Developer Tea

Friday Refill: Waiting and Replaying

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What are you waiting on? What are you replaying? It doesn't have to only be anxiety that takes you out of this moment. You may be looking forward to s...

Reframing Discipline and Elastic Habits

21 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Discipline is not about punishment or punctuality. It's about perseverance in the face of changing circumstances.📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed t...

Model Manager: Human Behavior is the Primary Output of Engineering Processes

19 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Model Manager episodes of Developer Tea are dedicated to helping engineering managers find models of thinking that improve their approach to managemen...

Friday Refill: Focusing On Mastery Will Not Limit Your Options

16 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You don't have to choose to be a generalist to have career security. If you pursue mastery, you will be building skill-acquisition at the deepest leve...

Compounding Time In Your Favor

14 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We all have 24 hours in a day. How can you compound your time? In many ways, this is what "spend it wisely" means. In this episode we classify differe...

The Bowl of Mediocrity

12 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you are progressing slowly in your career, it might be because you are working in the bowl of mediocrity. This is where you are taking very little ...

Friday Refill - Stay Mindful During Phases of Execution

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The execution phase of any work you do is where you find the most satisfaction. But it's possible that you aren't finding flow because you have a brok...

Step One Always Goes On Your Calendar

08 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone has the tendency to procrastinate.Is there something you're putting off? It seems simple, but finding the first step and putting it on your c...

The Tension Between Purpose and Mindfulness

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Should you live every day like it's your last? What about preparing for the future? Chasing your goals and dreams? How can you both be mindful of the ...

Friday Refill: Intuition Over Memorization

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There's too much to remember. Instead, integrate that information. You don't need to memorize everything. Develop your intuition.

Local and Global Rationality

01 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When two smart people or groups disagree, what is happening? Sometimes one is plainly wrong about the facts. But more often than not, these two people...

Skill-Building Is Not One Dimensional

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We intuitively imagine our skills and capabilities to be one-dimensional and permanent. However, what goes into whether we can actually execute on our...

Balancing Entropy and Focus

23 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Call it luck, serendipity, or chance - all of these unexpected moments of life require entropy to occur. On the other hand, if we don't control our li...

Decision-making Skills: Two Types of Probabilistic Thinking

21 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When you think about probabilities, you likely think in one of two ways. We'll talk about both of these models for probabilistic analysis, their drawb...

Using Cognitive Dissonance as a Tool

16 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Humans are driven to resolve cognitive dissonance as efficiently as possible. We pay little regard to whether our solutions are accurate or correct, b...

Non-Linear Learning and Progress

14 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How does learning happen? In one fell swoop - linear? Or is there another path that learning takes? We pass judgment on ourselves and others, designin...

Friday Refill - Clarified Intentions and Flexible Goals

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you don't understand the motivations underlying your goals, you will always deal with brittle, high-stakes situations. If you understand your goals...

Too Serious to Succeed

09 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We grow up believing there is a continuum from serious to fun, and that as you get older, you traverse towards the serious side.The truth is, the more...

Make Your Obstacles Irrelevant

07 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Your obstacles are not a test of pride or an opportunity to prove yourself. They are in your way. There's more than one way to deal with this - so why...

Friday Refill: Growth, Uncomfortability, and the Unknown

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Growth and comfort rarely mix. But there's more to growth than getting uncomfortable. Different kinds of growth produce different kinds of uncomfortab...

Finding Resonance

02 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What specific components of your situation have an outsized effect on you? What resonates in a given scenario? This mental model will help us understa...

Reframe Your Plateaus

31 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You've hit a plateau - now what?Today we'll discuss two models for reframing your plateaus; perhaps you haven't hit the wall you think you've hit.✨ ...

Friday Refill: Your Baseline Determines Your Leverage

28 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, we talk about how your baseline perceptions and assumptions are the building blocks of your leverage.✨ Sponsor: Remote Works (Po...

Ethan Kross, Author of Chatter - Part Two

26 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ethan Kross joins me today to talk about the importance of our inner voices. In his new book, Chatter, Ethan outlines how our inner voices affect us a...

Ethan Kross, Author of Chatter - Part One

24 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ethan Kross joins me today to talk about the importance of our inner voices. In his new book, Chatter, Ethan outlines how our inner voices affect us a...

Friday Refill: Inviting Growth Into Your Regular Schedule

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Humans have the unique ability to intentionally practice and better ourselves. What makes you grow? Are you inviting those triggers and contexts into ...

Becoming Your Best Coach - Questioning Your Self

19 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You have the greatest potential to coach yourself. But first, you need to understand the ground rules, and build your coaching skills. We start that j...

Sources of Truth

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you determine what is valid, authoritative, useful, and true in your daily decisions and actions? What are your "sources of truth"?✨ Sponsor:...

Friday Refill - One Thing at a Time

14 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Franklin used a system of improvement that we can learn from. The idea is simple: focus on one thing at a time.

Katy Milkman, Author of How to Change and Host of Choiceology, Part Two

12 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, I interview a personal hero of mine in the podcasting world, Katy Milkman. Katy is the host of Choiceology, a podcast about why an...

(Fixed Audio) Katy Milkman, Author of How to Change and Host of Choiceology, Part One

10 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The previous episode's audio had a bit of a hiccup - this one is fixed. Sorry about that! On today's episode, I interview a personal hero of mine in ...

Friday Refill - Seeking a Different Inside View

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our inside view is not on the outside of others' inside views. In order to think empathetically, we need to develop skepticism about our own perspecti...

Detaching to Seek an Outside View

05 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our inside view is made up of invisible, inescapable walls. Can we simulate an outside view?✨ Sponsor: VoyageVoyage is a tool built by and for devel...

Conflating Uniqueness with Value

03 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Uniqueness is not inherently valuable. Our heuristic brains interpret uniqueness as worth paying attention to and possibly valuable, and for that reas...

Refill Friday - Best Practices and Asking When

30 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Best practices feel universally and always applicable, but like anything, best practices require context.

Welcome Back Ali Spittel - Part Two

29 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, we welcome back to the show Ali Spittel! Ali is a developer advocate at AWS Amplify. So, naturally in this episode, we discuss top...

Welcome Back Ali Spittel - Part One

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, we welcome back to the show Ali Spittel! Ali is a developer advocate at AWS Amplify. So, naturally in this episode, we discuss top...

Friday Refill - Complexity Inversion (Fixed)

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to imagine we are more complex and others are more simple than is true. Often, we see ourselves as having nuance, while others are character...

Friday Refill - Complexity Inversion

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to imagine we are more complex and others are more simple than is true. Often, we see ourselves as having nuance, while others are character...

The Scout Mindset with Julia Galef, Part Two

21 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, I have the joy of interviewing Julia Galef. Julia and I talk about updating your beliefs, the difficulty of fighting our biases, s...

The Scout Mindset with Julia Galef, Part One

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, I have the joy of interviewing Julia Galef. Julia and I talk about updating your beliefs, the difficulty of fighting our biases, s...

Introduce Intentional Asymmetry

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Friday refill - happy Friday!We have a drive to balance everything. Move back towards the middle, maintain status quo. But usually, balance is wastefu...

Narrative Complexity

14 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode we run a thought experiment. What happens when a story changes? Can we ever get back "on track"? History is complex. Predicting his...

Changing Work Environments and Availability Bias

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Huge transitions are happening for most people right now. As this occurs, our environments will change. Partially as a result of the availability bias...

Friday Refill: Making Limited Work Look Good on a Resumé

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How do you make work look good on your resumé when you feel like you haven't done anything impressive? Only the people who work with you know the val...

Minding the Observer Effect as We Transition Together

08 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As we transition together through strange periods (whether at large scale like the present moment, or at a smaller scale within your organization or c...

Find Your Values in the Dark

06 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Uncomfortable places may feel dark, but they often carry the most illuminating lessons. In today's episode we discuss using these darker moments as a ...

Friday Refill: Seek Leverage and Access

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Look at your calendar. What doors are opening? What exponential gains are you building? Leverage and access are the key to building your career long t...

Dan Pupius, CEO and Co-Founder of Range, Part Two

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today's guest is Dan Pupius, CEO and co-founder of Range. Dan cares deeply about creating products that make healthy and sustainable workplaces a comm...

Dan Pupius, CEO and Co-Founder of Range, Part One

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today's guest is Dan Pupius, CEO and co-founder of Range. Dan cares deeply about creating products that make healthy and sustainable workplaces a comm...

Friday Refill - Stop Your Weekend Half-Thinking

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're all guilty of it - not letting that thing go that happened at work on Friday. But by giving it only partial energy over the weekend, we are like...

Ban the Heroics On Your Team

24 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Heroes appear when something has gone wrong. What does a team look like with no heroics?✨ Sponsor: LaunchDarklyToday's episode is sponsored by Launc...

Two Blessings and Two Curses of Intuition (Corrected)

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hey folks - this is the corrected version of yesterday's episode. Apologies for the error! You need intuition to build incredible skill. But it's imp...

Two Blessings and Two Curses of Intuition

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You need intuition to build incredible skill. But it's important to develop a healthy caution towards intuition, as it can create a brittle framework ...

Friday Refill: How Patience Pays Off

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Patience is more than a virtue. Patience is a signal that you understand the importance of gratitude and the vanity of rushing or attempting to contro...

Geoff Schmidt, CEO and Co-founder of Apollo GraphQL, Part Two

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Geoff Schmidt joins me to discuss GraphQL, Apollo, and how the responsibilities are shifting and roles are changing to give more leverage and better s...

Geoff Schmidt, CEO and Co-founder of Apollo GraphQL, Part One

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Geoff Schmidt joins me to discuss GraphQL, Apollo, and how the responsibilities are shifting and roles are changing to give more leverage and better s...

Friday Refills - Stop Predicting Your Priorities

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We spend a lot of energy trying to predict our lives and priorities. This is mostly wasted - instead, we should spend our time understanding our value...

Superpowered Imagination

11 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Much of our attention and effort is used trying to remove human influence and finding "raw" truth. Today, I want to ask you to do the opposite of that...

Biases of Attention

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There is far more information that we ignore than what we pay attention to. This selective attention is important to understand as both a necessary sk...

Friday Refill - Divergent and Convergent Meetings

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We seek agreement by default. It feels good. But is it what we really want? What we really need?

Clean Up Your Goals

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode we talk about good key results and objectives, and how to clean up your goals. Having a goal is not enough and knowing your princip...

Lego Problems - Modes of Operation on Component-Driven Problems

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There are only so many ways you can manipulate LEGO. In today's episode we talk about those fundamental transformation steps and how they apply to you...

Friday Refill - Anchor Behaviors

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When you feel a sense of chaos has overwhelmed your week, it can be tempting to want to check out for the weekend. But in today's episode we discuss a...

Quincy Larson, Founder of freeCodeCamp - Part Two

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Quincy Larson might be responsible for at least one very important part of your career: the beginning. That's because Quincy is the founder of freeCod...

Quincy Larson, Founder of freeCodeCamp - Part One

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Quincy Larson might be responsible for at least one very important part of your career: the beginning. That's because Quincy is the founder of freeCod...

Friday Refills - Rest is Not an Optional Luxury

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Your obligations are usually the result of your systemic choices. You have no choice but to rest and recover. Choose to affirm your choices instead of...

Post-Pandemic Work and Life as an Engineer - Skills for a Different Future

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's discussion, we will look at what it will take to prepare for the changes we will see as we transition out of the worldwide pandemic, and in...

Post-Pandemic Life and Work as an Engineer: Back to Normal-ish

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode we continue our discussion about what life will be like when the pandemic ends... whenever that will be. Will we go back to normal?...

Self Distancing

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Your own internal voice may need to back off a little bit. Distancing from our self-talk and imagining a distant future (or distant present) might be ...

Design Lead at Basecamp, Jonas Downey - Part Two

10 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jonas Downey is the design lead at Basecamp. In this interview we discuss the ethics of designing and building constraints into your product that chan...

Design Lead at Basecamp, Jonas Downey - Part One

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jonas Downey is the design lead at Basecamp. In this interview we discuss the ethics of designing and building constraints into your product that chan...

Friday Refills - Don't Cram the Information Firehose... Filter and Focus!

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are not well adapted to focus and filter information. For the majority of human history, the information available was virtually all relevant. But...

Post-Pandemic: Work and Life as an Engineer - Remote Everything?

03 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we continue series of episodes about how COVID has and will continue to affect our lives and jobs as software engineers. We'll talk a...

Series kickoff - Post-Pandemic: Work and Life as an Engineer

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we kick off a series of episodes about how COVID has and will continue to affect our lives and jobs as software engineers.📮 Ask a ...

Friday Refill: Consider an Alternate Story

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Much of our lives are determined by our internal voices. These voices tell us a story that is hard to imagine differently. But it's an important skill...

Paying the Tax for Our Decisions

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Every episode has its downside. In this episode we talk about a mental model called the "Strategy Tax", and how it applies beyond business strategy.Me...

The Downside to Inaction

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We underestimate the knowledge we have. (Interestingly, we also *over*-estimate the knowledge we have, just a different type of knowledge.) We also un...

Friday Refill - Ignore Motivation, Focus On Removing Obstacles

22 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our first Friday Refill!Ignore motivation. Remove obstacles.Motivation is not your fuel. You already have enough motivation. Don’t add more. Focus o...

The Bucket Model

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Discrete and continuous data are all around us. In today's episode, we talk about a specific model of thinking that combines discrete and continuous. ...

The Shape of Work

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, we talk about how much of our behavior is shaped by the invisible assumptions we make about our constraints, abilities, and contex...

Why We Believe Ourselves (Even When We're Proven Wrong)

13 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we believe we are right, even when it's easy to see we're wrong?There are psychological reasons, and there are basic biological and even logica...

Designing Your Skill Portfolio

11 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

🌎Design your skills together, as a portfolio.Portfolios benefit from diversity and risk management. You can think about your skills in the same way...

Optionality Sweet Spot

06 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we talk about options. The word "optionality" typically refers to the amount of flexible agency a person has in a given scenario; not necessari...

The Dangers of Measuring Side Effects

04 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You want to measure what matters. But your measurements might change what matters. Understanding that anything that is measured might modify behavior...

If Actions Speak Louder Than Words, What Are Yours Saying?

31 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Your actions speak louder than words. You already know that. But have you asked yourself what your actions are saying about who you are?✨ Sponsor: L...

Imagining the End

28 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's hard to construct with deconstruction in mind. It's difficult to imagine designing for final shutdown. In this episode, we talk about the importa...

Making Things Invisible

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

🌎 Things slowly fade to invisibility over time.Our conscious thinking is optimized to remove as much as possible. The more we can accomplish withou...

The Paradox of Transcendence

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Becoming enlightened may not mean rising above everything. Instead, maybe it means zooming in. It's easy to believe that as we continue to get older, ...

Misusing Exceptions in Code and in Life

16 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

🌎 Exceptions are UnusualExceptions are, by definition, unusual. An exception is something we wouldn't expect - out of the norm. Yet, we often craft...

Refactor Your Labeling Techniques

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode, I hope to challenge you to reconsider how you label your world.🌎 Fix your labelsLabeling TheoryA game-theory math-oriented pers...

Learning in Public w/ Shawn Swyx Wang (part 2)

09 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we're continuing the discussion of learning in public with guest, Shawn Swyx Wang. Swyx is best known for being the Reactjs subreddit mod, and...

Learning in Public w/ Shawn Swyx Wang (part 1)

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we continue the discussion of learning in public with guest, Shawn Swyx Wang. Swyx is best known for being the Reactjs subreddit mod, and ...

Teaching in Public w/ Kent C. Dodds (part 2)

02 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Over the next couple of episodes of this show, we're talking about learning and teaching in public. Today, we sit down with Kent C. Dodds. Kent has cr...

Teaching in Public w/ Kent C. Dodds (part 1)

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Over the next couple of episodes of this show, we're talking about learning and teaching in public. Today, we sit down with Kent C. Dodds. Kent has cr...

Building Products w/ Keith Pitt (part 2)

25 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever thought about building something because you assumed the product already existed? In this part two of our interview with Keith,  we di...

Building Products w/ Keith Pitt (part 1)

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever thought about building something because you assumed the product already existed? In today's episode, we dig into this question with Ke...

Maintainability w/ Robby Russell (part 2)

18 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

 Robby is the co-founder and CEO of Planet Argon and the original creator of OH-MY-ZSH. In this part 2 of the two part interview with Robby, we focu...

Maintainability w/ Robby Russell (part 1)

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

🌎 Robby on the WebPlanet Argon Maintainability.fmOH-MY-ZSHTwitter✨ Sponsor: LinodeThank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode ...

Leading A Team During Difficult Times w/ Venkat Venkataramani (part 2)

11 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In today's episode we sit down with Venkat Venkataramani to talk about his role as a co-founder and CEO of Rockset.In this part 2 of our two part inte...