Empathy Maketh an Engineer

The journey towards becoming a better developer involves in more than just coding. Empathy is the most important skill that any developer should practice. In this talk we will see as a developer how to write code empathetically and how empathy will help you to become a better software craftsman. By the end of the talk, audience will know how to practice empathy, build great softwares and great teams empathetically.

Transcript

1. EMPATHY MAKETH AN ENGINEER
   DEVCONF 2018
   

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3. SOFTWARE CONSULTANT,
   TARKA LABS
   NARENDRAN
   @DUDEWHOCODE
   WWW.DUDEWHO.CODES
   

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4. EMPATHY
   

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5. IS IT FEELING SORRY FOR OTHERS ?
   

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6. IS IT STANDING IN SOMEONE’S SHOES?
   

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7. THEN WHAT IS EMPATHY?
   

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12. EMPATHY?
    

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13. IT’S FEELING WHAT THEY FEEL +
    MAKING CONNECTION WITH THEM
    

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14. WHY PRACTICE EMPATHY(IN SOFTWARE)?
    

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15. SOFTWARE IS BUILT BY
    HUMANS,
    

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16. SOFTWARE IS BUILT BY
    HUMANS,
    WITH HUMANS,
    

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17. SOFTWARE IS BUILT BY
    HUMANS,
    WITH HUMANS, AND
    FOR HUMANS.
    April Wensel (compassionate-
    coding)
    

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18. YOU TREAT OTHERS THE WAY
    YOU WANT TO BE TREATED
    IF YOU PRACTICE EMPATHY,
    

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19. YOU WILL MORE CLEARLY UNDERSTAND
    THE IMPACT YOU CREATE IN OTHERS
    WITH YOUR WORDS AND ACTIONS.
    ONCE YOU START TREATING
    OTHERS WELL,
    

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20. YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE
    UNSPOKEN PARTS OF YOUR
    COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS
    ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND THE
    YOUR IMPACT ON OTHERS,
    

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21. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO MORE ACCURATELY
    PREDICT THE ACTIONS AND REACTIONS
    OF PEOPLE YOU INTERACT WITH
    ALSO,
    

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22. YOU WILL MORE EFFECTIVELY
    CONVINCE OTHERS OF YOUR
    POINT OF VIEW
    ONCE YOU HAVE A BETTER
    COMMUNICATION,
    

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23. YOU WILL DELIVER WHAT
    OTHERS EXPECT FROM YOU
    ONCE YOU ARE ABLE TO
    CONVINCE PEOPLE,
    

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24. HOW TO PRACTICE EMPATHY?
    

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25. SOME PEOPLE ARE NATURALLY EMPATHETIC
    

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26. BUT YOU CAN ALTER YOUR GENES
    

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27. FEW STEPS TO PRACTICE EMPATHY
    

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28. 1. LISTEN
    HOW TO PRACTICE EMPATHY
    

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29. 2. FIND THE DEEPEST
    “WHY”
    HOW TO PRACTICE EMPATHY
    

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30. MY CLIENT ASKS ME TO BUILD
    A MICRO SERVICE USING JAVA
    

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31. THE CLIENT ASKS ME TO BUILD
    A MICRO SERVICE USING JAVA*
    * This example is purely for illustration purpose. I do not intend to hurt the sentiments of any
    individual, community, sect or religion
    

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32. 3. BE VULNERABLE
    HOW TO PRACTICE EMPATHY
    

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33. 4. RESPECT OTHERS
    TIME
    HOW TO PRACTICE EMPATHY
    

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34. BE DELIBERATE
    

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35. EMPATHY DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT
    

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36. REQUIREMENTS
    

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37. WHERE IS EMPATHY IN CODE?
    UNDERSTANDING USERS
    ▸ Your users WILL NOT be in the
    environment and mindset in which you
    develop software.
    ▸ Software is getting personal day by day.
    The software you create end up very
    close to the user.
    ▸ You have to empathise the user to build
    usable software
    

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38. ARCHITECTURE
    DESIGN
    

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39. WHERE IS EMPATHY IN CODE?
    BE RIGHTEOUS
    ▸ Don’t bring in shiny components into
    architecture just because everyone does
    ▸ Make the right tradeoffs
    ▸ Everyone in the team should understand
    the architecture, no matter junior or
    senior
    

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40. DEVELOPMENT
    

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41. WHERE IS EMPATHY IN CODE?
    LET YOUR CODE SPEAK
    ▸ Communicate through code
    ▸ Add comments to the section that needs
    second pass for understanding
    ▸ If you open your own code after a year.
    You shouldn’t go “WTF”
    

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42. WATCH YOUR
    TOXIC TONE
    

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43. DON’T DO
    C.Y.A.E
    

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44. DON’T DO
    COVER YOUR ASS
    ENGINEERING
    

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45. STILL NOT CONVINCED?
    
    

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46. THE FINAL NUDGE
    

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47. BETTER
    PROGRAMMER
    EMPATHY MAKES YOU A
    

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48. ADMIRE YOU
    EMPATHY MAKES PEOPLE TO
    

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49. STRENGTH
    EMPATHY GIVES YOU
    

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50. STRONGER + BETTER + ADMIRED
    = ?
    

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51. SUPER HERO
    EMPATHY MAKES YOU A
    

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53. HALF OF THE PROBLEMS IN
    SOFTWARE CAN BE SOLVED
    IF PEOPLE ARE EMPATHETIC
    TO EACH OTHER. REST WE
    CAN USE A CUTTING EDGE
    TECH.
    

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54. REFERENCES/CREDITS
    ▸ Empathy gives you super powers, keynote by Matt Stauffer (it’s too good to ignore:)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMFjO2szDnk
    ▸ Empathy, short video by Brené Brown

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw
    ▸ All the insightful blogs from April Wensel

    https://compassionatecoding.com/blog
    ▸ Compassion and meaning of empathy, TED talk by Joan Halifax

    https://www.ted.com/talks/joan_halifax#t-584914
    ▸ Your most important skill: Empathy - Chad Fowler

    http://chadfowler.com/2014/01/19/empathy.html
    ▸ All the beautiful images are taken from www.unsplash.com
    

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55. @DUDEWHOCODE
    NAREN
    WWW.DUDEWHO.CODES/TALKS
    

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