What Kent Beck thinks about empathy

@kent-beck · 38 positions · On ppll ↗

Creator of extreme programming and test-driven development, an original signatory of the Agile Manifesto, and the author of Test-Driven Development: By Example and Tidy First?

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Only Kent Beck on empathy. See everyone on empathy

1 dated position, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Kent Beck has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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1. 1 Jul 2026

   Our readingEmpathy, body language and tone of voice are learnable skills, and expecting the world to adapt to how you are wired is not going to work.

   Their wordsThere are people who say, "Well, it's up to the rest of the world to adapt to the ways that I'm weird." It's just not because I mean, it's not going to happen. So, learning empathy, learning how to read body language, learning how to read tone of voice, this is not natural skills, but they're skills. They're learnable.

   ↗How Kent Beck shapes the software engineering industryyoutube.com 21st of 28 in this recording