Manchester, UK – RJJ Software is pleased to announce that founder Jamie Taylor will be presenting an all-new version of his acclaimed talk “Empathy, Sympathy, and Compassion” at Umbraco in the City on Friday, November 7, 2025, at 4:00 PM.
The two-day event, held in Manchester, brings together developers, software engineers, QA professionals, and decision makers from across the Umbraco community and beyond. Taylor’s talk will be the final talk of the conference, ahead of the 15 minute closing session, offering attendees a powerful reflection on how user-centric thinking transforms the way we build technology solutions.
Why Umbraco?
Taylor chose to present at Umbraco in the City for a specific reason: the community’s reputation for friendliness.
“Umbraco is known as the friendly CMS, and the community around it is the friendliest I’ve ever encountered,” Taylor explains. “I’m hoping to encourage these already friendly folks to help me start the change I want to see in the wider tech industry.”
The alignment between Umbraco’s community values and RJJ Software’s core philosophy makes this an ideal venue. Friendliness, after all, cannot exist without compassion; and compassion is one of the central themes of both the talk and RJJ Software’s company mission.
A Completely Refreshed Approach
While Taylor has presented versions of this talk before, most notably at DDD North several years ago and in a podcast episode of The Modern .NET Show, this iteration represents a significant evolution. Since the last presentation, Taylor has been actively practicing the principles he advocates and has engaged with numerous open source developers across the ecosystem—from Umbraco contributors to Microsoft engineers and beyond.
“I’ve been practising the lessons I aim to impart in this talk,” Taylor notes. “Because of that, I’ve wanted to refresh the content and approach the same lessons from a slightly different angle.”
The talk will feature new quotes and insights from experts in the open source field, including exclusive content from unreleased episodes of The Modern .NET Show. These fresh perspectives will reinforce the core message while offering attendees cutting-edge thinking on user empathy in modern software development.
The Challenge Facing Developers
At its heart, the talk addresses a critical gap in how many technologists approach their work. As Taylor has observed through years of consulting and working with diverse development teams, the most common misconception among engineers is that the user doesn’t matter.
“Most engineers, outside of the Umbraco community, don’t give the user a second thought,” Taylor explains. “But it’s the user who pays—sometimes indirectly—for the engineer’s lifestyle. It’s important that we understand the ‘why’ behind what we’re building, so that we can create something which allows the user to achieve their goal.”
This philosophy echoes Simon Sinek’s influential “Start With Why” framework, which Taylor incorporates throughout his presentation. By understanding not just what users want to do, but why they want to do it, developers can create solutions that truly address real needs rather than imposing predetermined technical solutions.
Drawing from Diverse Sources
The talk’s power comes from its synthesis of ideas across multiple disciplines. Taylor’s approach draws inspiration from an eclectic mix of sources that bridges technology history, psychology, philosophy, and popular culture.
From the technology history side, Taylor cites “The Friendly Orange Glow” and Steven Levy’s “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution"—particularly the revealing anecdote about MIT system administrators calling users “users with a silent l” (implying “losers”). This historical context illustrates how dismissive attitudes toward users have been embedded in tech culture since its earliest days.
On the human behavior front, Taylor draws heavily from the research of Dr. Brené Brown, whose groundbreaking work on vulnerability, shame, and empathy provides a psychological framework for understanding workplace dynamics. Combined with Simon Sinek’s leadership philosophy from “Start With Why” and “Leaders Eat Last,” these sources help developers understand not just what to do, but why it matters.
Perhaps most unexpectedly, moral philosophy and the NBC comedy “The Good Place” (no spoilers will be given) play a role in the talk’s framework. The show’s accessible exploration of ethical decision-making offers a surprisingly relevant lens for thinking about the choices developers make every day.
Finally, Taylor credits ongoing conversations with industry experts and colleagues including Dylan Beattie, Rachel Breeze, Safia Abdalla, and Emma Burstow for helping refine and test these ideas in real-world contexts.
“These diverse sources all point to the same conclusion,” Taylor notes. “When we build technology without compassion for the people who’ll use it, we perpetuate a legacy of contempt that’s been with us since the 1960s. It’s time to break that cycle.”
Mission: Changing One Mind at a Time
The talk isn’t merely theoretical. Since presenting earlier versions, Taylor has received feedback from developers who have successfully adopted these practices in their own work.
“I’ve had developers approach me at events and talk to me about how they’ve adopted the practices I mention in the talk,” Taylor shares. “They’ve said that they feel able to produce applications and solutions which better match what their users want to achieve.”
Taylor’s goals for the presentation are both ambitious and pragmatic. Success doesn’t require transforming the entire industry overnight, it starts with individual change.
“I hope the attendees will think more about the users of their software,” Taylor says. “If one person leaves the talk thinking more about the user, I’ll see that as mission accomplished.”
Deeply Aligned with RJJ Software’s Why
The topic of the talk is far from incidental, it represents the foundational philosophy that guides all of RJJ Software’s work. As stated in the company’s public “why” statement:
Realising the digital potential of our clients through strategic technology consulting and leadership.
By sharing deep compassion for you and your customers, we ensure that we have a deeper understanding of your problems, and can guide you toward innovative solutions that fit the problem in the best possible way.
This is only possible through compassion for you, your needs, and your customers
Under Taylor’s leadership, RJJ Software has built compassion into every aspect of its consulting practice. The company recognizes that understanding a problem requires the compassion to see it from someone else’s point of view—whether that’s a client, an end user, or a colleague on a development team.
“This is what a friend does when you confide in them, what a medical professional does when you look to them for treatment, and what we do when you connect with us,” the company explains in its why statement. “It isn’t just what we do though, it’s both how and why we do it: we want to spread compassion via our working practices.”
Celebrating Umbraco’s Values
Beyond introducing new ideas, Taylor aims to celebrate and reinforce the values already present within the Umbraco community.
“The principles of the talk already apply to the Umbraco community, but I’d like to reinforce them and make them public,” Taylor says. “That way they can be celebrated both within and outside the Umbraco community. Friendliness is one of the key tenets of Umbraco, and you can’t be friendly without compassion. So let’s celebrate that.”
By making these principles explicit and providing a framework for thinking about user empathy, the talk offers the Umbraco community a way to articulate what many already practice instinctively, and provides a model for other technology communities to follow.
About the Event
Umbraco in the City takes place November 6-7, 2025, in Manchester, UK. The event features two full days of sessions covering topics from Umbraco 17’s new features to accessibility, the Management API, and AI-assisted development.
Jamie Taylor’s “Empathy, Sympathy, and Compassion” talk will close Friday’s programming at 4:00 PM, which will be followed by an evening of networking arranged by the event organisers.
For more information about Umbraco in the City, visit https://www.umbracointhe.city/schedule
About RJJ Software
RJJ Software provides strategic technology consulting, guided by a deep commitment to compassion for clients and their customers. The company specializes in understanding the “why” behind technology needs and creating innovative solutions that fit problems in the best possible way.
To learn more about RJJ Software’s approach to compassionate software development, visit https://rjj-software.co.uk/our-why/