Developer Tea

What is the Real Question? How To Be An Exceptional Listener

21 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Almost every conversation you have will start with a question.Have you stopped to listen closely? Questions are extremely meaningful and deeply human....

Backlog Psychology - Fix Your Broken Expectations

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 toda...

Backlog Psychology - Practice Requires Rhythmic Predictability

03 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we continue a little mini-series called "Backlog psychology."How do you get better at anything? (Hopefully you said "practice" almost ...

Backlog Psychology - Hyperbolic Discounting, Tech Debt, and Hacking Your Habits

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Backlog Psychology - The Ziegarnik Effect - Why Limiting Work In Progress Protects Your Cognitive Load

17 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 m...

Two Tips for Better Retros - Add Specificity, Respect Uncertainty

05 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

One Big Step Versus A Small Random Step

27 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Interrogate Your Decision Making Rules

20 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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

Schedule Carving

12 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Long Term Scoreboard for Short Term Games

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 i...

Slow Down and Start With One Goal

22 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Using the Accountability Triangle When Diagnosing A Failure

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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

Career Growth Starts With Improving Your Clarity

03 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Improving your clarity is the beginning of your journey in engineering leadership. This takes courage and patience, but the investment will benefit ev...

Tech Lag Over Tech Debt

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Good Negotiation is About Collaborative Problem Solving

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Negotiation is not about getting more of what you want out of another person. Real artful negotiation is about finding alignment, and solving the prob...

Tools To Deal With Layoff Anxiety

03 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

System Design - Limiting the Responsibilities Of A Given Actor

20 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Everything around us is primarily governed by some kind of system. The question is, are you designing your systems intentionally, or just letting them...

Focus on Process Orientation for Goal Setting

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you don't have agency over your goals, how can they help you to begin with?📮 Ask a QuestionIf you enjoyed this episode and would like me to disc...

How to Give Better Feedback - My Single Biggest Piece of Advice to Increase the Effectiveness of Your Feedback

05 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 imp...

Planning is About Creating Clarity, Not Certainty

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 impossib...

Process is Primarily for Managing Critical Moments

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

Taking Advantage of Hedonic Adaptation

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Weber's Law and Contextual Framing

03 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 e...

What Defines a Senior Developer? - You Won't Use All of Your Knowledge

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The Pitfall of Control and Antidote of Trust

20 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 increasi...

Working Balance - Confronting Reality with Optimism

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode we explore the duality between confronting difficult realities while maintaining optimism. Specifically, we discuss a critical ques...

What Defines a Senior Developer? - Choosing the Right Granularity Level

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 tr...

What Defines a Senior Developer? - Difficult Does Not Equate To Valuable

04 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 tr...

What Defines a Senior Developer? - Systematically Communicating Value

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 tr...

What Defines a Senior Developer? - Dynamic vs Static Understanding of Situations

24 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 tr...

Long Game, Short Game

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ga...

The Rate of Change for Change Itself

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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

Protecting Flow State - Setting Your Session Feedback And Goal

13 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 sho...

Protecting Flow State - Plan Now, Pause Later

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ma...

Golden Advice - Always Leave Margin For Extra

06 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Your Purpose is A Projection of Your Complex Identity

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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, o...

Demystifying Purpose by Focusing On Your Purpose For Today

31 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You don't need to overthink purpose. Focus on clarity, and finding your underlying motivation. That clarity can be short-lived; purpose is a dynamic a...

Reframing Deficiencies as Strengths

28 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What you are afraid of in your career may be the thing that propels you. It's all about framing, and removing the negative and positive language. Inst...

Management Model of Ability and Will Applied to Self

23 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you aren't doing something, you either can't or won't. In today's episode, we explore this very simple starting point for behavior change and habit...

Beginner Confidence

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You aren't going to put your foot in your mouth, or reveal some devastating level of ineptitude. Asking questions, especially as a beginner, is much m...

Comparing Cost Curves and Second Order Thinking

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What does a feature cost? Your first answer will probably focus on the time to build, or the features needed... Maybe the amount of hiring necessary t...

Spectrum of Buy-In For Behavior Change

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There is a spectrum of buy-in for behavior change. In today's episode, I'll give you a thinking model for considering different types of buy-in along ...

Your Learning Investment Portfolio

09 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is your learning strategy? If you don't have one, you are implicitly saying that all learning is equal.Learning is an investment of time. Choose ...

Celebrating 8 Years - Plus, What it Feels Like to Be Wrong

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Developer Tea has been around for 8 years. Thank you so much for your incredible support over these years!In today's episode we discuss how it feels t...

Using Strategy, Tactics, and Operations to Achieve Intentions

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Most resolutions aren't as simple as saying something and then doing it. Instead, focus on breaking apart your resolution by looking at intent, strate...

Resolve To Make Important Asks In The New Year

23 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Make a commitment to determine three requests that could change your life for the better, and the people you need to give those requests. Then, in the...

Complexity As A Depreciating Asset

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Complexity is an asset, but often it depreciates in value over time. Simplification strategies should evaluate what kind of value complexity is provid...

Your Biggest Opportunity is In Your Daily Influence

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Opportunity is in front of you every day. But, you may not recognize it at first, because you by default will likely imagine yourself to be an externa...

Get Acquainted With What Holds You Back

12 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What will hold you back from achieving what you want to achieve in your future? How do you imagine your future, and what do you assume will keep you f...

How Ordering Your Events in A Day Can Matter

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Practical application of psychology can help us understand how to order our days more consciously. In this episode, we talk about priming and regressi...

Don't Fear AI Taking the Coding Jobs (Fixed Audio)

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

AI will change your work... But it's time for us to find the path forward.🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: SquareSquare has APIs for almost ...

Don't Fear AI Taking the Coding Jobs

05 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

AI will change your work... But it's time for us to find the path forward.🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: SquareSquare has APIs for almost ...

Focus On Activities With Asymmetrical Upside

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Focus on things that provide asymmetrical upside. This is a personalized ROI evaluation. This is how you invest your time wisely.🙏 Today's Episode ...

Misjudging Others Attention On Us

28 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We imagine others are more interested in our mistakes or self-conscious areas than they are. We also imagine they pay little to no attention to us at ...

An Outsider Exercise in Gratitude

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We adapt to our circumstances. This dampens our capacity for gratitude, as we become less aware of what we are experiencing the longer we have the sam...

You Know The Right Decision, Now Reduce The Friction

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You know how to determine what would be a good decision. You have the tools and the reasoning; if you find yourself still not making the right decisio...

Using Observational Techniques to Find Your Personal Values

16 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Determining your values isn't just about fluff. This is what you personally care about.In this episode, we talk about two ways to use direct observati...

Avoid Defining Success Outside Your Locus of Control

14 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Focus on what you can control. Create incentives and language and internal narrative that produces the right actions within your locus of control. Avo...

The Toxic Laziness of Overwork Culture

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Don't buy in to the lie that you have to overwork to succeed. Not only is it not true, it's also dangerous - and the opposite is more accurate.## 📮...

Start With Precise Communication

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, I provide a simple coaching tip on improved communication for software engineers. It's simple: always make precision explicit, and...

The Error of Discounting the Unexpected

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We don't think about the unexpected as a category of possible outcomes. This leads us to assign overestimated probabilities to things that are front o...

Looking at What Wasn't Done

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Look closer at the things that don't happen. Evaluate the options you never considered. When you are looking back, don't just judge based on actions a...

Success is Born From Luck and Action

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You can't wait for luck to strike, but you also won't always get what you deserve. Both of these are true - so, go make luck happen for you!## 📮 As...

Build Environments That Produce Habits

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Habits aren't built on their own. They are the result of environments. Reduce friction and create a positive reinforcement loop, and the habits will ...

Design Your Low Stakes Environment As A Mirror of Your High Stakes Environment

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What happens in high-stakes environments?Is the learning you do in your low-stakes environment actually helping you when you have skin in the game? #...

Better Goals - Deriving Values from Personal Investment and Risk Tolerance

18 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Having trouble setting goals? Take a look at a different angle with the guided exercise in today's episode.🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: ...

Better Goals - Finding Cohesion Between Your Long and Short Term Goals

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our goals usually take two forms: what we want to accomplish, and who we want to be.When we can align these things, we find cohesion in our goals, giv...

Better Goals - Two Guidelines for Better Outcomes

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Two guidelines for better goal setting.First, goals don't stand alone.Second, ranges often beat arbitrary points.📮 Ask a QuestionIf you enjoyed thi...

5 Powerful Questions To Design Your Time More Effectively

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Stop and think about how you are spending your time.Time is constantly moving, whether we stop to recognize it or not. How will you spend it? These fi...

Short Term Tactics, Long Term Principles

04 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A short term mindset will focus on different things than a long term mindset. Neither is right or wrong, but what are you optimizing for?Once you answ...

Revolutionize Your Most Important Meetings with Powerful Questions

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Your best tool is your next question.🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: SquareSquare has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business fr...

Diffuse and Focused Thinking

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Diffuse thinking produces options and draws connections. Focused thinking narrows things down to a specific path.Use them both, and watch for when the...

Why It's Hard to Do Nothing

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Doing nothing seems like it would be easy... But it seems that action is often easier than doing nothing.Sometimes, perhaps often, action is the right...

Demystifying Decision-Making - Success is Not Just About Making Good Decisions

19 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You are not the sum of your decisions. Making better decisions often relies on having a long list of mistakes to learn from.📮 Ask a QuestionIf you ...

What You Have In Common With the Smartest Person In the World

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How does the smartest person in the world solve the most complex problems that most mathemeticians can't even understand?The same way you write code a...

A Way Out of Overwhelm

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Choose one thing. Only one important thing. Do that over and over. That's your way out of overwhelm.📮 Ask a QuestionIf you enjoyed this episode and...

Understand Position and Interest To Make Better Collaborative Decisions

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What people ask for is not the same as why they ask for it. What people want isn't as simple as what they say they want.Understanding the why is criti...

Future Thinking Is Not Planning For A Single Course of Events

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

People often erroneously plan for specific futures. This leads down a pathway to failure most times.This is because the future is rarely what we expec...

Balancing Decision Frames

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Making good decisions is about tuning context. If you can't determine the context that matters, the decision itself is impossible to measure against. ...

Copy of How Feedback Loops Shape Our World (Fixed Audio)

31 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Feedback loops shape everything around us. We make a change or adjustment, watch for what happens, and repeat. This happens with people in the most un...

Reframing Every Decision As A Tradeoff

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Every decision is a tradeoff. If you are looking for the "right" decision, you can reframe this to the "optimal decision based on my desired outcome."...

Judging Quality of Decisions Instead of Outcomes in Performance Reviews

27 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Is your performance review judging the luck or random events of a person's career? What about the times they made the right decision in a bad situatio...

How Feedback Loops Shape Our World

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Feedback loops shape everything around us. We make a change or adjustment, watch for what happens, and repeat. This happens with people in the most un...

Solve Specific Problems by Composing General Solutions

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Almost every complex problem can be broken down and solved. Thinking from the other side - learning general solutions and how to compose those will gi...

Common Excuses for Not Setting Goals

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we'll dismantle a few common excuses often provided for not setting goals. We also briefly discuss the SMART goal-setting framework.📮 Ask a ...

Better Process to Match Intentions to Actions

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Your time is full of intent, but if you reflect back - how often do you do what you intend?Our actions are usually trying to reach some outcome, but a...

Change Through the Lens of Adjustment and Maintenance

10 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Change is inevitable, but it's not always what we think it will be. Our framework for change should be ready for change we don't expect as much or mor...

Built to Change

06 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The flow of change is inevitable. Are you building with it, or ignoring it in vane?📮 Ask a QuestionIf you enjoyed this episode and would like me to...

Deconstructing Status Meetings

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What if status meant something different? Your status meeting overload is probably a symptom of a more important problem: you're not sure what you're ...

Lower Cognitive Load - Pick Your Tools, Then Do Your Work

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lower cognitive load by picking your tools, and then using them. Avoid the constant evaluation of tooling; it's an intuitive response to the amazing l...

Lower Cognitive Load - Primary Activities, Modes, and Cues

25 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lower cognitive load by looking at your primary activities and modes, and creating cues that help you shortcut to those modes. This importantly gives ...

Lower Cognitive Load - Limit Everything In Progress

22 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cognitive load will destroy your productivity. In this mini-series, we talk about ways to reduce your cognitive load. In this episode we talk about li...

Lower Cognitive Load - Principle of Least Surprise

20 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cognitive load will destroy your productivity. In this mini-series, we talk about ways to reduce your cognitive load. In this episode we talk about th...

Applying Systems Thinking for Better Thoughts

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The systems that play a role in producing your thoughts are a huge leverage opportunity in your work and life. If you pause and examine those systems ...

Outside View or Anecdote? The Right Answer is Both

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you only look at your experience, you fall prey to anecdotal evidence and a whole host of other biases. But, we should be learning through iteratio...

Protect Transparency On Your Team

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Your organizational efficiency is directly related to how you manage information, and information is lost when your organization is chronically lackin...

Meeting Red Flags - Problems In Your Meetings That Signal Issues In Your Culture

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Once you have the right meetings with the right people, it's time to look at the content of the meeting itself.In this episode we discuss possible red...

Better Meetings: Who Is the Audience?

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Defining your audience is critical to a good meeting. If you haven't defined your audience... who is the meeting even for?📮 Ask a QuestionIf you en...

Better Meetings - What Kind of Meeting, What Kind of Goal?

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Better meetings are not a myth, but it starts with deconstructing how you got to where you are today. A hectic calendar and meetings showing up like p...

Your Career Growth Doesn't Just Depend On Your Competency

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Competency is not the only way you can grow your career.If that was the case, then every engineering manager would be technically more proficient than...