Developer Tea

Announcing - Career Growth Accelerator, Episode Zero - Getting Out of Your Own Way

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode kicks off the Career Growth Accelerator series, focused on the specific hurdles faced by mid-to-senior level engineers, managers, and lea...

Announcing: The Career Growth Accelerator Series

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are you a mid-to-senior level engineer or leader who has hit a career roadblock or found yourself stagnated? I'm launching the new Career Growth Accel...

Problem Definition As A Path for Career Growth

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you hit a career roadblock, the methods that worked for you before often stop working. Today, I’m diving into why that happens, and why the fir...

You Know The Hard Thing You Need to Do Next - Here's Why It's Worth Doing Now

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We often look for ways to reduce the load on our brains, seeking shortcuts and optimizations to get ahead. Sometimes this works, reinforcing the belie...

Career Fundamentals - Avoid Career Traps by Focusing on Primary Paths of Improvement

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you're looking to accelerate your career growth, this episode gives you what may feel like hard truths about the path forward. So many engineers fa...

Getting to Senior - Taking Ownership Without Leading Projects

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you're an engineer looking to move into a senior role, you have likely heard that you need to demonstrate "ownership". Unfortunately, this crucial ...

Part Two - Bryan McCann, CTO of You.com, on AI, Engineering, Art, and Everything In Between

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hey everyone, welcome to today's episode of Developer Tea. This is the second part of my interview with Bryan McCann, the CTO at you.com. If you haven...

Part One - Bryan McCann, CTO of You.com, on AI, Engineering, Art, and Everything In Between

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hey everyone and welcome to today's episode of Developer Tea. It's been quite a while since I've had a guest on the show. Today, I'm joined by Bryan M...

Going to War with Burnout - Less Hours Isn't Your Only Option

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I'm tackling a massive challenge today: burnout. While the standard advice usually involves working less, I want to show you a practical dimension of ...

The Good and Bad of Choosing Measurements - Traps and Opportunities of Measuring What Matters

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, I dive into the management mantra that "what is measured is managed" and explain why this simple assertion often leads to a complex t...

Engage in Deliberate Practice to Level Up Your Engineering Leadership Skills

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I want to dive into the concept of Deliberate Practice, which sets the greatest apart in fields ranging from sports to writing to engineering. I’ll ...

Shift Your Locus of Control to Take Charge of Your Engineering Career

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode explores the concept of Locus of Control and why developing a more internal locus of control is beneficial for your career and life. You'...

Resumé Driven Development - Your Career is In Your Hands

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we'll discuss why "Résumé Driven Development" is a powerful mental model for building a thriving career. Instead of seeing your rés...

Forced and Unforced Errors

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we introduce a simple yet powerful mental model from the world of sports: forced vs. unforced errors. By understanding this concept, ...

View Your Productivity Through the Lens of Values and Priorities

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we introduce two fundamental thought experiments to help you uncover your true priorities and core values. By exploring scenarios of ...

This One Skill Signifies Seniority For Software Engineers

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode explains what is arguably the best career advice you'll hear this week: the one skill that signifies seniority in software engineers is t...

Backup Plans and Risk Reward Curves

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode focuses on the critical importance of having a backup plan, not just for technical redundancies but especially for situations involving h...

Second Order Consequences and Forcing Functions

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Todays episode delves into understanding and leveraging second and third-order consequences – the ripple effects that occur after an initial action ...

Don't Try to Solve Hyperobject Problems Once

17 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode delves into the philosophical concept of hyperobjects – problems so vast and complex they lack clear boundaries and cannot be "solved" ...

Behavior Change 101: Trigger, Incentive, and Ability

10 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode delves into a powerful model for encouraging behaviour change, applicable to both managing others and self-improvement, by focusing on th...

Goal of the Goal - Using Goals As A Prioritization Clarifying Tool

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode delves into the crucial role of well-positioned goals in a developer's career. It asserts that goals provide clarity, perspective, and pu...

Your Capacity for Growth Is Dependent on This Factor - Cognitive Load Theory

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we explore Cognitive Load Theory. This concept can profoundly influence how you structure your workday, manage teams, and approach learning in y...

Investigating Your Invisible Systems

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode focuses again on the fundamental principle that your systems are perfectly designed for the outcomes you are experiencing, regardless of ...

Perfection Is Fragile, and You Should Avoid It

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode discusses why perfection is a dangerous and fragile goal, explaining how striving for 100% leads to unsustainable outlier states. It high...

Your System is Perfectly Designed for Your Current Outcomes

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode introduces the potentially controversial principle that your system is perfectly designed for its current outcomes, urging listeners to e...

Using LLMs To Expand Your Working Vocabulary

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode explores the fundamental mindset of building your vocabulary, extending beyond literal words to conceptual understanding and mental model...

Great Reviews and Terrible Tacos - Sharpening Substitute Questions with Counterfactuals

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode delves into the use of substitute questions—simpler queries we use to answer more complex ones—and the crucial concept of cohesion be...

Why Maintenance Matters Now - Construal Level Theory, Marshmallows, and Hyperbolic Discounting

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode explores why maintenance tasks, despite their fundamental importance, are often neglected or deprioritised in our daily lives and profess...

Follow This Principle - Establish Your Baselines

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode introduces a profound yet simple principle: knowing your baselines. This concept is crucial for effectively detecting and measuring chang...

Advice on Advice - Taking Everything with a Grain of Salt

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode explores the complex landscape of receiving advice in your career, particularly during uncertain times. It offers insights on how to crit...

Career Advice for Surviving AI Outsourcing

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode addresses the fear surrounding industry changes, such as AI and potential outsourcing, and offers actionable advice for engineers, manage...

Take Back Your Time - Volatility, Pliability, and Agency and Your Obligations.mp3

01 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode provides tactical ways to own your time, reduce meeting load and obligations, and regain agency, especially when feeling burnt out. You'l...

Iteration or Target State Planning

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode explores the dichotomy between iterative planning and target state planning in software development, discussing the benefits and drawback...

Three Principles of Preparedness - Mitigate Risks and Capitalize On Opportunities

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode delves into practical principles for navigating the unexpected in your life and career. Rather than attempting to predict specific events...

Did I Get That Right? - A High Leverage Habit that Requires Virtually Zero Skill

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode introduces a simple yet highly effective communication habit that can be adopted by anyone to significantly reduce the risk of misunderst...

Meta Models - Logarithmic Returns

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode introduces a valuable meta-tool for understanding the generic shapes of models, focusing specifically on the concept of logarithmic relat...

Dimensional Reframing - Think Along a New Axis

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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

Chesterton's Fence - Why You Should Think Twice Before Rewriting That Project

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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

Reframing Areas of Growth to Your Manager

12 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode discusses how to reframe areas of growth identified in performance reviews with your manager, turning potential weaknesses into strategic...

Owning and Requesting Forward-Framed Feedback

05 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Work Modes Using Autonomy and Definition Clarity Quadrant - Manager Frameworks and Tools Series

27 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 aut...

Manager Frameworks and Models - Product Lifecycle Governance

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode introduces product lifecycle governance, offering practical techniques for engineering managers to tackle challenges like backlog priorit...

Philosophical Frameworks that Inform Your Decisions (Without You Even Knowing It)

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode explores philosophical frameworks—ontology, teleology, and dynamism—to inform decision-making in uncertain situations, providing prac...

How Can You Prepare for High-Impact Unknown Events?

08 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode includes practical techniques to prepare for the unexpected by identifying vulnerabilities and building resilience, using the "curse ques...

Misconceptions about Exceptions and Cultural Shifts - Invisible Inertia

29 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we discuss how invisible inertia can cause us to misinterpret our reality in work scenarios.• Discover why common misconceptions ab...

Action Orientation and Making Faster Decisions

22 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Match your Action to Intention - Pairing Five Whats with Five Whys

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Use "What" to get more specific. Align actions with intentions for better time management.• Stop wasting time on autopilot. Discover the power of th...

Upgrade Your Resolutions

11 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 qu...

Ten Years of Developer Tea

05 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Better Low-Information Estimates - Putting the "Scientific" in SWAG

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 b...

Agency - How The On Over In Model Can Help You Grow Your Career

11 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Using ChatGPT for Career Experience Simulations - LLMs and Direct Simulations for Faster Career Experience Gains

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

Coaching Yourself: Career Coaching Personas for Everyday Engineers, Part Three - Shoulder Socrates

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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

Coaching Yourself: Career Coaching Personas for Everyday Engineers, Part Two - The Overoptimizer

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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

Coaching Yourself: Career Coaching Personas for Everyday Engineers, Part One - The Available Manager

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Highest Leverage Work You Do - Footing the Ladder

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

High-leverage work often comes in the simplest form of helping another person with their efforts.📮 Ask a QuestionIf you enjoyed this episode and wo...

Prioritization is the Ultimate Skill

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Learn to prioritize, and everything else falls into place. This is clarity through perspective and purpose.📮 Ask a QuestionIf you enjoyed this epis...

Career Growth Comes From Finding Low Hanging Fruit in the Gaps

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Your career growth will be directly correlated to your ability to solve critical unsolved problems in the gaps of your organization's problems. Focus ...

How Culture Might Eat Your Values For Breakfast

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 B...

The Tricky Parts of Merit Cycles

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 speak...

Limiting Factors - The Hidden Focus That Matters the Most

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Improve Your Chances In Your Engineering Job Search Using the Scientific Method with Brian Pulliam

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Improve Your Chances In Your Engineering Job Search Using the Scientific Method with Brian Pulliam

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Focus On Outcomes By Resetting Your Base

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Portraying Confidence in the Face of the Unknown

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Now, Next, Later, Never - A Simple Daily Framework for Managing Information and Prioritization

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 basi...

Bias to Action As A Skill

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 differ...

Managing Using Core Indicators of Team Outcomes

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 discussi...

Inverted Thinking As a Strategy To Combat Bias

15 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Talking To Yourself for Better One-On-Ones

08 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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....

Interview Prep: Two Counterintuitive Tips

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Top Resumé Mistake I See, Plus the Best Resumé Advice I've Ever Received

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ab...

Prioritization Using Critical Path Thinking

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

Cultural Antidotes - Clarity Isn't Just Honesty

17 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The most common mistake for any manager is to fail to clarify. This often happens because we mistake our average communications for having perfect cla...

Demystifying Culture and Values

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 unde...

Principles of Work - Shorten Your Feedback Loops

03 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Principles of Work - Be Your Own Advocate

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Practical Application of Information Theory

27 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we discuss a practical application of information theory. Information theory is similar to the classic theory of communication, but di...

Revisiting Core Working Principles - Hyperfixation on Measurements and Communication Degradation

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Revisiting Core Working Principles - Clarity as a Precursor to Focus and Strategy for Possibilities

20 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Two Principle Categories To Judge Productivity Advice

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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....

Cost of Delay Curves and Classes of Service

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Taking Personal Accountability for Systematic Failures

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"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...

Stat Series: What Statistical Measure Are You Overusing? (And What to Do About It), Part Two

06 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we continue our discussion about the most overused statistical measurement. We'll talk about a few more counterintuitive properties of...

Stat Series: What Statistical Measure Are You Overusing? (And What to Do About It), Part One

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On average, you're probably overusing this specific type of statistic. In today's episode, we discuss the king of all misleading numbers: averages!The...

Treat Your Time as A Product You Own

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Von Restorff Isolation Effect and a Backfiring of Process

25 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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. ...

Perform a Career Premortem

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 hinds...

Delegation, Ownership, Responsibility, and Agency

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As you grow your career, you will continuously lean on delegation to scale your efforts and focus on the most important things.True delegation require...

Apply Little's Law To What You Can Control

03 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 wor...

Finding Leverage by Escaping Functional Fixedness

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Is it Actually Important to Question Assumptions?

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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

9 Years - Persistence by Reducing Expectation

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 clarit...

Good Plans, Bad Plans, and Road Trips

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Negative and Positive Lollapalooza Effects

09 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The "lollapalooza" effect (coined by Charlie Munger) occurs when multiple other effects have a compounded outcome that tends to create an extreme situ...

Fresh Eyes - How Anchoring Bias, Bandwagon Effect, Status Quo Bias, and Uniqueness Bias Interact When Joining New Groups

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 p...

The Dark Side of Optimism Bias

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 w...

Backlog Psychology - Breaking Out of the Habit Trap

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Availability Heuristic and Substituting Hard Questions

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 realit...

Spend Your Time Intentionally Through Expectation Mapping

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 framewor...