Gear up
Having a good sense of empathy helps in understanding what someone else might be going through, in a way putting yourself in their shoes. It's very important when communicating with people from all different backgrounds. This comes into play when designing software because you aren't always designing software for someone such as yourself, but often times for a group that has unique requirements that you may have never knew existed before. Empathy is important on a team because to get everyone’s input for an idea, you must be able to fully able to understand what everyone is trying to get across. I find it difficult to be empathetic in professional settings when someone is being forceful about their input and not considering what others have to say. I think to improve, I should start repeating their points first, so that they know I have been listening and understand the points they are making before adding my own input that I feel would make improvements.