This allowed me to put myself in the student's shoe and realize some of the concepts I was needed to revisit and approach differently.
With all this in mind, the one thing that I think truly opened my eyes to empathy was becoming a father. As my daughter has grown up and developed many of the skills I take for granted, I have been able to be with her and experience those frustrations, and in doing so become a better parent. From communication, to just observing the world differently, there is so much to be learned from a five-year-old.
##How does empathy help you build better software?
Empathy helps one build better software by allowing them to view the software from the perspective from the user's perspective. Having spent just a few hours with my text reader on, I was able to understand the importance of using alt text. When the text reader struggles to register which objects in the site are important, the user will also struggle.
Better design will also result in a higher level of success. When a product is developed with how the end user will be using it, and the end user's values, wants, and needs are taken into consideration, they will want to use it more. This can also prevent unnecessary work. If the user dos not value or want part of the design that you are trying to develop, you do not have to build it, instead of sending out a product that ends up being unused.
##Why is empathy important for working on a team?
In tech, most teams come from a diverse background. Empathy is a necessity for proper communication and understanding of an issue. If two people are viewing a problem from different perspectives, but are unable to acknowledge that, they may be trying to solve two completely different issues.
Empathy also makes receiving and giving feedback more possible. Feedback allows a developer to see how someone else may be viewing their design. If that design has to be explained in order to make sense, is it the best design? What are you missing by only looking at it from your perspective? These are the questions we have to ask while creating software, so we are able to consider every possible scenario.
##Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
While working at the music school I used to own, I was often tasked with managing instructors and liaising between instructors and parents of students. Having a vested interest in the success of the school, it was a major blow when I family decided to leave the school. One day I received an email from a frustrated parent who had not heard from her instructor about rescheduling a lesson. They had called him, emailed him, and had not heard anything from him. When I spoke with the instructor I learned that the family had not informed him that they were going to miss the lesson, and they had not called him until he had reached out to them. The parent had then called him and sent him texts during his normal teaching hours, so he was unable to respond. Realizing what had happened, I was able to see the scenario from the instructor's perspective and learn that he had not been dodging this parent's calls. He simply had not had the time to sit down and reschedule. After I spoke with the parent and explained the situation, I was able to help the parent empathize with the instructor, and we were able to solve the problem. Fortunately, the family continued taking lessons for years.
##When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
One scenario that has occurred when working with others that has tested my patience and ability to empathize is when colleagues show up in any collaborative situation and are not prepared. Either they have not look over the agenda for the meeting, they have not reviewed the material for what we will be working on, or they just are not ready to work. Given that the tech world is one where technology failures occur regularly, and with so many working from home, it is eady to imagine theses type of things happening. A team mate didn't have access to a file, or was working with an older version. Someone's internet went out as they were joining zoom. An HDMI cable isn't working during a presentation. These are all things that have happened just during Mod 0! I have to remind myself that some of these circumstances are unpredictable, even to the most attentive worker. These are NOT due to the shortcomings of any team mate, but the nature of the field we are working in. Start from the perspective that everyone is doing their best, and everyone deserves to be respected, and empathy will come more easily.