This talk was presented at World Information Architecture Day 2016 in Atlanta. I talk about integrating empathy into your business as a way to get to know your customers better and improve your design and research processes. The presentation details methods for user research, effective ways of disseminating findings, and how to determine a strategy for making empathy a part of your business culture.

1. Jasmine Hentschel
University of Michigan
Not Just a Buzzword:
Building a Case for Empathy

2. On Twitter
@ixdaatlanta
#29DaysOfEmpathy
@jasmineshuree

3. POLL: What do you call people who use your product/service?
● customer
● consumer
● user
● end-user
● people
● other

4. Language is important.

5. Meet Steve.

7. Steve Jones @SteveEdTech
@SteveEdTech
Steve Jones @SteveEdTech

8. Talking and thinking about users
is never the same as getting out
into the field with them.

9. Steve is biased, like all of us.

10. Steve is...

11. Recognize that
EVERYONE has
implicit biases.

12. Steve Jones @SteveEdTech
@SteveEdTech
Steve Jones @SteveEdTech

13. “People talk about how important empathy
is, but how do they incorporate it into their
actual business and design practices?”

14. Consider going beyond common methods to build empathy
● Usability Testing
● Interviews
● Focus Groups
● Card Sorting

15. Do contextual inquiry
observations in the field

16. Enhance interviews
with prototype reviews

17. Hold participatory
design sessions

18. Do remote ethnography
with cultural probes

19. Combine simpler methods when facing resource constraints
● Guerrilla Research
● Design Jams
● Observations

20. Learn to listen
well and give
users a voice.

21. Insights are only useful to those who know about them
● Reports
● Graphics
● Formal presentations
● Informal lunches/meetings
● Empathy Maps
● Personas

22. https://blog.mailchimp.com/new-mailchimp-user-persona-research/

23. http://uxaustralia.com.au/uxaustralia-2014/cadence-great-experiences

24. https://www.fullstory.com/customers/gamefilm

25. https://soundcloud.com/yikyakapp

26. People want your offering
to adapt to them, not the
other way around.

27. Important considerations in developing empathy
1. Language is important.
2. Talking and thinking about users is never the same as getting out
into the field with them.
3. Recognize that EVERYONE has implicit biases.
4. Learn to listen well and give users a voice.
5. People want your offering to adapt to them, not the other way
around.

28. How Steve plans to build a culture of empathy
● Call people learners instead of customers
● Team members must shadow users and then report back
● Onboarding training includes talk from Michelle on listening well
and short session on implicit bias
● All team members must provide support to end users when the
product first releases
● Knowledge and insights will be shared many ways

29. Go get ‘em, Steve.

30. Let’s continue the conversation…
Jasmine Hentschel
hentscj@gmail.com ~ Twitter ~ LinkedIn ~ Medium
IxDA Atlanta
Twitter ~ LinkedIn ~ #29DaysOfEmpathy