Software development is a team sport, and this episode shines a light on the crucial roles outside of coding. We celebrate the professionals—from QA testers and technical writers to product owners and support specialists—who ensure technology is functional, reliable, and user-ready. Our guests discuss career paths, the unique skill sets needed, and how non-developers directly drive the success of a product.

The best code is built by the best teams. This episode explores the vital role of engineering culture in driving success. We discuss how high-performing teams foster trust, handle constructive conflict, and establish psychological safety, moving beyond just technical excellence. Our guests share actionable strategies for leaders and members to cultivate an environment where collaboration thrives.

On this episode, we have Ryana Que, Jaime Hing III, and Dominique Villafuert joining us to discuss "Empathy by Design" and how human-centered tech drives meaningful change.

We dive into the philosophy of human-centered design, where technology is built with the user's real-world context and needs in mind. This episode explores how empathy leads to more inclusive and impactful products, discussing the difference between building something that works and building something that genuinely serves humanity.

How can engineers and designers actively build empathy for users whose backgrounds are vastly different from their own? (Generalization)

Engineers and designers can actively build empathy through immersive research and intentional exposure. This involves moving beyond simple surveys to conduct field studies, contextual interviews, and "shadowing" users in their natural environments. Another effective technique is persona creation that includes socioeconomic, cultural, and technological access details, forcing the team to design for constraints they don't personally share. Furthermore, incorporating diverse users into the testing and feedback loops—not just at the end, but throughout the design process—is crucial for recognizing and mitigating personal biases.

What is one non-obvious example of a product where a lack of empathy led to a critical failure? (Generalization)

One non-obvious example is the early design of some biometric or facial recognition systems that exhibited much higher error rates for individuals with darker skin tones. The failure wasn't malicious, but a lack of empathy in the training data—the developers, often unconsciously, used datasets that disproportionately featured lighter-skinned individuals. This lack of inclusive data empathy led to a critical failure where the technology was effectively less functional and inherently biased against a significant portion of the global population, causing ethical and practical failures.

In the race for speed, how do teams ensure they don't sideline inclusivity and accessibility checks? (Generalization)

To prevent sidelining these checks, teams must integrate them as non-negotiable, automated steps within the development pipeline. This means adopting a "shift left" approach, where accessibility and inclusivity are baked into the definition of "done" for every feature, not treated as a final-stage QA step. Utilizing automated accessibility tools in continuous integration and making compliance with global standards (like WCAG) a core requirement for code review ensure these checks are a fundamental part of speed, rather than a separate hurdle.

What role does thoughtful design play in mitigating the negative ethical or social impacts of new technology? (Generalization)

Thoughtful design serves as the first line of defense against negative ethical and social impacts. It involves proactively considering the "worst-case scenario" or unintended consequences of a product—not just how it can be used, but how it could be misused. By employing ethical design principles (e.g., designing friction to slow down harmful actions, prioritizing privacy by default, and making AI decisions transparent), designers can build guardrails into the user experience. This helps steer user behavior toward positive outcomes and minimizes opportunities for misuse or social manipulation.