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Developer Tea exists to help driven developers connect to their ultimate purpose and excel at their work so that they can positively impact the people they influence. With over 13 million downloads to date, Developer Tea is a short podcast hosted by Jonathan Cutrell (@jcutrell), co-founder of Spec and Director of Engineering at PBS. We hope you'll take the topics from this podcast and continue the conversation, either online or in person with your peers. Twitter: @developertea :: Email: deve ...
On the whole, exceptions are not exceptional. Each one may be unpredictable or rare, but they happen very regularly. How are you prepared to handle those exceptions? Make space today for the principle of headroom. 📮 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: develop…
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You Need Better Inputs to improve Your Options
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The quality of your options is determined by the quality of your inputs. If your decisions have no good options, consider what the source of those options is. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Instabug Building and maintaining mobile applications is not simple. Through comprehensive bug and crash reports, performance monitoring and real time …
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Tradeoffs Of Control Optimized To Serve Your Goals
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The background noise in today's episode wasn't just a mistake, it was a choice. A tradeoff. Tradeoffs represent a decision of control and energy. You will make them every day, but towards what goal? When you make a tradeoff and decide where to put your energy, you are necessarily deciding not to put it elsewhere. So, do so with purpose and intentio…
What was the last time you prepared for a meeting? I'm not talking about the times when you were forced to prepare. I mean, when was the last time you put thought and effort into a meeting that most people just show up to? In this episode, we talk about simple ways to go the extra mile. Also, this involves no extra work on your part. 📮 Ask a Questi…
Premortems aren't just a tool for teams launching projects. You can use these for your personal goals as well. What are the things most likely to stop you from achieving your goals today, this month, this year, or by the end of your career? 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the sho…
Comparison is a powerful tool that humans are exceedingly good at wielding. However, as with any powerful tool, it can easily be misused to damaging effect. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creation and tracking, to inventory synchronizati…
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Busting False Coupling and Finding Positive Negotiation Positions
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In this episode, we'll discuss the importance of breaking false ties in a negotiation scenario. This happens more often than we realize, and the best way to do this is by breaking down the problem of "what is important" to each side in a negotiation. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly…
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Making Space for Intuition in Decision-making
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Decision-making shouldn't just be about algorithms. It also shouldn't be just about intuition. Incorporating both is required to make the best decisions for your career. 📮 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…
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Blueprint for Better Intermediate Decisionmaking
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Most decisions that are worth considering longer than a moment fall into the category of "intermediate decisions" we discuss in today's episode. These decisions require more than the quick snap judgments we all make, but shouldn't take significant deliberation or extended study to make. These decisions are the primary fuel for your career. 📮 Ask a …
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Finding Perspective On Purpose - Make it Visible, Make it Clear
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In today's episode we talk about finding perspective and purpose through the lens of two principles and one bonus exercise. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn't ready to be release…
In today's episode, we discuss the principle of isolation. We use isolation in decisionmaking regularly! Now, let's learn how to harness it. You can only optimize what you isolate. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creation and tracking, to…
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Better Report, Better Manager - Reiterate and Reflect for Better Communication
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Communication is hard. Like most things, we try to oversimplify it by turning "understanding" into a black and white, binary state. Communication and understanding is, however, a spectrum. Singular messages are low resolution, and it's our job when communicating with each other to increase the resolution of our communication. We talk about a simple…
In today's episode we discuss two types of decision evaluations, and a brief explanation of noise in decisionmaking. You're making judgment calls every day - are they good? How do you know? 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to de…
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Better Report, Better Manager - The Assumption of Motivation
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We all have some kind of motivation. But in error, we assume we know the motivations of others, and we also assume that our future selves will act in alignment with well-intentioned motivations. Both of these assumptions can lead us to poor decisions about our career. For managers, that assumption can lead you to making decisions for others that ar…
How do you keep the big picture in mind while also executing on the details? In today's episode we talk about the three-part pyramid that represents the big picture. We also overuse alliterations a bit in the episode, hopefully it helps you remember it! 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDar…
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Better Report, Better Manager - Two Questions to Find Guidance If You Don't Have A Manager
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What should I do if I don't have a manager? There's a lot of answers to this question, but the first route I want to suggest is to find someone who can provide the guidance and empowerment you need in your career. This is someone who has skin in the game and the agency and skill set to actually help you. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode…
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Swizec Teller and the Senior Engineering Mindset, Part Two
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In today's episode, we talk with Swizec Teller, senior engineer at Tia. Swizec created SeniorMindset.com, discuss the differentiators and mindset shift when becoming a senior engineering mindset. If you missed the first episode, make sure you go back and listen to that first! seniormindset.com swizec.com @Swizec on Twitter How to Win Friends and In…
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Swizec Teller and the Senior Engineering Mindset, Part One
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In today's episode, we talk with Swizec Teller, senior engineer at Tia. Swizec created SeniorMindset.com, discuss the differentiators and mindset shift when becoming a senior engineering mindset. seniormindset.com swizec.com @Swizec on Twitter 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: cord cord is the messaging tool that gives you direct access to hi…
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Better Report, Better Manager - One-On-One Frameworks: Focus and Fears
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What does a good 1-on-1 look like? We'll answer this in many different ways. For today's episode, I want to share a micro-framework for you to try out in your next 1-on-1 that could elicit some of your career's most critical conversations. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show…
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Better Report, Better Manager - Investing in a Healthier Manager-to-Report Relationship
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What should I look for in a healthy relationship with my manager? In this episode we talk about a variety of signals that you can expect if you have the right kind of relationship with your manager. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creatio…
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Better Report, Better Manager Series: Calibration Conversation - 3 Questions to Ask Your Manager ASAP
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In this episode we are kicking off a series called "Better Report, Better Manager" - in this series, we'll discuss how you can improve your relationship with your manager from a practical standpoint. Your relationship with your managers is likely one of the most critical relationships you'll have in your career. In this episode, we'll start by gett…
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No More Status Meetings - A Forcing Function For Better Team Information Flow
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Your status meetings are an old holdover from less useful business practices. Do away with status meetings, and instead get to the core of your discussion faster. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: cord cord is the messaging tool that gives you direct access to hiring teams inside technology companies in London, Europe and New York. Get direct…
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Two Principles To Improve Your Software Design Decisions
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In today's episode we discuss two principles that will help you make better software design decisions. Talk about these principles and how they apply with your manager, teammates, mentors, or other engineers in your community! 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee …
Defining what your tools, teams, processes, and even you yourself are good at is hard, and often we stray past the boundaries of focus that would keep us performing to an optimal degree. In this episode, I encourage you to perform an exercise of inversion, to look at tasks your tools are simply not suited for. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this e…
Our ability to make sense out of things is powerful. When we hear "90% of the way there", our brain fills in the gaps and often stretches that to mean "basically 100%." However, this is a cognitive error. In this episode, we talk about the importance of combining statistical thinking with sensemaking. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Doppler…
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Opportunities of Convergence and the Cost of Divergence
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Opportunity comes in moments of convergence. Loss is measured in divergence. Pay attention to what is converging now - this is how you take advantage of opportunities and reduce your cost from divergence. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: cord cord is the messaging tool that gives you direct access to hiring teams inside technology companies …
Everything we do in our teams is based on trust. Trust, however, is a limited resource. We should spend it wisely. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creation and tracking, to inventory synchronization. Square’s APIs also integrate with soft…
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3 Habits For Your First 30 Days As A New Engineer On A Team (Corrected Audio)
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You're a new engineer - what should you start doing in your first 30 days? In this episode, we talk about 3 behaviors you might be resisting, but that you should actually embrace in order to improve your team. Managers especially need to listen up on this one. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of…
In the mid 20th century, Marshall Mcluhan brought philosophy into the spotlight with his claim that the "medium is the message." We discuss the meaningfulness of this, and apply it to our work as engineers and on distributed teams, in today's episode. Mcluhan's lecture 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Doppler Thousands of companies of all si…
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Two Shifts to Change Our Working Mindset from Static to Dynamic
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The world around us isn't static, but our brain processes as if it is. In this episode we talk about subtle shifts to help break that mold for the most important interactions we have in the world. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: cord cord is the messaging tool that gives you direct access to hiring teams inside technology companies in Londo…
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Taking Advantage of Uniquely Human Capabilities
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In today's episode, we discuss the fact that intuition isn't all that bad to use when estimating... we just shouldn't use it to estimate a number. Taking advantage of things humans are already good at (rather than limiting people to processes that work around those skills) is a powerful shift in thinking. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Squ…
When we have context, we predict more accurately. When we translate numbers into more meaningful concepts, we create context where previously things were fuzzy. This makes our predictions more meaningful and grounded. 📮 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: dev…
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Excessive Cohesion - When We Fill In Gaps to Make Things Make Sense
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In today's episode we talk about a concept called excessive cohesion - when our brains fill in the gaps when information is missing. This is an important function of our brains, but sometimes it can lead us to wrong conclusions or faulty processes. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Doppler Thousands of companies of all sizes—from startups to …
Increasing clarity informs perspective. Changing perspective often brings new clarity. When we manage our work through effective process, we are seeking clarity on that work. We refine our to-do list by clearing up ambiguity. We add clarity by getting input from others, breaking work down into simpler pieces. In this episode, I talk about this rela…
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Assimilating Advice - Dealing with Information Overload
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How do you consolidate all of the advice you receive? More importantly, how can you put it into practice day in and day out? We'll talk about two strategies for making this happen in today's episode. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Rollbar Rollbar is the leading platform that enables developers to proactively discover and resolve issues in …
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Help, I'm Blocked! Four Common Root Causes for Developers Getting Blocked
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Why are you getting blocked every sprint? Find the root cause. In this episode, we discuss 4 common root causes for engineers getting blocked. Which ones do you face? 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creation and tracking, to inventory syn…
We continue our discussion with Julian Gutman about community and culture in today's episode. 📮 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!) w…
Today, Julian Gutman, Chief Product Officer at Patreon, joins us to discuss community, culture, and buy-in. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: cord cord is the messaging tool that gives you direct access to hiring teams inside technology companies in London, Europe and New York. Get direct access to hundreds of people hiring your skillset. You…
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Purpose Oriented Resolutions, Part Two, and 7 Years of Developer Tea!
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First off, thank you for an incredible 7 years! Our listeners and sponsors make it possible to do this show, and I'm incredibly grateful for every one of you. In this episode, we continue our discussion with two more exercises for making meaningful and purpose driven behavior change resolutions. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and woul…
In today's episode, we discuss purpose-oriented resolutions. We'll discuss an exercise you can use to help drive this development process. We'll also continue this discussion about resolution development in the next episode of the show. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provide…
If you can't focus, you are paralyzed. Everything you do in your career and life will be served better with clear and continuous focus. We revisit this topic after nearly seven years because it is profoundly true. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development an…
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Taking Back Ownership Over Your Priorities
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It's hard to remember sometimes, but our priorities are our own. We have agency over our time. Even our obligations are more often determined by our chosen values than they are by actual survival. When we accept that we have agency over our priorities, we can start to reclaim time that we feel is being taken from us, eliminating a feeling of chaos …
Mental models are very useful, and we tap into them even without knowing it. But just like any cognitive tool, our brain can play tricks on us when using mental models. In this episode we'll talk about three ways we can go wrong with mental models. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. …
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Using Proactive Decision Tools To Reduce Reactive Decision Error
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Make your decisions easier by anticipating them. Determine systems for making decisions in advance, so you don't get caught making them on the spot. Determine models of opportunities so you can quickly pattern-match against them, and create systems that make your decisions for you when possible. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly …
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Two Perspective-Sharpening Tools For Your New Year's Resolution Making
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In today's episode, we'll talk about two ways to improve your perception and perspective when making your new year's resolutions, or any other big decisions or changes in your life. These two tools will help you make adjustments to what you are paying attention to, and reduce the friction in your decision-making process. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brough…
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Two Tools for Improving Your Closest Relationships
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In today's episode, we discuss two tools that I believe will change your closest relationships forever. It can be awkward to intentionally work on communication with your closest relationships. But if you employ these tools, you're nearly guaranteed to see an improvement in your relationships. This isn't a gimmick or a hack; it's the hard work of c…
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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One (Fixed Audio)
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We had some gremlins in the audio processing of the first part of the interview with Ernie Miller. They've been banished! Sorry about the trouble, and thank you for listening. Today I talk with Ernie Miller. Ernie is the head of engineering at Monograph. (They are hiring!) We talk about the four-day work week, fragility of culture and the importanc…
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Input Quadrant - A Tool for Better Retrospectives
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We have an illusion of control when things go our way, and a bias to shift the blame when things don't go our way. In retrospectives, we also believe we know all of the variables at play. In today's episode, we talk about these tendencies, and provide a model for thinking about our efforts as functions, and different variables as inputs. We categor…
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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part Two
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Today I talk with Ernie Miller. Ernie is the head of engineering at Monograph. (They are hiring!) This is the second part of my interview with Ernie. We talk about the four-day work week, fragility of culture and the importance of taking care of it, and the differentiation of culture and values. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 i…
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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One
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Today I talk with Ernie Miller. Ernie is the head of engineering at Monograph. (They are hiring!) We talk about the four-day work week, fragility of culture and the importance of taking care of it, and the differentiation of culture and values. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0…
