Humane Development: Empathy Unpacked

We call it "Computer Science." That's comforting, somehow, because science deals with cold, hard facts. We can prove the correctness of an algorithm, or watch our skills, and our app, improve in measurable ways.

Yet, at its core, software development isn't an act of scientific triumph, but of empathy. Software's true worth isn't measured in lines of code or test coverage. It's measured by how it makes life a little bit better for someone else. Maybe your application or library makes someone's day a little less painful, or maybe the code itself brings a smile to someone's face.

It's about time we have a hard talk about a soft skill.

Transcript

1. Ernie Miller humanedevelopment.org erniemiller Humane Development Empathy Unpacked
3. Humane Development
4. We are humans working with humans to develop software for the benefit of humans.
5. Empathy Honesty Trust Autonomy
6. Empathy
12. ❤ =
14. $ git commit -a
15. Photo: Flickr user Cliff CC BY 2.0
23. THIS TREE IS BEST TREE
24. ♻
26. !
27. EMPATHY IS A SUPERPOWER.
28. –George Bernard Shaw “Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.”
29. "I HAD NO IDEA MY COMPUTER COULD PUKE SPARKLES... BUT I LOVE IT!" –Actual User Quote *
30. "I HAD NO IDEA MY COMPUTER COULD PUKE SPARKLES... BUT I LOVE IT!" –Actual User Quote * * not an actual user quote
35. "Big Rock" by Burtn CC BY 3.0
40. def do_stuff(with, other, stuff) # .... end def do_stuff with, other, stuff # ... end
41. puts "The variable contains: #{var}" puts 'No interpolation here.' puts "The variable contains: #{var}" puts "No interpolation here." puts "The variable contains: #{var}" puts %q|LOL WHY NOT?|
42. class ThingTest < MiniTest::Test def thing @thing ||= Thing.new end def test_forty_two assert_equal 42, thing.forty_two end def test_thinginess assert thing.thingy? end end describe Thing do describe '#forty_two' do it 'is 42' do expect(subject.forty_two).to be 42 end end describe '#thingy?' do it 'is true' do expect(subject).to be_thingy end end end
44. PROGRAMMING IS COMMUNICATION =+
45. I'm too busy crushing code to worry about empathy!
46. "Ronald Reagan the Liberator" Jason Heuser CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
48. Women picked up yawns about 55% of the time, whereas men only did so 40% of the time. Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/women-are-more-empathetic-men-yawning-study-suggests
50. Roughly half of population mirrors yawning, yawning study suggests
51. Roughly half of population mirrors yawning, yawning study suggests Hey, look, here's a stock photo of three women yawning
52. https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl03.xls FBI Crime Statistics
53. Men are more murderous than women, murder study suggests
54. NOT ALL MEN.
55. Gender Differences, Motivation, and Empathic Accuracy: When It Pays to Understand http://pages.uoregon.edu/hodgeslab/files/Download/Klein%20Hodges_2001.pdf Kristi J. K. Klein Sara D. Hodges
56. Empathic Accuracy The ability to infer the specific content of another person's thoughts and feelings.
57. –Klein & Hodges “In the first seven studies using Ickes and colleagues’ empathic accuracy paradigm, no gender differences were encountered; however, in the next three studies using the same paradigm, a gender difference was found, with women showing significantly more empathic accuracy than men.”
58. –Klein & Hodges “The only difference between the studies that found a gender difference and those that did not was a modification of the reporting form on which perceivers inferred the targets’ thoughts and feelings.”
60. –Klein & Hodges “[...] we predicted that the motivating effects of money would eliminate the gender differences by increasing the men’s performance on the empathic accuracy task.”
61. –Klein & Hodges “[...] in the money condition, both men and women performed well.”
62. –Klein & Hodges “[...] in the money condition, both men and women performed well.”
64. and now for something completely different...
71. I !&*@ hate swimming. OMG, ME TOO!
74. I'm too busy crushing code to worry about empathy!
75. I'm too busy crushing code to worry about empathy! I'm literally less emotionally intelligent than a rat.
77. the star ⭐ You're
78. the star ⭐ They're
79. be heard. You need to
80. hear. . You need to
81. You know. /
82. You don't. 0 You really, really don't.
83. Practice.
84. Ernie Miller humanedevelopment.org erniemiller Humane Development Empathy Unpacked THANK YOU!
85. Ernie Miller humanedevelopment.org erniemiller Humane Development Empathy Unpacked THANK YOU! ZOMG STICKERS!!!