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Empathy Maketh an Engineer

Naren
August 30, 2018

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.

Naren

August 30, 2018
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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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