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June 6, 2003
Merholz on empathy
Merholz on empathy: Peter writes about the dilemma of empathizing with two groups who may not directly see each other: "Through our empathy, we inevitably become advocates for our users. When people in the organization try to get end-users to do things they would have no reasonable interest in doing, we pipe up, saying, 'You can't expect people to do that! They have no motivation for it, there's no value in it for them!' When people in the organization dismiss those who can't use a product as 'stupid users', we shout, 'They're not stupid! They're just being people! They're being themselves. You haven't bothered to understand the context in which they're using it, their capabilities, their desires. Don't call them stupid!'" He also points out that such charges frequently flow both ways, making it particularly, uh, exciting to get caught in the middle sometimes... hey, Peter, you might want to give pipesmoking a try...! ;-)
Posted by John Dowdell at June 6, 2003 2:12 PM