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: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creation and tracking, to inventory synchronizat...
Feb 03, 2022•10 min•Ep. 1042
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: developertea.com. 📮 Join the Discord If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) working to improve their ...
Feb 01, 2022•9 min•Ep. 1041
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 enterprises—use Doppler to keep their secrets and app configuration in sync across devices, environments, and team members. Goodbye .env files. Get s...
Jan 27, 2022•15 min•Ep. 1040
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 relationship between clarity and perspective, and how simplification benefits my productivity drastically. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: cord c...
Jan 24, 2022•17 min•Ep. 1039
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 their code, allowing them to work on continuous code improvement throughout the SDLC. Rollbar has plans for all situations, from free to large enterp...
Jan 20, 2022•17 min•Ep. 1038
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 synchronization. Square’s APIs also integrate with software business owners already use like tax and bookings. so business owners can have an integrated...
Jan 18, 2022•15 min•Ep. 1037
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!) working to improve their lives and careers, join us on the Developer Tea Discord community by visiting https://developertea.com/discord today! 🧡 Lea...
Jan 12, 2022•26 min•Ep. 1036
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’ll send and receive messages directly from hiring teams themselves, with everything happening in a simple messaging thread, with a calendar integrat...
Jan 10, 2022•31 min•Ep. 1036
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 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 suppo...
Jan 05, 2022•22 min•Ep. 1035
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 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to focus on the problems you are best suited to solve in your p...
Jan 03, 2022•19 min•Ep. 1034
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 and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn't ready to be released to users. Innovate faster, deploy fearlessly, and make ea...
Dec 30, 2021•14 min•Ep. 1033
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 and frustration and regaining a sense of calm and intention. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by L...
Dec 28, 2021•17 min•Ep. 1032
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. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn't ready to be released to users. Innovate fas...
Dec 23, 2021•20 min•Ep. 1031
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 This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature i...
Dec 20, 2021•20 min•Ep. 1030
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 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....
Dec 17, 2021•16 min•Ep. 1029
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 communicating clearly with another human being. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. L...
Dec 15, 2021•20 min•Ep. 1028
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 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 logi...
Dec 14, 2021•39 min•Ep. 1025
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 categorize these inputs into four categories on a matrix, and provide a tool you can use practically in your retrospectives. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To...
Dec 13, 2021•22 min•Ep. 1027
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 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to ...
Dec 08, 2021•30 min•Ep. 1026
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 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to focus on the problems you are best suited to solve i...
Dec 06, 2021•39 min•Ep. 1025
The focus is the work. When anyone asks how they can be more productive, I give them the exercise I talk about in this episode. It's extremely simple, but not easy. What are you focused on, right now? If you can answer this question at all times, you will be productive. 🙏 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 wi...
Dec 01, 2021•21 min•Ep. 1024
Bugs are inevitable, but individually unpredictable. Trying to use a single strategy for dealing with these events will miss a huge number of the events, while requiring massive efforts. Instead, we should focus on building a balanced approach to dealing with problems like this. 🙏 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 ...
Nov 29, 2021•21 min•Ep. 1023
Most things are compositions of other things. Most problems are multi-factorial. Most opportunities have more than one selling point. Sometimes, it helps to realign your thinking to composition, using tools like matrices to make better decisions. 🙏 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 software business own...
Nov 24, 2021•10 min•Ep. 1022
Substitute with better questions, and you'll have more insightful answers. Questions are a major contributing factor to behavior, and the way you ask questions is a habit that can have a high-leverage cascading effect on the rest of your life. Find better questions. 🙏 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 released to u...
Nov 23, 2021•16 min•Ep. 1021
Focusing on fundamentals may seem boring, or like a sports catchphrase used to motivate people to practice. The truth is, these fundamentals are still going to be the most important value-making activities of your career. But as you continue participating in them, if you engage with intention, you will not simply be repeating the same thing over and over; you and your environment will change, sometimes as a result of those repeated cycles. You will gain intuition from the practice, and you will ...
Nov 18, 2021•10 min•Ep. 1020
Metamodeling is creating a model of models. Confused yet? When we use models, we often assume they are complete. But what characteristics could make all of our models better? That's the concept of metamodeling. We talk about creating metamodels and using steering feedback to derive value from one model to another. 📮 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 b...
Nov 16, 2021•15 min•Ep. 1019
Stress often comes from pressure. When we experience pressure, we usually respond by trying to relieve it - often to the detriment of our work. In today's episode, we talk about the dangers of pressure, and some strategies to employ in the face of pressure. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Try out Square’s CPOS APIs today for a chance to win $20k in the Build What’s POS-sible Hackathon. For more information and to register go to https://squ.re/cpos , and check out the Build What's...
Nov 11, 2021•15 min•Ep. 1018
Confidence is often used as an artificial bluff, to help us feel less dread of failure. But this is problematic; when we put blinders on, we don't prepare adequately, often leading to blame-shifting and other techniques to maintain an inflated sense of confidence. Instead, choose bravery - the willingness to act in the face of uncertainty. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly is hosting Trajectory Conference 2021 — a t...
Nov 08, 2021•9 min•Ep. 1017
What do you want to change? The things you do repeatedly have the most impact on your life. Focus on the systems that produce repeated behaviors. We talk about these as "engines" of behavior in today's episode, and help you figure out which ones to focus on the most. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly is hosting Trajectory Conference 2021 — a two-day event for software innovators who want to break orbit, not systems....
Nov 02, 2021•19 min•Ep. 1016
We continue talking about conducting a mindful job search in today's episode. The truth is, that next application you put in is probably not going to end in an accepted offer. Whether by your decision or theirs, most job applications go nowhere. In this episode we'll talk about how to deal with this reality, as well as some other myths of interviewing. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Try out Square’s CPOS APIs today for a chance to win $20k in the Build What’s POS-sible Hackathon...
Oct 27, 2021•18 min•Ep. 1014
