Developer Tea

What does your culture have to do with your values? In this episode we open up the discussion about a model of thinking for culture and values to understand how they link, and more importantly, when they don't. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked Unblocked provides helpful and accurate answers developers need to get jobs done. It tailors answers by augmenting your source code with e...

Your feedback loops should be short enough that the cost of making a mistake is low enough that the value of the learning in the feedback loop exceeds the magnitude of the cost of a mistake. In other words: shorten your feedback loops to the point that you're no longer afraid to make a mistake. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked Unblocked provides helpful and accurate answers devel...

In this episode we discuss the importance of being your own advocate, and why this is likely the most rational position to hold. The takeaway: At any point, the person advocating the most for you is almost definitely YOU. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com. 📮 Join the Discord If you wan...

In this episode we discuss a practical application of information theory. Information theory is similar to the classic theory of communication, but distinct in important ways; these two theories together are a useful combo for creating a strategy for clarification. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked Unblocked provides helpful and accurate answers developers need to get jobs done. I...

In today's episode we talk about working principles again. Specifically, we're looking at a problem with measurement fixation, as well as the natural curve of degradation that most communication follows. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Jam.dev If you’re an engineer and you would rather spend your time writing code than responding to comments in your issue tracker, send your team Jam.dev....

In this episode we are revisiting some of my own personal core principles of working. I'm sharing these with you for you to do whatever you want with them, so please share however you can! The principles we discuss today are around the relationship between clarity and focus, and about how most negotiations aren't about feasibility but instead about strategy. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by...

In today's episode we talk about principles of productivity. Most of the advice you receive will fit in the two categories we discuss in this episode. Once you connect with these ideas, you'll be able to use them for your own gain. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Jam.dev If you’re an engineer and you would rather spend your time writing code than responding to comments in your issue track...

In today's episode we discuss the concept of "cost of delay", and explore the fact that cost of delay does not necessarily follow a linear path. When cost of delay has a cliff, or an exponential curve, how do you weigh one opportunity versus another? 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked If you would rather spend your time coding instead of digging for answers or dealing with question...

"What actions can I take to get better from here?" This seems like a simple concept, but in practice we often are more interested in protecting our ego. In this episode we try to practice this self-accountability through an exercise. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Jam.dev If you’re an engineer and you would rather spend your time writing code than responding to comments in your issue tra...

In this episode we continue our discussion about the most overused statistical measurement. We'll talk about a few more counterintuitive properties of the average, and how you might be underserving your colleagues as a result of thinking in averages. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Neo4j Is your code getting dragged down by endless JOINs and long query times? Try simplifying the complexit...

On average, you're probably overusing this specific type of statistic. In today's episode, we discuss the king of all misleading numbers: averages! There's so much to talk about with averages that we're splitting this into two parts. Disclaimer: I am not a mathematician. But we will talk about some of the interesting properties of averages and why they are so addictive to use for humans, but more...

Today we explore the idea of treating your time as a product. Start with a wishlist: what do you wish was true about your week? What are your "if-only" statements? Next, put on your product owner hat. How would you improve the situation, if you knew the "consumer"'s requests? This exercise should provide unique insight and a new lens to view your time and agency through. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brou...

The Von Restorff effect says we remember things that stand out. This is probably mostly intuitive - "that stood out to me" is a common colloquialism. But what isn't intuitive is the implied downside of uniformity, which is often the product of process. In other words, if your process creates perfect uniformity, elevating any one thing, say, in priority, is going to be exceedingly difficult. Additi...

In today's episode, we do a journaling exercise to provide a new lens on developing your own career roadmap. We're going to practice the power of hindsight, finding our wiser selves, and ultimately looking forward and backward...at the same time. It sounds a little odd, but it's all based in solid cognitive science. If you have a notoriously hard time figuring out your career path, I'd invite you...

As you grow your career, you will continuously lean on delegation to scale your efforts and focus on the most important things. True delegation requires ownership, and ownership can be thought of in two critical parts: agency and responsibility. In today's episode, we discuss the fool's errand of delegating only one or the other of these parts. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Jam.dev If y...

Little's Law explains, in a given queuing system, what the relationships of throughput within that system are. We can garner insights both for our work, and for our own lives, by recognizing how these relationships work and what we can do to utilize them. In this episode, we talk about when it is useful to use Little's law to your advantage. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would...

Finding leverage is difficult to do, but a lot of the reason for this is that we allow ourselves to fall into well-traveled cognitive pathways. If we reject the solution domain-set that comes to mind immediately, we may be able to consider options for solutions we had never considered. This larger solution set may also include a high-leverage option we had previously ignored. 📮 Ask a Question If...

In today's episode, we discuss turtles, resolutions, and why your beliefs and what you see as fact is probably worth questioning anyway. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com. 📮 Join the Discord If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) workin...

Today Marks 9 Years of Developer Tea. Thank you all for your support, and your friendship. I wish you all well on your journey, and may you find clarity, perspective, and purpose. (Don't worry, we aren't going anywhere!) 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com. 📮 Join the Discord If you want...

What characterizes good plans from bad ones? And how can you make your plans better on average? In this episode we discuss how to better organize your intentions and processes to yield better plans. 🎙 Sponsor Today's episode is sponsored by Miro ! Miro provides the creative freedom, collaboration, and integration you need to get your team moving in the same direction. I use it nearly every day, it...

The "lollapalooza" effect (coined by Charlie Munger) occurs when multiple other effects have a compounded outcome that tends to create an extreme situation. In this episode, we discuss lollapalooza effects and how you might fall victim to them, and more importantly, how you can use them to your advantage. 🎙 Sponsor Today's episode is sponsored by Miro ! Miro provides the creative freedom, collabor...

When you are newly joining a team, you have a huge opportunity to do something that no one on the team has: to find your "weathervane." The pressure pushing against you to adopt the beliefs of the team you are joining. What you do with it is one huge way a team can improve, or otherwise, stay the same. 🎙 Sponsor Today's episode is sponsored by Miro ! Miro provides the creative freedom, collaborati...

Most people believe good things will happen by default. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but there's a downside to this endless optimism. You cannot will good things to happen, and when you don't prepare for adverse events, you won't be ready when they inevitably occur. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at...

Your team's process for managing a backlog is probably growing stale because you are running on habit rather than procedure. Break out of procedure and remind yourself why you have a process to begin with: orient yourself to the outcomes! 🎙 Sponsor Today's episode is sponsored by Miro ! Miro provides the creative freedom, collaboration, and integration you need to get your team moving in the same...

What is it about our present situation that changes our perspective? In today's episode we talk about the availability bias and why our present reality looms so large in our decisionmaking. 🎙 Sponsor Today's episode is sponsored by Miro ! Miro provides the creative freedom, collaboration, and integration you need to get your team moving in the same direction. I use it nearly every day, it's become...