In their bestselling book on developing memorable ideas, Made to Stick, authors Chip and Dan Heath discuss what they named the “curse of knowledge”: once you know something it’s difficult to remember what life is like without knowing it.

As a UX expert, you possess a wide array of knowledge and experiences that allow you to help improve your clients’ products and even their processes. You conduct tests, observations, and analyses to create interfaces that align with users’ goals and expectations. You help interfaces go from good to great and from great to spectacular. On the surface your knowledge is a reliable meal ticket rather than a curse.

Yet, sometimes it is difficult to get feedback from users; sometimes the subject matter is especially complex; sometimes your status as an expert and your familiarity with the situation you face hinder you from effectively identifying with the audience of users. Knowledge can be, if not a curse, then at least an obstacle.

To better empathize with those who use your clients’ tools, documents, or systems, you need to look past your own knowledge and experiences to get to their perspective. I have developed a framework with the acronym BUROC (pronounced byoo-rok) that helps communicators identify opportunities to use plain language. The BUROC model can help UX designers develop more empathy for users—and develop a strategy for reaching them.