{"id":8313,"date":"2015-11-09T17:25:34","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T01:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intercom.com\/blog\/?p=8313"},"modified":"2025-01-07T16:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T16:36:11","slug":"the-other-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/the-other-side\/","title":{"rendered":"The other side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"opening_paragraph\">Empathy &#8211; understanding another person\u2019s condition &#8211; is a foundation of research in product development teams. But ironically, in communicating that condition to our colleagues, we often lack empathy for <em>their<\/em> condition.<\/p>\n<p>When I worked as a UX Researcher at Google and it came time to communicate the things we learned, I found it hard to get time on the calendars of the people with most influence. I believed they didn\u2019t care enough. And I believed it was my job to make them care more. I was likely wrong on both counts.<\/p>\n<p>When I joined Facebook, the first thing I worked on was a user research study on their ad units. I was working on persuading the product manager (the person of most influence) that there were four critical things that needed to change.<\/p>\n<p>In a funny twist of fate, that PM left and I stepped into their shoes. I was now persuading myself. And I didn\u2019t prioritize any of the four. I was on the other side, and things looked a lot different.<\/p>\n<p>At Intercom, I run a team of over 20, including PMs, designers and researchers. We\u2019re growing so fast, my calendar is nuts, and I\u2019ve no time to read research reports, never mind watch studies. I care deeply, but I\u2019m on the other side.<\/p>\n<p>The irony facing many UX designers and researchers (my past self included) is that in fighting the good fight, they lose empathy for their peers. Empathy \u2013 the one thing they specialize in.<\/p>\n<p>So next time, make sure you take a temporary trip to the other side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Empathy &#8211; understanding another person\u2019s condition &#8211; is a foundation of research in product development teams. But ironically, in communicating that condition to our colleagues, we often lack empathy for their condition. When I worked as&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":8335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"category":[5],"tags":[161,144,145],"coauthors":[358],"class_list":["post-8313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-and-design","tag-product-development","tag-research","tag-ux"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The other side - The Intercom Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When developing a product, make sure your team can empathize which each other, as well as their users.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The other side\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When developing a product, make sure your team can empathize which each other, as well as their users.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/the-other-side\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Intercom Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intercominc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-10T01:25:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-07T16:36:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/forest_trees_1248.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Adams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@padday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@intercom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Adams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/the-other-side\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/the-other-side\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Adams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b2507bf414e874ac7b55da405aabaf5\"},\"headline\":\"The other side\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-10T01:25:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-07T16:36:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/the-other-side\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":271,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/the-other-side\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intercom.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/11\\\/forest_trees_1248.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"product development\",\"research\",\"UX\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Product &amp; 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