If you're building something for someone.

Try to put yourself in their shoes.

You're not a leader seated atop a thrown in a high castle somewhere in a distant land, looking down upon your gentry, and telling them what's needed.

Or maybe you are?

If you're building something for someone else:

• Walk a mile in their shoes.

• Understand what keeps them awake at night.

• Know the things that make them come alive.

• Have a vision for what they're trying to achieve.  

• See the world through their eyes.

• Develop an impression of how they came to be where they are today - what was their journey?

• Know who they are for! Who are they trying to help?

• What is their "something better"?

You can't speak to someone until you learn to see them.

That requires empathy.

It's simple.