Empathy Building Exercises help your team get further into the user’s mindset. This, in turn, helps the team come up with ideas that work harder to meet the user’s needs. An example of an Empathy Building Exercise is having the team use your product to complete a critical task in a simulated environment that most closely resembles the environment that your users will be completing the tasks in. If they are in a low connectivity environment, restrict your network. If they are outside in the sun, complete the task outside. They should then write down how the experience was and record any pain points they encountered.

Directions:

Time: 30 min
Activity: Small teams

1. Choose a critical task for your product.
2. Set aside 30 min.
3. Break into teams of 2 or 3 people.
4. Complete the task and record observations.
5. Share back observations with the larger group.