This episode introduces the concept of dimensional reframing as a tool to gain new perspectives on problems and facilitate decision-making by considering a new dimension.

• Learn how adding a new dimension to a problem can overcome limited perception and lead to new insights.• Discover how applying the dimension of time to bug management can help prioritise and address a manageable number of bugs within a specific period.• Explore how considering your energy levels can inform your approach to personal tasks, matching tasks to your available energy.• Understand how frameworks like Getting Things Done (GTD) use the dimension of context to make tasks more actionable.• Learn how the KonMari method employs the dimension of joy to fundamentally change how you decide what items to keep.• Understand that the key to effective dimensional reframing is choosing a dimension that you care about and that helps you make decisions.• Discover that dimensional reframing can be applied to both individual items and lists of items.

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This episode explores the concept of Chesterton's fence, a principle that advises against removing or altering something without first understanding its original purpose.

• Understand the core message of Chesterton's fence: before getting rid of an existing system, process, or code, take the time to understand why it was put there in the first place.• Learn about the common thought process that leads to wanting to remove things without understanding them ("Why on earth would anyone ever do it this way?").• Discover the parable of Chesterton's fence: the more intelligent reformer questions the removal of a fence until its use is understood.• See an analogy in code review where a senior engineer might question the removal of code or tests without understanding their purpose.• Understand the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and the Dunning-Kruger effect, which can lead to overestimating one's own abilities and underestimating the reasoning behind existing systems.• Recognise the mistake of assuming that predecessors were incompetent and that their work was done in error.• Appreciate the importance of adopting a curious mindset and trying to understand the original reasons behind existing practices.• Understand that Chesterton's fence is not a justification for never changing anything, but a caution against recklessness and the importance of being informed.• Learn that even when deciding to remove something, understanding its purpose can lead to better decisions and improvements in the future (e.g., replacing an old test with a better one).• Realise the value of learning from the experiences and reasoning of those who came before.

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This episode discusses how to reframe areas of growth identified in performance reviews with your manager, turning potential weaknesses into strategic strengths. It emphasizes focusing on excelling in your existing strengths rather than spreading efforts thinly across all areas of improvement.

• Understand why it's misguided to immediately convert a list of growth areas into a to-do list and the importance of collaborating with your manager on this.
• Learn to identify the growth areas you are interested in and determine what has kept you from excelling in them, such as time, opportunity, or self-confidence.
• Discover why focusing on becoming extraordinarily good in your already strong areas can lead to unique opportunities for you and your company.
• Explore how to strategically discuss your growth areas with your manager, focusing on a limited set of areas for improvement and suggesting compromises or delegation for others.
• Challenge the conventional wisdom of balancing skills and instead consider how to become a top performer (top 2%) in your areas of strength.
• Realise that a team composed of individuals excelling at different things, will probably be more effective than a team of well-rounded individuals.

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This episode provides a tactical question to elicit useful feedback by taking responsibility for seeking it out and framing the request in a way that encourages advice rather than judgment.

• Understand that your manager giving you feedback is your responsibility, which means you should actively seek it out rather than waiting.
• Discover how a simple question can shift the dynamic with your manager to get better feedback, focusing on advice for the future rather than dwelling on past behaviours.
• Learn the tactical question to ask your manager: "What do you think will hold me back from growing?" or a modified version like, "What do you think will hold me back from getting X promotion?".
• Explore why framing your feedback request as seeking advice is more effective because managers generally enjoy giving advice and it focuses on future improvement.
• Understand that the intent is not to analyze past behavior but to identify potential roadblocks to future success and growth.

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This episode introduces a simple quadrant tool to visualise different working modes that a team or individual task might be in, based on levels of autonomy and definition.

• Understand how the quadrant is built using the X-axis of dependency (high to low) and the Y-axis of definition (high to low) to visualise different work modes.
• Explore how the bottom left quadrant represents work that is highly exploratory and highly dependent, often requiring collaboration across multiple departments.
• Learn how a "spike" usually fits into the bottom right quadrant, signifying autonomous exploration.
• Discover how the top left quadrant is for work that is highly dependent but highly defined, such as a migration project or adopting a new tool.
• Understand how the top right quadrant represents work that is the most defined and the most autonomous, typically a singular task assigned to an individual.
• Recognise that many development frameworks focus on optimising work to fit in the top right quadrant to improve flow by reducing dependencies.
• Consider that the top left quadrant is often the lowest value production due to high dependencies without creative thinking.
• Realise that exploratory work, if unguided, can be a liability, and it may be useful to involve more people in the exploration or ensure the individual has significant experience.
• Be aware that processes are often optimised for tasks in the top right quadrant, potentially leading to the avoidance of work in other quadrants.

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This episode introduces product lifecycle governance, offering practical techniques for engineering managers to tackle challenges like backlog prioritisation and leadership misunderstandings, helping turn potential problems into strategic advantages.

• Uncover how to use product lifecycle governance to expose vulnerabilities in your product development process, by understanding where decisions are made and who makes them.
• Learn how to move beyond simply managing a product to governing its lifecycle, turning unexpected issues into opportunities for better alignment and strategic advantage.
• Discover why understanding your governance model is crucial for ensuring that everyone is working on the most important tasks, and how to iterate on it for better clarity and effectiveness.
• Explore why focusing on a clear governance model and identifying decision points can be more useful than simply executing processes without understanding the bigger picture.
• Learn why surfacing tech debt and integrating it into your backlog is essential for a healthy product lifecycle.
• Understand that documenting and sharing your governance model can lead to better collaboration and alignment within the organisation.

This episode provides language and a mental model around product lifecycle governance to help navigate challenges, especially when transitioning to a new role or company. It emphasises understanding where decisions are being made, what your power is as a manager, and how to collaborate to develop a better governance model. The goal is to ensure everyone is working on the right thing at the right time, optimising decision-making and processes.

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This episode explores philosophical frameworks—ontology, teleology, and dynamism—to inform decision-making in uncertain situations, providing practical advice for applying these concepts in your professional and personal life.

• Understand how ontology, teleology, and dynamism can help you navigate conversations about future actions for teams, companies, families, or yourself. Ontology focuses on a thing's intrinsic characteristics, teleology on its purpose or outcome, and dynamism on the changing environment.
• Learn how these philosophical frameworks address the uncertainty of the future and provide tools for making intentional decisions. The episode connects these concepts to practical advice, especially for engineering managers, demonstrating their relevance to your career.
• Explore how ontology identifies a thing's characteristics in isolation, while teleology considers its purpose or outcome. Discover how dynamism identifies changes in the environment and intent, providing a contextual understanding.
• Consider how dynamism can recognize the need to change a team's role due to external factors, like AI, which contrasts with the potentially static views of ontology and teleology.
• Understand that 'should' implies value in decision-making, with choices leaning towards desirable or undesirable outcomes. The episode explores how to define the criteria for 'should' in various contexts.
• Realise the importance of adapting your thinking to new realities, which is crucial in decision-making.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Wix Studio's developer-first ecosystem allows you to focus on crucial functionalities by reducing time spent on tedious tasks.

• Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
• Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions.
• Use Wix Studio’s AI code assistant to ship faster.

Work within a developer-first ecosystem by visiting wixstudio.com.

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This episode includes practical techniques to prepare for the unexpected by identifying vulnerabilities and building resilience, using the "curse question" and the "assumption audit" to help you turn potential problems into strategic advantages.

• Uncover how to use a "curse question" to expose vulnerabilities you didn't know you had, by imagining realistic negative scenarios and what could go wrong.• Learn how to move beyond resilience to antifragility, turning unexpected events into opportunities for growth and strategic advantage, by making them benefitial rather than harmful.• Discover why your medium-confidence assumptions might be the most dangerous and how an "assumption audit" can help you rate them and their potential impact if they are wrong, to help you better understand your weaknesses.• Explore why preparing for a range of possibilities, including black swan events, is more effective than trying to predict specific outcomes, and how to spot opportunities in the unexpected.• Learn why focusing on areas of fragility and identifying risks can be more useful than focusing on trying to avoid negative events altogether.• Understand that counterfactuals can help you challenge your assumptions and create more robust plans.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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In this episode, we discuss how invisible inertia can cause us to misinterpret our reality in work scenarios.• Discover why common misconceptions about behaviour are so difficult to spot.• Explore why your "unique" situation might be a common trap, a "uniqueness bias".• Learn how exceptional states can become the norm and impact your life.• Uncover how people's values shape company culture, and how to evaluate this.• Why might expecting a culture to change in the direction you want be unrealistic?• Learn why you should evaluate situations for what they are right now, instead of expecting future change.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Time-crunched and data-scarce? Learn how the RPD model can leverage expertise and intuition to speed up decision-making, and how the 'Rubicon' moment can make your team more action-oriented.Stop endless planning and start doing: Learn how understanding action phases can help your team move faster from discussion to delivery.• Is your team stuck in debate? Discover the "Rubicon" moment and how crossing it can boost productivity.• Learn to recognise when deliberation is costing you more than it's worth, and how to commit to a plan, even with limited information.• Is your team over-analysing? See how intuition and expertise can drive faster, "good-enough" decisions using the Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD) model.• Learn to make quick decisions in high-pressure situations using experience, even without perfect data.• Trust your team's expertise to move from talk to action sooner and more effectively.• Want to improve your team's speed and decision-making? Tune in to find out how to get moving!

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Use "What" to get more specific. Align actions with intentions for better time management.• Stop wasting time on autopilot. Discover the power of the Five Whats and start being intentional with your time.• Tired of vague labels? Ask yourself, "What am I actually doing?" to gain clarity over your activities.• Learn how to move beyond "focus time" and define the specific actions you're taking.• See how your actions align with your goals (or don't!). Use this to refine your schedule and achieve your objectives.• These concepts can flex to apply to every aspect of your life

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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In today's episode, we're focusing on taking your resolutions and making them matter. I will give you two challenges in this episode to improve the quality and potential of success for your resolutions.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Today, we celebrate 10 years of Developer Tea. I wouldn't be doing this podcast without you listening. Especially if you have been listening for many years, thank you!

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How can you create better scientific wild a** guesses when the work is not well defined? We discuss a few strategies in this episode. We also talk a bit about what an estimate is in the first place, and how it differs from a commitment / deadline.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Are you operating in the world, or are you working on a problem? This shift in agency can make all the difference in your career.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Can you use ChatGPT to become a better engineer? I'm not just talking about learning a language or fixing a bug with ChatGPT providing advice... I'm talking about career simulations. In this episode we discuss how the airline industry has fixed the problem of experience, and how we can learn from their insights to create low-stakes learning environments that boost our career and confidence through the roof.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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In today's episode we discuss the concept of adopting self-coaching personas, and discuss the third persona, "Shoulder Socrates."

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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In today's episode we discuss the concept of adopting self-coaching personas, and discuss the second persona, the over-optimizer.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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In today's episode we discuss the concept of adopting self-coaching personas, and discuss a critical first persona to start with.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks andmore on the functionalities that matters most:● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistantAll of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

📮 Ask a Question

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High-leverage work often comes in the simplest form of helping another person with their efforts.

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Learn to prioritize, and everything else falls into place. This is clarity through perspective and purpose.

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Your career growth will be directly correlated to your ability to solve critical unsolved problems in the gaps of your organization's problems. Focus on finding the problems that have a high chance of success for you specifically - the low hanging fruit.

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In this episode we discuss the delineation between culture and values. What you allow is just as important as what you value.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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The blunt reality: Merit cycles are not how you build your earning power or career. They are a function of company culture and HR, and generally speaking are disconnected from your biggest opportunities for growth.

So, where should you focus? That's what we talk about in today's episode.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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In today's episode we discuss focus, again. This time, through the lens of a few mental models that help us decide what is actually the right thing to focus on. You'll learn the real enemy of focus (note: it's not just distraction).

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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I'm joined today by Brian Pulliam. I've personally engaged Brian as a career coach. In this discussion we'll talk a bit about coaching, and about how you can set yourself up to become a much better candidate in your job search as an engineering leader.

Values Exercise Live:

• Jonathan and Brian perform a live exercise, transforming company core values into interview questions.
• Discussing the importance of aligning your experiences with the values that a company holds.
  • "I'm going to do this live right now with you, actually. I think it'll be a cool exercise..."

Advanced Interview Techniques:

• How to handle unexpected questions by paraphrasing.
• Preparing for common interview questions derived from company values.
  • "You should convert every single one of those core values into a question that starts with tell me about a time when you demonstrated X."

Finding a Way to Succeed:

• The importance of creative problem solving in leadership.
• Examples of finding efficient solutions to technical problems without writing code.
  • "With zero lines of code...the ops team just reconfigured a job to run more often."

Effective Storytelling in Interviews:

• How to use stories to demonstrate competencies and cultural fit.
• The role of storytelling in making a lasting impression on interviewers.
  • "Stories move the world...people write $50 million dollar checks to startup founders based on stories."

Building a Culture of Excellence:

• Strategies for fostering a high-performance team environment.
• Reflections on leadership and creating positive workplace dynamics.
  • "We provide stable, fast, low friction developer experiences for all engineering teams at Zillow."

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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I'm joined today by Brian Pulliam. I've personally engaged Brian as a career coach. In this discussion we'll talk a bit about coaching, and about how you can set yourself up to become a much better candidate in your job search as an engineering leader.

Introduction to Career Coaching:

• What is a career coach and how they differ from a manager or mentor.
• Brian Pulliam shares his journey from tech to becoming an athletics coach.
  • "I was in tech for about 26 years...being an athletics coach with my wife...I sought out my own career coach."

The Value of Career Coaching:

• How a career coach can provide objective, unfiltered feedback.
• The benefits of having an advocate without conflicts of interest.
  • "As a career coach, you know, I'm self-employed...no conflict of interest, maybe with your own boss."

Strategies for Career Growth:

• The importance of optimizing your career path like you would optimize code.
• Using career coaching to navigate sticky situations and grow professionally.
  • "We optimize for memory, right? We optimize for CPU...coaches can help you learn how to optimize."

Interview Tactics and Mindset:

• The value of authenticity in interviews and presenting your true self.
• Why technical proficiency isn't the only factor in landing a job.
• How asking the right questions can set you apart from other candidates.
  • "The person who starts writing code right away...is almost certainly not perceived as a senior developer."

Preparing for Market Fluctuations:

• Understanding the cyclical nature of the tech job market.
• How to prepare for job changes even when you’re happily employed.
• The analogy of tech hiring seasons and being ready for winter.
  • "Tech has hiring seasons...the challenge with the hiring seasons in tech...they are of indeterminate length."

Building a Resilient Career:

• Insights into maintaining career readiness and job security.
• The importance of continual learning and adapting to market demands.
  • "Test your ability to get a new job when you don't need a new job...the power you have when you go into an interview and you are happily employed."

Real-life Examples and Lessons:

• Brian’s personal experiences with layoffs and career transitions.
• Practical advice on leveraging your network and resources.
  • "My very first job out of school...I got laid off very unexpectedly...26 years between layoffs."

Preparing for Interview Questions:

• How to handle unexpected questions by paraphrasing.
• Preparing for common interview questions derived from company values.
  • "You should convert every single one of those core values into a question that starts with tell me about a time when you demonstrated X."

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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In this episode we talk about the concept of "resetting your base" - moving in a direction you don't necessarily want to go in order to achieve better outcomes in the long run.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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In today's episode we discuss how you might build your confidence without being disingenuous. This isn't a lesson in psychology or tricks - it's about building true confidence in what you do (and importantly, don't) know.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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In today's episode, we'll discuss an absolutely simple structure for prioritization and information flow in your daily work. The flow relies on a basic text editor - that's it!

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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You have seen "bias to action" on job requirements, but what does this really mean? Is it something that can be learned? Make sure you know the difference between this skill and a more automatic cognitive bias.

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In this episode, we use the Start / Stop / Continue framework in a new way. As leaders, we should always know what outcome indicators a given discussion is based on. In this episode, we discuss the three core outcome indicators for managers to pay close attention to.

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In today's episode, we talk about inversion and inverted thinking. This is a mental model inspired by considering the "negative space" instead of the space occupied by the thing you are seeking. For example, if you are trying to avoid failure, you might intuitively seek a "successful strategy" instead of looking at the reasons it may fail directly. Inversion will help you avoid these traps.

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In today's episode we discuss a preparation step for your next one-on-one. Don't just wing it - do your homework... and talk to yourself a little bit.

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In today's episode we'll discuss some counterintuitive advice for your interviews. This advice applies in interview settings, but also applies in 1-1 meetings as well.

🙏 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 existing team knowledge in GitHub, Slack, Confluence and more. Spend less time digging for context and more time building great software. Check it out at getunblocked.com.

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After today's episode, your resumé is going to get better! In this episode I will share the biggest mistake and the best advice I've ever received about building a great resumé. This will take some work from you, but I hope you walk away from this episode feeling like you have the right mindset to improve your resumé drastically, and land more interviews, ultimately leading to better job opportunities for the Developer Tea audience!

🙏 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 complexity with graphs!

With Neo4j, you can code in your favorite programming language and against anydriver. See what graphs can do for you at Neo4j.com/developer

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In today's episode, we talk about the counterintuitive process of prioritizing based on critical path. This is not a novel concept that I've invented, but rather a revisiting of the classic discussion started by Eli Goldratt in his book "The Goal", and later in his book "Critical Path", based on the theory of constraints.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: PropelAuth

If you're building a B2B product and looking for an auth provider that can support you now and as you grow, give PropelAuth a try. All of their features are available to test without a credit card, and you can get started at www.propelauth.com today!

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The most common mistake for any manager is to fail to clarify. This often happens because we mistake our average communications for having perfect clarity, when in fact we most often don't communicate at high levels of clarity. This isn't because we are bad at communication, but rather because our social communications carry less consequence when they aren't precise.

Clarity is not simply being honest. We'll discuss the importance of clarity in this episode, and your first steps towards achieving clarity above the norm.

🙏 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 existing team knowledge in GitHub, Slack, Confluence and more. Spend less time digging for context and more time building great software. Check it out at getunblocked.com.

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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 existing team knowledge in GitHub, Slack, Confluence and more. Spend less time digging for context and more time building great software. Check it out at getunblocked.com.

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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 developers need to get jobs done. It tailors answers by augmenting your source code with existing team knowledge in GitHub, Slack, Confluence and more. Spend less time digging for context and more time building great software. Check it out at getunblocked.com.

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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.

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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. It tailors answers by augmenting your source code with existing team knowledge in GitHub, Slack, Confluence and more. Spend less time digging for context and more time building great software. Check it out at getunblocked.com.

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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. Go to jam.dev to get started, it’s free.

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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: Neo4j

Is your code getting dragged down by endless JOINs and long query times? Try simplifying the complexity with graphs!

With Neo4j, you can code in your favorite programming language and against anydriver. See what graphs can do for you at Neo4j.com/developer

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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 tracker, send your team Jam.dev. Go to jam.dev to get started, it’s free.

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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 questions from colleagues, give Unblocked a try. Unblocked provides helpful and accurate answers to questions about your codebase. Get started at getunblocked.com.

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"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 tracker, send your team Jam.dev. Go to jam.dev to get started, it’s free.

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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 complexity with graphs!

With Neo4j, you can code in your favorite programming language and against anydriver. See what graphs can do for you at Neo4j.com/developer

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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 practically what counterintuitive ways we might be using them incorrectly.

If you're using your sprint velocity to forecast work, this episode is for you!

🙏 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. Go to jam.dev to get started, it’s free.

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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 Brought To you by: Unblocked

If you would rather spend your time coding instead of digging for answers or dealing with questions from colleagues, give Unblocked a try. Unblocked provides helpful and accurate answers to questions about your codebase. Get started at getunblocked.com.

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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.

Additionally, if your "escalation" process is overused, it will once again violate the point of the escalation in the first place. "If everything is urgent, nothing is urgent."

🙏 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. Go to jam.dev to get started, it’s free.

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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 to participate!

🙏 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 complexity with graphs!

With Neo4j, you can code in your favorite programming language and against anydriver. See what graphs can do for you at Neo4j.com/developer

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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 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. Go to jam.dev to get started, it’s free.

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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.

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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.

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In today's episode, we discuss turtles, resolutions, and why your beliefs and what you see as fact is probably worth questioning anyway.

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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!)

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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's become an indispensable part of my tool kit as an engineering manager, and I think you'll love it. Plus, you get your first three boards totally free! Go to miro.com/podcast to get started for free today!

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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, collaboration, and integration you need to get your team moving in the same direction. I use it nearly every day, it's become an indispensable part of my tool kit as an engineering manager, and I think you'll love it. Plus, you get your first three boards totally free! Go to miro.com/podcast to get started for free today!

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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, collaboration, and integration you need to get your team moving in the same direction. I use it nearly every day, it's become an indispensable part of my tool kit as an engineering manager, and I think you'll love it. Plus, you get your first three boards totally free! Go to miro.com/podcast to get started for free today!

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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.

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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 direction. I use it nearly every day, it's become an indispensable part of my tool kit as an engineering manager, and I think you'll love it. Plus, you get your first three boards totally free! Go to miro.com/podcast to get started for free today!

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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 an indispensable part of my tool kit as an engineering manager, and I think you'll love it. Plus, you get your first three boards totally free! Go to miro.com/podcast to get started for free today!

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What do you expect of yourself? Are you spending your time in ways that align with those expectations?

In this episode, I provide you a simple framework as a starting lens for getting a better idea of how you are spending your time in relation to who cares the most about those investments. You'll walk away with a new lens on how to evaluate your most precious resource: time.

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Almost every conversation you have will start with a question.Have you stopped to listen closely? Questions are extremely meaningful and deeply human. Paying close attention to questions is a skill that will put you head and shoulders above the average engineer or manager.

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How often does reality match your expectations exactly? Sure, you may guess in the ball park, but usually there are errors in our expectations.

In today's episode, I talk about a simple shift in thinking that will help improve your expectations for your work.

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In this episode we continue a little mini-series called "Backlog psychology."

How do you get better at anything? (Hopefully you said "practice" almost instinctively.) What does good practice look like?

Your team has an opportunity to practice every meeting and every day. But if your days look different from one to the next, how will you ever have the opportunity to actually do that practice?

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In this episode we continue the mini-series "Backlog psychology."

Would you rather have $5 now or $50 next week? The answer to this question, though it seems logically obvious which is better, does not always produce the same response. The required incentive to convince someone to wait tends to follow an exponential curve upward.

This is not just true with money, but for any benefit and incentive: monetary, social, emotional, physical, etc.

What does this mean for our backlogs? What about our daily habits?

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In this episode we kick off a little mini-series called "Backlog psychology."

You've heard you should "limit your work in progress" - why? What makes more work in progress more difficult to handle?

Cognitive load isn't just about multi-tasking in the moment - it's also about limiting your open tasks.

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Your retros may feel like deadends where complaints go to die. If you're running retros and treating it only as an avenue for emotional support rather than continuous improvement, today's episode is for you.

Retros are for improving iteratively over time. That can only happen if your outcomes are aligned to that iterative mindset. Two simple adjustments can help drive that improvement.

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Count the cost of learning. When you choose a path towards a goal, it's absolutely critical to optimize for the cost of learning. Often, with software, it is easier to learn by a series of smaller steps, even if they start out as random, rather than take on the major risk of a large step possibly going the wrong direction. This isn't always true; sometimes, the cost of learning is *greater* with small steps. Determining which is true in your situation can make or break your plans.

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Decisions are made in many ways, but one important type of decisionmaking tool is the "rule." This is something you follow without any cognitive processing.

But, we eventually develop rules as a part of habit-building. These are "implicit" rules - they aren't necessarily something you have set as a rule, but they are followed as if they were.

These are worth interrogating, and perhaps replacing with more explicit rules.

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Are you stuck trying to prioritize your long list of things you need to do? Maybe you're trying to establish a habitual routine or areas of investment in your schedule, budget, or decisionmaking.

Figure out what you need to avoid first. This creates the opportunities you need to say yes.

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Are you measuring the wrong thing for your short term game? If so, you probably continuously change directions and are never sure if anything you do is working. It's time to rethink your scoreboard.

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Your career doesn't have to take off without your approval. Slow down, and make sure you actually have goals you are setting. Control your own destiny by aligning your plan to your actual goal, or vice versa.

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Accountability can be complex. When something goes wrong, fingers start flying: *someone* needs to be held responsible.

But true accountability starts before anything goes wrong. In this episode, we discuss the Accountability Triangle, a mental model for ensuring that your accountability structures are valid and actually usable.

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Improving your clarity is the beginning of your journey in engineering leadership. This takes courage and patience, but the investment will benefit everyone you influence, including yourself.

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If you've used the term Tech Debt, you probably know that the metaphor is loose at best. Taking on tech debt sometimes becomes a permanent choice, and the repayment isn't always a clear-cut investment. Most importantly, the concept of "debt" doesn't as easily take into account the human factors involved.

Tech lag (taking inspiration from jet lag) is about the thrash involved in changing the standard of quality. In this episode, we talk about how this metaphor applies where you normally might think of tech debt.

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Negotiation is not about getting more of what you want out of another person. Real artful negotiation is about finding alignment, and solving the problems presented at a level of divergence.

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Layoffs happen whether we want them to or not. Being prepared with a principled approach can help relieve anxiety and produce better outcomes for when layoffs occur. In this episode, I give you two principled mental tools to help you deal with layoff anxieties no matter where you are in the picture.

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Everything around us is primarily governed by some kind of system. The question is, are you designing your systems intentionally, or just letting them emerge? In today's episode, I give you one piece of advice when designing your systems: limit the responsibility of a given actor in the system.

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If you don't have agency over your goals, how can they help you to begin with?

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Good feedback isn't about getting something off of your chest. It's not about sharing your feelings (though that doesn't mean your feelings aren't important). It's about finding a problem that you and the person you are sharing feedback with both care about, and working towards a solution.

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Planning will give you the illusion of certainty. What you really need to execute on your plans is clarity. The reality is that the future is impossible to predict, and the further away from now that you get, the more difficult it becomes to predict at an exponential rate. Focus on creating the best pathways for present decision-making.

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You may hate hearing the word "process." You aren't alone if you do. But, what feels like a slog today is really in place for when the most critical things happen in your career. Have a process, even if it feels useless on a standard day.

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The psychological phenomenon of hedonic adaptation can seem like the enemy of your happiness, but once you understand how it works, you can use it to create lasting habit change and focus on what matters most.

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Today we look at a mental model from the field of psychophysics called Weber's Law. This concept is a great analogy for a lot of problems we face as engineers and people leaders, and can help us understand just how deeply humans depend on context to understand the world.

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A senior developer understands that they have to be very selective about how they apply knowledge. Know matter how vast your knowledge may be, you are limited in how you can practically use it in a given circumstance.

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Your intuition says that control is the ladder you climb to improve your career. But most great leaders tend to do one thing: the opposite of increasing control.

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In today's episode we explore the duality between confronting difficult realities while maintaining optimism. Specifically, we discuss a critical question: what does it mean to be optimistic?

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The traits that define a senior engineer are not catalogued perfectly in one spot. But, nevertheless, we'll try to cover some of the most important traits and habits of a senior engineer.

In today's episode, we'll add more detail to the commonly recommended skill of "work breakdown." Sometimes this extremely valuable skill is the opposite of what you really need to practice.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

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The traits that define a senior engineer are not catalogued perfectly in one spot. But, nevertheless, we'll try to cover some of the most important traits and habits of a senior engineer.

In this episode, we'll discuss the fact that difficulty does not equate to value, and hazard a guess as to why we can easily confuse this, especially as we begin to grow from junior to senior roles.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

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The traits that define a senior engineer are not catalogued perfectly in one spot. But, nevertheless, we'll try to cover some of the most important traits and habits of a senior engineer.

In this episode, we'll discuss the importance of systematically communicating value to various audiences.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

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The traits that define a senior engineer are not catalogued perfectly in one spot. But, nevertheless, we'll try to cover some of the most important traits and habits of a senior engineer.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

📮 Ask a Question

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We play the short game so we get the chance to play the long game.

Early in our careers, we imagine the best way to play is always focus on the long game. But in reality, we need both.

Be aware of leaning too far the opposite direction, and accidentally abandoning the long game entirely.

## 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: [Split](https://split.io/DeveloperTea)

This podcast is powered by Split. The Feature Management & Experimentation Platform that reimagines software delivery. By attaching insightful data to feature flags, Split frees you to quickly deploy, measure, and learn the impact of every feature you release. So you can safely deliver features up to 50 times faster and exhale. What a release! Get started with your first feature flag today at [https://split.io/DeveloperTea](https://split.io/DeveloperTea)

## 📮 Ask a Question

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## 📮 Join the [Discord](https://developertea.com/discord)

If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) working to improve their lives and careers, join us on the Developer Tea Discord community by visiting [https://developertea.com/discord](https://developertea.com/discord) today!

## 🧡 Leave a Review

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We can become accustomed to the rate at which we experience change, and imagine that that rate will continue to increase linearly.

Eventually, change will level off. We accumulate fewer skills later in our careers, our network of connections might seem to top out, or our salary bumps slow down.

If we know that change tends to follow a logarithmic shape, we can prepare and plan better for the changing rate of change.

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At the beginning of any work session, practice, performance, or any other activity you want to achieve flow during, you can give yourself the best shot at getting into flow by controlling a few simple variables. We talk about two of them in today's episode: Session Feedback and Session Goal.

## 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: [Split](https://split.io/DeveloperTea)

This podcast is powered by Split. The Feature Management & Experimentation Platform that reimagines software delivery. By attaching insightful data to feature flags, Split frees you to quickly deploy, measure, and learn the impact of every feature you release. So you can safely deliver features up to 50 times faster and exhale. What a release! Get started with your first feature flag today at [https://split.io/DeveloperTea](https://split.io/DeveloperTea)

## 📮 Ask a Question

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## 📮 Join the [Discord](https://developertea.com/discord)

If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) working to improve their lives and careers, join us on the Developer Tea Discord community by visiting [https://developertea.com/discord](https://developertea.com/discord) today!

## 🧡 Leave a Review

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Protecting your flow state may help you have more "peak experiences" - whether in your career or in your personal life. This is your opportunity to make the biggest strides and highest achievements.

In this episode we start a conversation about what it takes to protect your flow state.

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Sometimes I hear advice that is worth its weight in gold. In today's episode I share one piece of advice that is almost universally applicable across life and career efforts.

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If your identity is complex, your purpose is by extension complex. In this episode, we talk about purpose as an expression, rather than a regulator, of your identity.

## 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: [Split](https://split.io/DeveloperTea)

This podcast is powered by Split. The Feature Management & Experimentation Platform that reimagines software delivery. By attaching insightful data to feature flags, Split frees you to quickly deploy, measure, and learn the impact of every feature you release. So you can safely deliver features up to 50 times faster and exhale. What a release! Get started with your first feature flag today at [https://split.io/DeveloperTea](https://split.io/DeveloperTea)

## 📮 Ask a Question

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## 📮 Join the [Discord](https://developertea.com/discord)

If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) working to improve their lives and careers, join us on the Developer Tea Discord community by visiting [https://developertea.com/discord](https://developertea.com/discord) today!

## 🧡 Leave a Review

If you're enjoying the show and want to support the content head over to iTunes and [leave a review](https://ratethispodcast.com/devtea)! It helps other developers discover the show and keep us focused on what matters to you.