{"id":103569,"date":"2021-08-02T22:05:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T22:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/?p=3569"},"modified":"2022-12-13T12:39:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T12:39:58","slug":"how-empathy-drives-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"How Empathy Drives Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you know your company\u2019s vision? I\u2019m always amazed at how many people struggle to articulate it. \u201cYou mean our mission<\/em>? Our goals<\/em>? Our roadmap<\/em>?\u201d Well, at least you\u2019re getting warmer. None of these guesses are necessarily wrong, but they are part of a bigger, more fundamental (and often overlooked) question: \u2018Why?\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every company strives to innovate on some level. And in order to innovate, we\u2019re told to listen to the customer, to get close to them, to pay attention to what they say, listen to what they want.. The problem is that while the customer is always right, the customer doesn\u2019t <\/em>always get it right<\/em>. Henry Ford was once quoted saying \u201cIf I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.\u201d How can we expect customers to not only identify needs they themselves may not yet recognize, but also describe the perfect solution?

I believe a company\u2019s vision is a design challenge. You must be empathetic to the user in order to identify a problem worth solving, and design <\/em>a solution (a product, in our case) to make their world a better place.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At MarkUp.io, our \u201cwhy?\u2019\u2019 existed well before we did. In fact, it started early on in my career. Prior to working at Ceros<\/strong><\/a>, I\u2019d spent the best part of 15 years in the agency world. As a designer, I was responsible for managing creative feedback. \u201cChange this.\u201d \u201cChange that.\u201d \u201cMove this logo to the right.\u201d \u201cDecrease this font size.\u201d It was enough to drive the calmest person crazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was my job to sift through the needs of these people, no matter how silly or unrealistic their requests. Collaboration caused headaches. Unclear, no context, off-the-cuff design critique. The sort of process that grinds a project to a halt, and leaves colleagues uninspired and disheartened.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m talking about the feedback loop of course. We\u2019ve all been part of it, whether we were actively engaged or warily spectating. It\u2019s the part of every project that follows a creative workflow<\/a> where collaboration is widespread, opening the door to subjectivity, indecisiveness, and the \u2018there\u2019s too much white space\u2019 police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology has changed drastically during my career, but the way we communicate still largely falls into the same passive, disjointed mediums. Emails. Slacks. Texts. Google docs. Trello boards. Zoom calls.<\/a> None of these were specifically designed to handle creative feedback. The context is often lost, and we\u2019re forced to hack our thoughts together in whichever way we can to get the point across. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After spending so much of my life in these types of scenarios, I couldn\u2019t get the thought out of my head: \u201cThe feedback loop sucks. Why has it always been this way?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s these experiences that help you realize your \u2018why?\u2019 and spark those moments of innovation. If you act on it, this could be where the genesis of your idea starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This empathetic approach to design and problem solving puts your users at the center of it all. It gives you x-ray vision of what your users may need or want. This isn\u2019t data you\u2019ll find in a spreadsheet. It\u2019s conducted firsthand by experiencing the problem in a real-world situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your \u2018why\u2019 is your North Star. It defines your company. It gets your team aligned and motivated. It guides your mission, your values, your goals. It forms the foundation of your product strategy, roadmap, and go-to-market strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We built MarkUp.io based on a \u2018why\u2019 and to this day, it helps us stay on track to solving the problem: giving and receiving feedback sucks. Or at least it did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try MarkUp.io for free now.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you know your company\u2019s vision? I\u2019m always amazed at how many people struggle to articulate it. \u201cYou mean our mission? Our goals? Our roadmap?\u201d Well, at least you\u2019re getting warmer. None of these guesses are necessarily wrong, but they are part of a bigger, more fundamental (and often overlooked) question: \u2018Why?\u2019  Every company strives … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":104299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Empathy Drives Innovation - Markup.io<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Empathy Drives Innovation - Markup.io\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you know your company\u2019s vision? I\u2019m always amazed at how many people struggle to articulate it. \u201cYou mean our mission? Our goals? Our roadmap?\u201d Well, at least you\u2019re getting warmer. None of these guesses are necessarily wrong, but they are part of a bigger, more fundamental (and often overlooked) question: \u2018Why?\u2019  Every company strives … Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Markup.io\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-02T22:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-13T12:39:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Dixon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jack Dixon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/\",\"name\":\"How Empathy Drives Innovation - Markup.io\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-02T22:05:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-13T12:39:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#\/schema\/person\/0fa72e7f5f3de7f4c832a3aa8b854279\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Empathy Drives Innovation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/\",\"name\":\"Markup.io\",\"description\":\"Easiest Way to Leave Feedback on Digital Content\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#\/schema\/person\/0fa72e7f5f3de7f4c832a3aa8b854279\",\"name\":\"Jack Dixon\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Empathy Drives Innovation - Markup.io","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Empathy Drives Innovation - Markup.io","og_description":"Do you know your company\u2019s vision? I\u2019m always amazed at how many people struggle to articulate it. \u201cYou mean our mission? Our goals? Our roadmap?\u201d Well, at least you\u2019re getting warmer. None of these guesses are necessarily wrong, but they are part of a bigger, more fundamental (and often overlooked) question: \u2018Why?\u2019  Every company strives … Continued","og_url":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/","og_site_name":"Markup.io","article_published_time":"2021-08-02T22:05:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-13T12:39:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/assets.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jack Dixon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jack Dixon","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/","url":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/","name":"How Empathy Drives Innovation - Markup.io","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png","datePublished":"2021-08-02T22:05:55+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-13T12:39:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#\/schema\/person\/0fa72e7f5f3de7f4c832a3aa8b854279"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/app\/uploads\/2021\/08\/artboard___58-1600x900-1.png","width":1600,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/blog\/how-empathy-drives-innovation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Empathy Drives Innovation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/","name":"Markup.io","description":"Easiest Way to Leave Feedback on Digital Content","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/#\/schema\/person\/0fa72e7f5f3de7f4c832a3aa8b854279","name":"Jack Dixon"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103569"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200032,"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103569\/revisions\/200032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/104299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markup.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}