"The Power of Empathy"

This article is Lu Canwei's 71st original piece.

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Today I received a call from a client who complained about our product. Aside from apologizing, it seems we had no better way to respond.

From technology to product, the shift in identity brings more reflection. We can find various ways to solve customer problems, but we cannot address the customer's current issue. This reminds me of a term: empathy.

Wikipedia describes it this way:

For technical personnel, when a system malfunctions, the first step is to troubleshoot the issue, then proceed step by step to locate the problem. Once the problem is identified, we consider how to resolve it. By this time, a significant amount of time may have passed, and the user has already been unable to use the system properly for a long time.

This is similar to doctors and pilots, but the biggest difference is that every decision they make can affect the lives of others. When faced with time pressure, vast amounts of data, complexity, and uncertainty, our brains seek shortcuts. At this point, we tend to rely on intuitive guesses instead of deep thinking, using experience, others' opinions, and decisions that alleviate our doubts.

When we are in a state of absolute rationality, it is actually a manifestation of our unwillingness to think, a form of avoidance. We choose the easiest way to deal with these matters.

Of course, we can easily say that because there is a problem with the data, I have to cut off the data, and the user naturally cannot see the original data. The cost of compatibility is too high. If we start from the user's perspective, we should ensure that they are unaware of any changes when implementing solutions, so that their operations do not suddenly lose data and fall into chaos.

This reminds me of something my boss said before: your system can have issues, and at that time, users can use other systems or methods to conduct transactions. But you cannot let users transact using our system without knowing the transaction status, as this will lead to disputes.

If we always seek shortcuts instead of starting from scratch with logical independent thinking, our thoughts will lack empathy for others. Whenever we communicate with others, we tend to present what we believe to be the correct conclusions from our own perspective, without considering the circumstances of others.

After the 9/11 incident, many people experienced varying degrees of psychological trauma. At that time, various online alliances emerged, urging people to share their feelings and encouraging them to speak out. Later, research showed that those who chose to express their feelings had a recovery period that was significantly longer than those who did not participate in the alliance.

A similar case occurs in instances of rape, where victims need to repeatedly recall the circumstances to different people. Each recollection deepens the psychological trauma of the victim.

When we start to adopt a human-centered approach, all my decisions and plans will revolve around people themselves. We will accept others' viewpoints rather than question them. When someone expresses a viewpoint that you cannot understand, you can reflect on why they reached that conclusion and what experiences and environments led them to that perspective. When we develop products, we consider how customers will use our products in practice.

When we begin to possess empathy, many of the answers we ultimately arrive at will be different.

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