> many people here build things for user groups they don't belong to (constantly).
A root of the problem. If you have no appreciation or desire to solve a problem well, you won't. There are very few pieces of software written for users that you can't figure out a way to use. If you can't use it, observe users, if you can't observe, ask users, if you can't ask, instrument their use. To your absolutist point, yes, it is not strictly an absolute, it is an encouragement to push as far along the empathy spectrum as you can.
Granted.
> many people here build things for user groups they don't belong to (constantly).
A root of the problem. If you have no appreciation or desire to solve a problem well, you won't. There are very few pieces of software written for users that you can't figure out a way to use. If you can't use it, observe users, if you can't observe, ask users, if you can't ask, instrument their use. To your absolutist point, yes, it is not strictly an absolute, it is an encouragement to push as far along the empathy spectrum as you can.