Software development requires empathy

If You Want to Write Useful Software, You Have to Do Tech Support:

It seems so obvious: if you want to develop software that’s useful to people, you’ve got to talk with them. But too many developers take the anti-social approach and consider customer support to be beneath their status. Besides, talking with customers would distract them from important code-slinging.

I have to remind myself, almost every day, that one of the the most important qualities I can possess as a developer is empathy. Primarily for the user, their cognitive load, and what they’re trying to accomplish. But further, for the developer who comes to my code when I’m done, the guy who operates it, and everyone else down the line.