| name | aidlc-user-empathy-skill |
| description | Think from the user's perspective — understanding goals, frustrations, workflows, and the context in which people interact with the system. Applies wherever user value, journeys, stories, screens, or acceptance criteria are shaped or reviewed.
|
User Empathy
Purpose
The ability to think from the user's perspective — understanding their goals, frustrations, workflows, and the context in which they interact with the system.
Principles
- Users have goals, not features — understand what they're trying to accomplish
- Context matters — the same feature serves differently in different environments
- Edge cases are real users — accessibility, error states, and unusual workflows matter
- Simplicity serves users — complexity in the interface is a failure of design
- Users don't read documentation — the system must be self-evident or guided
Definitions
- Persona — a representative user archetype grounded in the domain (not a generic stereotype)
- User journey — the sequence of steps a user takes to accomplish a goal
- Pain point — a friction or frustration in the current experience
- Edge case — a valid but uncommon usage pattern that still needs to work
Application
When applied at requirements-analysis: ensure requirements reflect real user needs not just technical capabilities, identify missing user-facing requirements by reasoning about user journeys, flag requirements that would create poor user experience.
When applied at user-stories: ground stories in personas, ensure acceptance criteria reflect what the user actually experiences, identify missing edge-case stories.
When applied at wireframes: validate that screen flows match user mental models, flag confusing navigation or information architecture.
