Developer Tea

Mourning the Loss of Coding, Senior Tooling Mindset, and Shaping Your Environment

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 8 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Your tool set isn't just a collection of utilities — it's the environment you live in every day, and it's shaping you whether you realize it or not. In today's episode, I explore two principles that senior engineers consistently apply to their workflows, regardless of which specific tools they're using. As our industry goes through one of the most rapid periods of change in the last 20 years, the engineers who thrive won't be the ones chasing every new tool — they'll be the ones who obsess over reducing friction in the work they do most often.

Honor the Grief: Many engineers are experiencing a real sense of loss as the deep cultural connections to languages, communities, and hand-written code begin to shift. Recognizing and processing that grief — rather than letting it turn into reflexive rejection of new tools — is essential to thinking clearly about what comes next.
"We Shape Our Tools, Then Our Tools Shape Us": Your tools aren't neutral. A bad monitor height, a faulty keycap, or a clunky deployment process all shape you back — draining focus, breaking flow, and compounding over time. The most senior engineers treat this relationship as a first-class concern.
Principle 1 — Tools Are Your Environment: There's a spectrum from "tool" to "environment," and most of what you work with sits somewhere in between. Your terminal, your desk, your claude.md file — all of these are environment. Sharpening your tools means shaping your environment, and shaping your environment is sharpening your tools.
Friction Is the Lever: You don't need a dramatic overhaul to change your behavior. Tiny reductions in friction — a two-letter alias, a key binding to run tests, setting your shoes out the night before — have an outsized effect on how often you actually do the things you want to do. James Clear's Atomic Habits framework applies directly to engineering workflows.
Principle 2 — First Order Thinking: Borrowed from Adam Savage's concept of "first order retrievability," the idea is simple: identify what you do most often and invest in making that better. Not faster, not just automated — better. If you do something a hundred times a day, even a small improvement compounds dramatically.
Invest in the Fundamentals: Your standups, your one-on-ones, your specifications, your prompting skills — these are the repetitive, high-frequency activities where your biggest growth opportunities live. Stop assuming you've "arrived" on the basics just because nobody is giving you negative feedback.
Episode Homework: Look around your workspace right now — physical and digital. Identify one thing you do repeatedly where friction is slowing you down or discouraging follow-through, and make one small change to reduce that friction today.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: SerpApi

No matter what you're building, SerpApi is the web search API for your needs. If you're building an application that needs real-time search data—whether that's an AI agent, an SEO tool, or a price tracker—SerpApi handles it for you. ● Make an API call and get back clean JSON. ● They handle the proxies, CAPTCHAs, parsing, and all the scraping so you don't have to. ● They support dozens of search engines and platforms, and are trusted by companies like NVIDIA, Adobe, and Shopify. ● If you're building with AI, they even have an official MCP to make getting up and running a simple task. Get started with a free tier to build and test your application before you commit. Go to serpapi.com.

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Useful Illusions and Exploiting Heuristics

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 1 Apr 2026 09:45:00 +0000

When Good Thinking Becomes Overthinking: Discover why the pursuit of perfect analysis often undermines good decision-making. Loading every caveat, every exception, and every alternative into your working memory doesn't produce better outcomes — it produces paralysis.
Heuristics as a Feature, Not a Bug: Your brain is an efficiency machine that creates shortcuts — cached concepts, stored routines, snap judgments. These heuristics are always incomplete, but they let you move through complex problems quickly. The opportunity is to deliberately choose which heuristics to exploit.
"All Models Are Wrong, Some Models Are Useful": Useful illusions don't need to be perfectly true. They need to be true enough that acting on them produces better outcomes than endlessly debating their accuracy.
Useful Illusion: Coding by Hand Is Going Away: Whether or not this is literally true in every case, the engineer who acts as if it is will invest in agentic workflows, LLMs, and new tooling — while the engineer who picks the argument apart risks being labeled a skeptic and falling behind.
Useful Illusion: Hard Work Pays Off: You can poke holes in this all day — wrong direction, burnout, culture-dependent — but people who follow this heuristic tend to build reputations as reliable and capable. Few of us want to be known for the opposite.
Useful Illusion: As Long As I'm Learning, I'm Growing: Learning becomes less directly correlated with career advancement over time, but continuing to act on this belief keeps you flexible, curious, and in a growth mindset.
More Useful Illusions for Your List: Clean code is better. Always think about the user's experience. Go with the tool you know. Volume of delivered work correlates with career success — especially during performance review season.
The Key Insight: You don't have to believe any of these things literally. You're exploiting your own heuristic system to drive efficient action and avoid wasting time on low-utility debates. The result is a more decisive, action-oriented version of yourself.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your coding agents have access to your codebase, but access doesn't mean good context. Agents can't easily reason across MCPs without guidance — they don't know your architectural decisions, your team patterns, or what that acronym actually means. Unblocked is the context layer your agents are missing. It synthesizes your PRs, docs, Slack messages, and JIRA issues into organizational context so agents make better plans, write higher quality code, use fewer tokens, and require fewer correction loops. Get a free three-week trial at getunblocked.com.

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Decision Making is Your New Core Skill, So it's Critical to Avoid These Two Traps of Collaborative Decision-Making

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

The Bottleneck Is Moving: Borrowing from traditional manufacturing theory, the coding step used to define your team's total throughput. AI tooling hasn't incrementally improved that bottleneck — it has drastically shrunk it, which means the constraint is now upstream in product decisions, specifications, and prioritization. Engineers who recognize this shift early will redirect their energy accordingly.
Sharing Your Opinion Is Not a Free Action: Every time you weigh in on a decision, you're making a transaction. You're asking others to consider your input, and in return, they will update their beliefs about your judgment based on whether you turn out to be right. This means your credibility is a finite resource that appreciates or depreciates over time.
Trap #1 — Arguing About Things You Don't Care About: Engineers often feel an intellectual itch to engage when they hear an argument they disagree with, even when the outcome doesn't matter to them. If the only utility of sharing your opinion is your own self-satisfaction, the risk to your social capital almost never justifies the reward. Pick your battles so that when something does matter to you, people actually listen.
The Watchful Waiting Approach: If you predict a decision will lead to a bad outcome, sometimes the most effective move is to wait and let the result speak for itself. You get the learning for free without putting your reputation on the line — especially for decisions outside your core responsibilities.
Trap #2 — Arguing on the Wrong Axis: When you do engage, make sure your argument is aligned with what the decision-maker actually cares about. A product manager asking engineers to delay optimization work is not going to be moved by arguments about on-call load. An engineering manager introducing a systems design interview won't be swayed by the fact that you personally dislike them. If your reasoning doesn't connect to their criteria, it lands as noise.
Naive Realism and the Alignment Fix: We all default to believing our perspective is the balanced, unbiased one. This tendency causes us to assume anyone who disagrees must be missing information. The fix is to start by understanding what the other person is optimizing for. Once you know their criteria, you can either recognize their decision is perfectly reasonable — or reframe your argument in terms they actually care about.
The One Takeaway: Understand what the other person wants, what they care about, and why. Decision-making in a collaborative environment is fundamentally negotiation, and the best negotiators optimize for multiple axes rather than treating every disagreement as zero-sum.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your coding agents have access to your codebase, but access doesn't equal context. Agents can't reason across MCPs — they don't know your architectural decisions or why the API is shaped the way it is — so they look in the wrong place and deliver bad outputs. Unblocked is the context layer your agents are missing. It synthesizes your code, PRs, docs, Slack messages, and Jira issues into organizational context that agents actually understand, so they make better plans, write higher quality code, and use fewer tokens. Get a free three-week trial at getunblocked.com/developertea.

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What's Brewing, Edition 1 - What Jonathan is Learning, Using, and Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:00:00 +0000

The Power of Physical Checklists: Inspired by aviation, Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto, and Daniel Kahneman's Noise, I've been experimenting with printed, physical checklists for repetitive tasks — from producing this show to running one-on-ones. The rigor of writing precise procedures carries over into clearer communication with both humans and AI agents.
Small Interventions, Big Returns: A Brother P-Touch label maker. Reorganizing scattered hobby gear. 3D printing organizational tools with a new Bambu Labs P1S. None of these are revolutionary on their own, but the compounding effect of better organization — essentially building a fast index for your physical life — pays back over and over.
Context Shapes Focus: Switching from a home gym to working out at Planet Fitness with my brother-in-law was one of the best focus interventions I've made. The change in environment eliminated the procrastination and context-blending that came from being steps away from my computer. If you're struggling with a habit, sometimes the environment is the variable to change, not your willpower.
The Reading List: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt (and its follow-up The Crux), The Art of Action by Stephen Bungay (a great framework for thinking about agentic workflows), How to Know a Person by David Brooks, and my top recommendation: 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman — a book that will help you stop looking for the productivity hack that fixes everything and start thinking about what actually matters.
Learning as a Habit: Right now I'm learning to drive a stick shift on a 1983 Bronco. The point isn't the skill itself — it's staying in the beginner's seat. Intentional practice, setting small goals, refining through repetition. Keeping this habit alive is more important than ever when the industry demands rapid adaptation.
How I'm Actually Using AI: Claude Code for one-shotting tools with clear boundaries, local environment improvements, and terminal troubleshooting. OpenClaw for experimental agents like a personalized trip planner and Home Assistant automations via YAML. Claude Co-Work for file system management and screenshot organization. Obsidian as the connective tissue — a markdown knowledge base that gives AI agents personal context to work with. And at work, spec-driven development is showing real promise for shaping agent output quality.
A Framework for Thinking About AI's Role: I break AI use cases into categories: automating existing workflows (where most gains are today), operational restructuring (what happens when you free humans from a task), execution of complex technical work (agents on the front lines), iterative consulting on intent and goals, and the emerging frontier of exploratory connections and strategic synthesis.
What You Should Actually Do: Be action-oriented — the cat is out of the bag. Invest heavily in planning and specification before sending agents off to work. But more importantly, invest in mindful change: understand your own values, figure out who you want to be when you look back on this moment in 10 years, and let that guide your decisions about adoption, learning, and career direction.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: SerpApi

If you're building an application that needs real-time search data — whether that's an AI agent, an SEO tool, or a price tracker — SerpApi handles it for you. Make an API call, get back clean JSON. They handle the proxies, CAPTCHAs, parsing, and all the scraping so you don't have to. They support dozens of search engines and platforms, and are trusted by companies like NVIDIA, Adobe, and Shopify. If you're building with AI, they even have an official MCP to make getting up and running a simple task. Get started with a free tier at serpapi.com.

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From Software Engineer to Agent Manager - How Work is Changing in A New Software Development Paradigm

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

If you're a software engineer right now, you likely feel like your world is changing overnight. We are writing half or less the amount of code that we wrote even a year ago, which represents a seismic, groundbreaking shift in our industry. However, the rapid introduction of new tools can slide quickly from exciting to purely chaotic, leaving you feeling like you are falling behind. In today's episode, I explore how this changes the nature of our day-to-day work, and why the key to surviving this transition is shifting your mindset from a traditional "Software Engineer" to an "Agent Manager".

The Illusion of Velocity vs. Actual Chaos: While the big-picture promise of AI is that the software development pipeline will move exponentially faster, the reality on the ground often feels like unadulterated chaos. Trying to adopt every new tool while spinning up multiple agents to work on parallel tickets introduces a massive new cognitive burden.
The Context-Switching Trap: Understand why parallelizing agent workflows fundamentally changes your context-switching overhead. You are no longer just reloading context to build something yourself; you are reloading it to manage, review, and validate a building agent, which rapidly drains your cognitive ability and leads to burnout.
The "Agent Manager" Mindset: Treating AI as just a "smart autocomplete" while you try to do the same old job will not work. You need to start viewing your role more like assembly line or process management, focusing on facilitating the system rather than typing every line of syntax.
Adopt Old-School Quality Control Tactics: Discover how traditional management methods are becoming essential for individual contributors. Just like a factory manager doesn't inspect every single item off the line, you must develop methods for spot checks, anomaly detection, and standardizing outputs to evaluate the quality and quantity of your agents' work.
Shift Your Work Upfront: Recognize that your core effort must move to the specification and planning phases. Your job is increasingly about setting the context, defining the prompt, and establishing strict guardrails before the agent begins its work.
Redefining Your Work in Progress (WIP): Proven principles like limiting WIP and focusing on finishing rather than starting are more important than ever to reduce cognitive burden. However, you must adapt these principles to fit a workflow where you are managing processes rather than manually coding.
Episode Homework: Take a step back and ask yourself: "What is my true work in progress? Am I actually manually doing these tickets, or am I managing the processes that produce quality ticket work?".

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: SerpApi

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AI Moves the Bottleneck - Are You Ready for What That Means For Your Career?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 3 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

AI is bringing massive changes to our industry, but it's not just about how fast you can write code or use agentic flows. In this episode, I explore how AI is fundamentally shifting the economic bottleneck of software development, and how you can use your systems-thinking engineering mindset to adapt and thrive in this new era.

🎧 Episode Notes: The Engineering Bottleneck Shift

For years, the software development pipeline was designed around one core assumption: engineering is the most expensive and restrictive bottleneck. Because of this, organizations optimized heavily for upstream risk mitigation to ensure we only built what was absolutely necessary. But AI is changing that math, making the act of coding significantly cheaper and faster. Here is what happens when that bottleneck breaks:

The Historical Cost of Bugs: I look back at the Windows 95 era, where physical software delivery meant post-release bugs were incredibly expensive, demanding massive upfront QA.
The Continuous Delivery Precedent: Discover how the internet made software updates cheap, which fundamentally changed the ROI of risk mitigation and enabled fast, iterative soft releases.
The Upstream Shift: Understand why, as engineering throughput increases by 50% to 100% due to AI, the new organizational bottlenecks will rapidly shift upstream to product, design, and decision-making.
Optimizing for Speed Over Risk: Learn why companies will likely begin to lessen their focus on risk mitigation (outside of catastrophic data breaches) to prioritize higher volume throughput and decision speed.
The New Iterative Workflows: Explore the potential for consolidated roles where engineers, PMs, and designers use AI to make rapid, on-the-fly product decisions together without traditional hand-offs.
Your Core Engineering Value: Remember that punching cards or manually managing memory didn't define engineers in the past, and manually typing code doesn't define you now. Your true value is your ability to approach problems with a systems-thinking mindset.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your coding agents have access to your codebase, but access doesn't directly translate into context. Agents often lack the reasoning to understand your architectural decisions, team patterns, or why an API is shaped the way it is—leading to bad outputs and wasted tokens. Unblocked is the context layer your agents are missing. It synthesizes your PRs, docs, Slack messages, and Jira issues into organizational context that agents actually understand so they write higher-quality code with fewer correction loops. Get a free three-week trial at getunblocked.com/developertea.

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Listener Question - Abdul Asks About How to Balance Career Strategy Between Money, Meaning, and Skill Transitions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Today, we are tackling the natural tension between the desire to make more money—getting a raise, finding financial stability—and the desire to have meaningful, purpose-driven work.

We are diving into a fantastic listener question from Abdul, a front-end engineer with 10 years of experience who has hit a salary ceiling. He is trying to figure out how to pivot into higher-paying domains like backend or AI without making a risky leap that forces him to start over at the bottom rung.

🎧 Episode Notes: Balancing Money, Meaning, and Skill Transitions

When you hit a wall in your career, it often feels like you have to trade away the work you love just to achieve your financial goals. In this coaching-style episode, we break down Abdul's situation to help you rethink how you navigate financial constraints and career transitions.

• Question Your Assumptions About Money: Discover why "making more money" isn't inherently a bad or vague goal. If your intent is to provide for your family, help elderly parents, and build a risk-mitigating financial buffer, your goal is actually highly instructive and values-driven.

• The Illusion of Static Roles: Learn why job descriptions exist primarily as "skill buckets" to help companies hire. Once you are inside the company, your role is not concrete—it is a fluid spectrum that can shift as you adapt to new technologies.

• Grow Where You Are Planted: Instead of making a massive, unrealistic leap to a completely new role, learn how to organically expand your skill set. Talk to your manager about taking on backend or AI tickets, or trading tasks with coworkers to build new skills without uprooting your career.

• Redefining Financial Necessity: Understand how to evaluate the timeline and "shape" of your financial constraints. If financial necessity is your absolute dominant constraint, you must optimize your strategy specifically for stability and risk mitigation.

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AI-Era Employability and Job Security for Software Engineers - Mental Models for Finding a Competitive Advantage Without Selling Out

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

I've been delaying this episode for a long time because the topic is genuinely difficult and, for many of us, scary. AI is threatening not just to our livelihood, but to our sense of self-worth as creators.

In this episode, I don't offer false guarantees about job security. Instead, I frame the problem through the lens of microeconomics and rational incentives to help you understand how to remain employable. We discuss why you must separate your ego from your current skill set and how to position yourself not as a competitor to AI, but as a force multiplier.

• The Hard Truth: I explain why the "abstinence" approach—hoping the industry rejects AI or that it turns out to be a bubble—is a high-risk gamble that is unlikely to succeed.

• Ego vs. Employability: We discuss the difficult mental shift required to disconnect your self-worth from the act of writing code manually, allowing you to adopt new tools without feeling like you are losing your identity.

• The Microeconomics of Your Job: Understand the cold reality that a rational market only pays you if you generate more value than you cost; if AI can do the same task with less risk or cost, the market will choose AI.

• The Non-Zero Sum Game: Learn why the economy isn't a fixed pie. The goal isn't just to survive, but to recognize that the combination of Human + AI can generate more total value than either can alone.

• Multiplicative Value: I challenge you to stop thinking about linear skill acquisition and start thinking like a manager: how can you use AI to multiply your output and become indispensable?

• Accepting Atrophy: We confront the reality that your core coding skills may degrade over time as you rely on AI, and why accepting this trade-off might be necessary for your career survival.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by:

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• Bridge the gap for LLMs that are locked to a training date.

• Trusted by companies like NVIDIA, Adobe, and Shopify. Get started with a free tier to build your full integration before you commit. Go to serpapi.com

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Why Getting Paid Stole Your Drive and How to Get Into the Flow Again (Career Growth Accelerator)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Do you remember the early days of your career? You likely spent hours coding late into the night, fueled not by a paycheck, but by the sheer joy of building. But somewhere along the way, that intrinsic fire faded, replaced by the extrinsic motivators of Jira tickets, performance reviews, and ultimately the almighty dollar.

In this episode of the Career Growth Accelerator, I explore why this shift happens and how it might be the very thing keeping you stuck. We discuss the "Overjustification Effect"—how getting paid for your passion can actually degrade your performance—and how to reclaim the autotelic personality required to enter a flow state and accelerate your career.

• The Overjustification Effect: Learn why introducing extrinsic rewards (like a salary) for a task you inherently enjoy can weaken or completely replace your intrinsic motivation, eventually making the work feel like a chore.

• The Loss of Flow: Discover how moving from hobbyist to professional changes your relationship with the work, often stripping away the conditions necessary for "flow state," such as risk-taking and immediate feedback.

• Autotelic Personality: Understand the concept of being "autotelic"—doing something for its own sake—and why this trait is critical for high-quality, creative work that pushes your career forward.

• The Stagnation Trap: Recognize that if your only motivation is doing what is required to get paid, you are unlikely to take on the voluntary challenges necessary to grow to the next level.

• Reclaiming Your Drive: I discuss how finding pockets of intrinsic motivation—even if they are ancillary to your main job—can reignite your ability to enter flow, improve your work quality, and break through career plateaus.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by:

• Get real-time search results fast, directly in your app as JSON.

• Bridge the gap for LLMs that are locked to a training date.

• Trusted by companies like NVIDIA, Adobe, and Shopify. Get started with a free tier to build your full integration before you commit. Go to serpapi.com

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The Meta-Habit of High Performers: How Outer Loops Unlock Growth (Career Growth Accelerator)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 3 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0000

🎧 Episode Notes: The Meta-Habit of High Performers: How Outer Loops Unlock Growth

In today's episode, we are discussing one of the most common habits I see in high-performing managers and senior engineers. It isn't a single trick, a morning routine, or a specific productivity hack—it is a meta-habit. It is a specific way of thinking about how you spend your energy and time to avoid the burnout that comes from working hard without seeing commensurate gains,.

The Burnout Trap: Understand that if you keep putting more energy in without getting equal or greater results out (sub-linear returns), you are heading for a wall. You cannot simply "grind" your way to the next level,.
Recognize Your Default Loops: Whether you know it or not, you are already running "loops"—automatic heuristics and behaviors that define your decisions, like "while happy at job, stay at job",.
The Inner vs. Outer Loop: Learn the difference between the Inner Loop (your execution, habits, and daily protocols) and the Outer Loop (the meta-observation that evaluates the system).
Governing the Experiment: Discover how to use an Outer Loop to set longer-term conditionals for your career experiments (e.g., "I will try this until X"), preventing you from reacting emotionally to single data points,.
Systematic Evaluation: Move from making random changes to making informed adjustments by stepping out of the daily grind to evaluate the trajectory of your habits,.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

There’s a good chance you’ve already tried a few AI code review tools — and you’re probably ignoring most of their comments.

Not because AI can’t review code, but because it’s missing context. Most AI reviewers focus on surface-level issues: style nits, obvious refactors, or restating what’s already clear from the diff. Meanwhile, the things you actually care about, like whether a change violates an earlier architectural decision or quietly duplicates existing logic, go unnoticed.

That’s the problem Unblocked is built to solve.

Unblocked’s AI code review is grounded in decision-grade context, prior PRs, design discussions, documentation, and system-level constraints—the same context senior engineers rely on when reviewing code.

Teams using Unblocked report fewer comments, higher signal, and automated reviews they actually trust — enough that many have turned off other AI review tools entirely.

Even if you’ve already written off AI code review, Unblocked is worth a look.

Get a free three-week trial at getunblocked.com/developertea.

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Career Growth Accelerator - Promotion Roadblocks and Knocking it Out of the Park During Performance Review Season

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

It is review season, and you might be finding yourself confused: you received high ratings and "exceeded expectations," yet the promotion you expected didn't happen. In this episode of the Career Growth Accelerator, I break down exactly why high performance doesn't always lead to promotion, helping you identify the structural roadblocks and strategic shifts necessary to move from senior individual contributor to staff, principal, or leadership roles,.

• Understand why your performance review is never conducted in a vacuum and why your manager’s peers—not just your manager—are the "voters" you need to convince with clear evidence,.

• Learn why high ratings often fail to translate into a promotion if you haven't demonstrated specific impact on the company's strategic goals rather than just your own deliverables.

• Discover the first major roadblock: Structural limitations where the role you want simply doesn't exist because the business context or organizational pyramid doesn't currently support it,.

• Explore the concept of "Outer Layers" of scope—moving from self-focus to team-focus, and finally to business-strategy focus—to unlock the next stage of your career,,.

• Identify the "indispensable trap" where performing too well at your current inner-layer responsibilities makes you terminal in your role rather than promotable.

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Career Growth Roadmap - De-risking Your Career By Understanding Your Vulnerabilities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we explore how to de-risk your career roadmap by identifying the hidden vulnerabilities that hold your decision-making hostage.

🎧 Episode Notes: De-risking Your Career By Understanding Your Vulnerabilities

True career growth requires gaining autonomy over your choices. This episode provides a framework for performing a "pre-mortem" of career failure by identifying the sources of power that currently influence your life and limiting their leverage over your future.

Identify Your Sources of Power: Perform an exercise to list the people, situations, and physical things (like money or debt) that drive your current decision-making and could shift your behavior if they changed.
Conduct a Career "Pre-mortem": Use this diagnostic approach to recognize what has the power to change your decisions, helping you prepare for potential failures before they occur.
Understand the "Hostage" Dynamic: Realize that while some leverage is aligned with your values, other factors—like large amounts of debt—can hold your career hostage, forcing you to make decisions you otherwise wouldn't.
Balance Vulnerability and Autonomy: Distinguish between healthy vulnerability (such as in relationships with family) and unhealthy vulnerability (such as with creditors), and work to de-risk the latter to reclaim your agency.
The Link Between Debt and Career Risk: Learn how eliminating financial vulnerabilities, like credit card debt, increases your autonomy, potentially allowing you to take "principled" career risks you previously couldn't afford.
Re-evaluate Your Non-Negotiables: Use introspection to determine which parts of your job are truly essential and which "imagined" risks are preventing you from seeking better alignment with your personal purpose.
Shift Your Control Systems: Understand that growth often requires giving up control in one area (like spending habits) to gain control and autonomy in your professional path.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again. With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and more on the functionalities that matter most: ● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub. ● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions. ● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant. All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind. Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com.

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Career Growth Accelerator - Assessing Yourself - Using a Nine-Block to Map Your Skill, Potential, and Energy Investment

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

🎧 Episode Notes: Using a Nine-Block for Skill, Potential, and Energy Investment

Most career assessments try to paint a static picture of what you can do well with the least effort, but they often fail to provide a practical roadmap for your next career move. This episode provides a simplified, multidimensional version of a classic management tool to help you prioritise your growth:

Understand the Nine-block Matrix: Visualise a grid where the x-axis represents your current performance (how well you are doing now) and the y-axis represents your potential (your capacity to grow to the next level).
The Energy Dimension: Go beyond a 2D map by evaluating the energy cost of each skill on a scale of 1–5; this helps you identify where you are on "autopilot" versus where a skill is draining you.
The Risk Factor: Assign a risk or criticality score to your skills to determine which are "fundamental" to your role (like software delivery) and which can be safely dropped to make room for more valuable growth.
Spot Opportunity Flags: Identify areas where you have high potential but low performance and low energy output; these represent your best opportunities for rapid improvement with the least input.
Make the Counterintuitive Trade-off: Learn why you might need to drop a skill you are already good at if it has low growth potential, redirecting that energy toward a new skill that offers higher long-term value for your career.
Categorise Your "Bread and Butter" Skills: Recognise those mid-level skills that ensure your reliability and help you get the job done but shouldn't be the primary focus of your intense energy and development.

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Career Growth Accelerator: Going from Autopilot to Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 5 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

This episode marks the 11th anniversary of the show, and I want to celebrate by continuing our Career Growth Accelerator series. Today, we’re moving beyond the "autopilot" mode that many engineers find themselves in and learning how to define goals that are uniquely yours so you can find the specific challenges that will actually move the needle.

🎧 Episode Notes: Going from Autopilot to Purpose

Many of us operate on instinct, chasing goals like "get a promotion" or "make more money" without understanding the "why" behind them. This episode is designed to help you interrogate those automatic responses and find a path that is optimized for what you uniquely value.

Break the Autopilot Loop: Understand why common goals like "getting a promotion" are often just survival mechanisms intended to keep us safe within social norms rather than reflections of our true values.
The "Never Again" Pressure Test: Use the mental exercise of imagining you will never get another promotion; if this causes visceral anxiety, it’s a sign that your goal is rooted in a sense of safety rather than self-actualisation.
Move from Post-Rationalisation to Purpose: Instead of backwards-justifying the status quo, learn to be honest about what you truly desire—whether it's the affirmation of intelligence, the freedom of discretionary time, or a specific mission.
Create Instructive Goals: Discover why a goal must be personal and specific to be useful; a generic goal provides no roadmap, whereas a unique goal acts as an instruction for what to do next.
Find Your True Challenge: Once your goal is defined, identify the specific obstacle standing in your way that requires ingenuity and isn't already decided for you.
The "Asterisk" of Solvability: Learn the most critical rule for picking a challenge: it must be something you can reasonably solve given your current means to avoid falling back into paralysis and autopilot.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This episode kicks off the Career Growth Accelerator series, focused on the specific hurdles faced by mid-to-senior level engineers, managers, and leaders who are looking to move to the next level. Before diving into specific strategies, I’m addressing the fundamental prerequisite for real growth: getting out of your own way. We often block our own progress because our ego conflates our self-worth with our career position, making it impossible to see the real problems or lessons we need to learn. In this episode, I share a vital mental exercise to help you disconnect your identity from your job title and begin diagnosing your career challenges honestly.

Understand why protecting your ego is one of the most dangerous ways to control your career, leading you to discount valid reasons for stagnation or failure by focusing only on external factors.
Discover the fundamental shift needed: disconnecting your self-worth from your career aspirations. Your position is merely a fact and has little bearing on your innate value or capacity to succeed more generally.
Learn how to use a distancing thought experiment—viewing your situation as if it were an acquaintance’s story—to remove your ego from the diagnostic process and gain necessary clarity and perspective.
Explore why effective growth advice, whether for promotion or post-mortem analysis, requires focusing almost exclusively on the diagnostic aspect ("What happened and why?") rather than building justifications based on your worthiness or past performance.

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Announcing: The Career Growth Accelerator Series

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 03:00:00 +0000

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 Accelerator series, focused on the difficult, non-obvious hurdles that prevent you from moving to the next level.

In this foundational Episode Zero, I cover the critical prerequisite for growth: Getting Out of Your Own Way. Our ego often protects our self-worth by blaming external factors for failures, making honest diagnosis impossible,.

• Learn why protecting your ego is the most dangerous way to control your career.

• Discover the fundamental shift: disconnecting your self-worth from your career aspirations to gain clarity.

• I introduce a distancing thought experiment to help you diagnose the real problems blocking your path.

• Start focusing on the diagnostic aspect—What happened and why?—to build real momentum.

Subscribe now so you don't miss out on this series!

Problem Definition As A Path for Career Growth

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 first and most critical step in progressing past stagnation isn't doubling down on skills, but clearly defining the problem standing in your way.

Problem Definition As A Path for Career Growth

My goal on the show is to help driven developers like you find clarity, perspective, and purpose in their careers. This episode is for everyone trying to grow, especially if you have hit some kind of roadblock. Most career progression, especially early on, happens somewhat automatically through natural experience, domain expertise, and skill accumulation,. However, as you progress, you will hit missing rungs or roadblocks—things preventing you from progressing in promotions, positions, or specific projects.

When blocked, most people rely on the same things they did before, such as gaining experience, reading blogs, or building side projects, using a "scattershot approach" to try and guess what their managers want,. Unfortunately, relying on activity that previously got you ahead will not necessarily work later in your career,. As you climb the career ladder, the number of positions available decreases (the pyramid shape), meaning that even being highly qualified may not lead to the next role if it simply doesn't exist,.

If you haven't defined the problem, you have no way of knowing whether the actions you are taking will help you progress where you want to go. Instead of continuing the never-ending cycle of self-improvement, you need to step outside your own context and try to see the problem from an external viewpoint, like a consultant. Recognizing the core problem—like a lack of available roles—allows you to shift your focus away from only improving your skill set and toward solving that specific organizational problem, perhaps by expanding the necessary scope for the role to open up,. Redefining the problem may mean shifting your goal from getting a promotion to convincing someone to let you perform the activities associated with that higher role, which is a different process entirely. In almost every circumstance where you are blocked, there is a problem that you need to work on defining better; this is the first step towards moving past the roadblock,.

Explore why the natural career progression that works early on—driven by experience and skill accumulation—slows down and fails when you hit later-stage roadblocks,,.
Discover why relying on a "scattershot approach" of extra activity, like reading blogs or building side projects, is often ineffective when facing a structural block in your career path,,.
Understand that if a desired role doesn't exist within the company structure, becoming more skilled or qualified won't solve the organizational problem,.
Learn how redefining your career problem—for instance, shifting from needing a promotion to needing permission to do high-level tasks—can open up entirely new pathways for growth.
Challenge your self-improvement cycle by stepping outside your own context and defining your career roadblock as if you were an external consultant,.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 2 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000

We often look for ways to reduce the load on our brains, seeking shortcuts and optimizations to get ahead. Sometimes this works, reinforcing the belief that we can hack our way around every problem. However, this episode addresses the truth that many fundamental aspects of your career require something difficult, messy, slow, or inefficient, demanding deep thought and repeated failure.

This episode details the difficult truths about facing the most essential challenges in your career:

Understand the Hard Path: Recognize that many aspects of your career, skill set, relationships, and hobbies require something difficult, messy, slow, or inefficient, demanding deep thought and repeated failure.
Identify Your Primary Obstacles: Pinpoint the hard things you are procrastinating on, such as developing essential domain knowledge, deepening relationships with crucial co-workers or your manager, or getting the necessary "reps" of difficult building and practice.
The Path to Mastery: Realize that becoming a great engineer (e.g., a great Python developer) is achieved not by reading books or finding perfect tools, but by building things over and over. This practice includes receiving feedback from peers and applying what you learn under challenge.
The Pain of Decision: Explore why it is difficult to even decide to do a hard thing. By committing to the challenging path, you are choosing to cut off your optionality and giving up the hope of finding an easier, lower-investment alternative.
Sustaining Commitment: Understand that initial motivation or an energetic feeling will not carry you through the obstacle when the development process becomes awkward, slow, or frustrating. Staying committed requires reinforcing your core underlying reason for doing the hard work.
The Reward: Recognize that if you successfully address the hard thing you know needs doing, everything else in your life and career becomes easier.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again. With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and more on the functionalities that matters most: ● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub. ● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions. ● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant. All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind. Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0000

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 fall into traps of overthinking, chasing minor optimizations (like 5% or 10% productivity boosts), or playing the games of politics and networking. While these sideline activities aren't necessarily useless, I want to help you focus on the "big engines" and "primary considerations"—the things that will make the monumental difference in your career building strategy.

• I explain why arguments based on nuance—such as trying to convince your manager that your work is valuable despite low throughput, or doing "glue work"—are often based on flawed strategies that cause your career to suffer and not grow easily.

• I use an allegory (discussing the primary path of treatment for low testosterone) to illustrate that many engineers are trying to fix a fundamental, mainline career problem with a sideline, nuanced solution, instead of focusing on the gold standard primary path.

• I debunk the skill collection fallacy: the misconception that broadening your skill set (learning more languages, frameworks, or techniques) provides the same level of career benefit as it did early on.

• Discover the fundamental path to growth: I advise you to set down new languages and skill sets and instead become a craftsman of a limited set of tools, fully understanding the domain, business problems, and how value flows through the organization.

• Learn why the most important factor that substitutes for very few other things is engaging in the deliberate practice of solving a sheer volume of problems encountered and solved over and over.

• I detail how to avoid the comfort zone: while solving problems is vital, you must ensure those problems progress with you by increasing complexity, scope, responsibility, or sheer volume of work, otherwise, your potential for growth will become limited and you will stall out.

• I caution that a lack of challenge (feeling no discomfort ever) can lead to boredom, disengagement, and eventual burnout, because your brain adapts, reducing the flow state you experience. I suggest finding ways to introduce discomfort that pushes you.

• Understand that the primary course of treatment for a failing or stalled career is simple: become incredibly good at your core set of responsibilities, making things like networking, resume writing, and managing relationships easier as a result.

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Getting to Senior - Taking Ownership Without Leading Projects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 08:00:00 +0000

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 term is often poorly defined and leads to a major misconception: that ownership means being assigned a full project or a Tech Lead role. I want to dispel that myth and explain why ownership is actually a necessary behavior and mindset shift, applicable in almost every action you take, regardless of whether you’re leading a project.

Understand why ownership is a critical aspect of moving along your career track, especially for engineers moving from the associate or mid-level engineer role up to senior.
Uncover the misconception that ownership requires a specific scope of responsibility, such as owning a project or a deliverable.
Discover the crucial phrase that defines the ownership mindset: "What now?" or "What next?" which should guide you through every situation you encounter.
Learn why true ownership is not about inherently knowing every technical detail or executing every step, but about being willing to take responsibility and accountability for figuring out what happens next.
Explore how a senior engineer's ownership behavior means translating identified problems (like those found in a retro) into action or decisions, thereby ensuring things continue moving forward and don't stall out.
I explain that engineers show ownership by choosing to opt in to be held accountable for outcomes, rather than waiting for a manager to intervene or ask for a status update.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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't listened to Part One, I'd encourage you to go back, as it provides crucial context for our continued discussion. In this episode, we dive into how you can think about relating to and integrating the massive changes that AI is bringing to your job, whether you are a software engineer, manager, director, or product professional. Bryan and I discuss his interests beyond research, including art and organizational design.

Explore the two primary paths for developers in the long run: specializing as managers of AI tools (like a product manager with engineering insight) or striving to be better than AI at building better versions of AI itself (the "neurosurgeon" type).
Understand why refining your intuitions about what should be built becomes increasingly crucial as automation makes execution easier.
Examine how conceptual biases often become the bottleneck when interacting with powerful AI tools, such as focusing on very narrow tasks for a broad tool.
Learn how to approach AI failures: treat a failed output as an opportunity to dig in and figure out why, perhaps by asking the AI to write a better prompt or identifying a fundamental missing capability that could become a great startup idea.
Conceptualize AI as the earliest versions of magic, where the manipulation of symbols (like embeddings) allows us to extend our influence into the world in a flexible and powerful way.
Discover principles of organizational design by studying how neural networks learn, focusing on strong information flow, skip connections, and aligning with the objective.
Consider the idea that the next phase of human development might involve emulating AI’s learning mechanisms (rather than expecting AI to become more human-like) to unlock the next phase of humanity and continue our search for meaning.
Hear Bryan’s final piece of advice for listeners: focus on learning and working on things you are passionate about that will have the highest possible impact.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 4 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 McCann, CTO at you.com. We dive into a wide-ranging discussion, exploring the philosophical origins of his career—from studying meaning and language to working in very early AI research. This discussion is less advice-heavy and more focused on kind of theory and discussion. I hope this is insightful for you and helpful as you crystallize your own philosophies on these subjects.

Explore the philosophical journey that led Bryan McCann from being a philosophy major interested in meaning to pioneering early AI research. Bryan views his current work as an extension of those original philosophical questions.
Discover how Bryan shifted from hitting a dead end in "armchair philosophy" to using computational tools to study language and try to make machines that could create meaning.
Understand why Bryan believes that meaning, in the sense he originally sought it, is an innately human thing, tied to purpose and the narratives we use to shape our sense of reality.
Discuss the profound realization that AI breakthroughs might be akin to discovering electricity, suggesting we are tapping into a fundamental framework of meaning or connection that has always existed.
Examine the concept of super intelligence and the "flywheel effect," where AI accelerates research and development, building better versions of itself and potentially surpassing the classic anthropomorphic vision of machine intelligence.
Explore Bryan’s other interests, including organizations, people, and art, which he sees as continuing the uniquely human search for meaning.
Consider the idea that humanity's constant need to differentiate itself from machines may simply be a mechanism for survival, enabling our continued dominance.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 09:00:00 +0000

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 burnout you have more control over, focusing on increasing your agency and autonomy to manage chronic workplace stress more effectively. Burnout is classified by the ICD-11 as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

This episode includes practical advice for understanding and addressing burnout by shifting focus from reducing work volume to increasing control and resources.

Understand the three dimensions of burnout as classified by the ICD-11: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance/negativity toward the job, and reduced professional efficacy.
Discover why the amount of time you work is not a direct input to burnout, meaning working less is often impractical and may not solve the underlying issue.
Learn the core philosophy for addressing burnout: In order to control stress, provide control (meaning agency and autonomy).
Explore why stress is directly correlated to the ratio of demands placed on you versus the resources (including decision-making power, training, and tooling) you have to meet those demands.
I’ll give you practical ways to approach your manager to secure necessary resources, training, or mentoring to improve your professional efficacy and reduce job negativity.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 23:00:00 +0000

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 trap. We discuss why the act of measuring team productivity is never neutral—it's an intervention that immediately changes behavior, often resulting in unintended consequences like gaming the metrics. We'll explore how to collaborate with your team to find measurements that truly drive desired behaviors.

Understand why the phrase "what is measured is managed" means that measuring something triggers management of that thing, in varying degrees.
Learn why the act of measuring something is an intervention, especially when done with the intent of turning it into a target (e.g., increasing PRs or decreasing bugs), and how this action is shown to change behaviors around the thing being measured.
Discover how measurement can lead to unintended consequences, such as when tracking velocity via story points causes team members to inflate or deflate their estimates, making the measurement itself less meaningful.
Explore why giving ownership of metrics to the people acting to improve them makes sense, and how you can collaborate with your team to determine what kinds of measurements should be taken.
Recognize that if you want something to survive—such as paying down tech debt—you must feed it with time, resources, and attention, ensuring your actions line up with what you claim to care about.
Understand that since your calendar and dashboards will get crowded if you measure everything, the exercise of choosing metrics is as much about accepting that you have to choose what you will actively manage and invest in.

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Engage in Deliberate Practice to Level Up Your Engineering Leadership Skills

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 7 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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 explain why it’s much more than just repetition or experience, and why applying it to your career can lead to rapid improvement. Most importantly, I will provide concrete ways you can apply deliberate practice to level up your engineering and leadership skills, especially in areas that are traditionally difficult to practice, such as communication and strategic decision-making.

Differentiate Practice from Deliberate Practice: Understand that while repetition is part of practice, deliberate practice specifically involves engaging in a very narrow set of activities with the intentional goal of improvement, requiring very quick feedback for continuous incorporation.
Identify Opportunities for Rapid Improvement: Learn why deliberate practice is much more effective at achieving rapid improvement than simply engaging in repetition.
Apply DP to Leadership Skills: Discover how to incorporate deliberate practice into roles like engineering manager, tech lead, or IC (Individual Contributor) leader, where the activity of practice is often harder to pinpoint.
Leverage Existing Work for Practice: I suggest a mindset shift where you begin looking at existing responsibilities, such as one-on-ones, as opportunities for practice. For example, you can focus on improving your clarity when providing constructive criticism and ask for specific feedback on that aspect.
Generate Novel Value Through Practice: Explore how engaging in deliberate practice activities—like recording a video to communicate a technical concept or creating documentation—serves the primary goal of practice, while almost certainly creating unexpected value for your team (often net neutral or positive).
Use Backwards Training for Strategy: Find out how to practice strategic decision-making and forecasting by using "backwards training". This involves reviewing past decisions or work scopes, creating your own rationale or estimate, and then calibrating it against the known reality.
Simulate Difficult Conversations: Consider leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) to engage in deliberate practice around language-heavy skills, such as modelling sensitive or difficult topics, or practicing receiving harsh feedback.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 2 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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'll learn the difference between internal and external perspectives, why one is more useful than the other, and practical exercises to shift your mindset to believe you have more influence over the outcomes you care about.

Understand Locus of Control: Discover what psychologists mean by locus of control—whether you believe outcomes are determined by your own actions (internal) or by external forces like luck and chance (external).
Adopt a More Useful Mindset: Learn why an internal locus of control, while not a perfect reflection of reality, is a more useful and effective mindset for your career, as it prevents you from missing opportunities to influence outcomes.
Recognise Your Influence: Find encouragement in the idea that you almost certainly have more influence and control over situations in your life and career than you currently believe.
Shift Your Perspective with Practical Exercises: Engage in two research-based exercises to help you recalibrate your default beliefs and intentionally develop a more internal locus of control.
Leverage Your Strengths: See how focusing on your strengths can create a positive feedback loop, reinforcing the belief that your efforts directly impact outcomes and helping you build a stronger sense of agency.

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Resumé Driven Development - Your Career is In Your Hands

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode we'll discuss why "Résumé Driven Development" is a powerful mental model for building a thriving career. Instead of seeing your résumé as just a job-hunting tool, you'll learn to use it as a guide for setting measurable, impactful goals that benefit you, your manager, and your company.

Focus on Impact, Not Just Tasks: Discover why a great résumé is built on proof of impact, not just a list of completed projects. The best way to improve your career is to focus on achieving measurable goals that demonstrate real value.
Have the Goals Conversation: Learn how to initiate a critical conversation with your manager to define measurable goals for your role. If your manager can only provide project deadlines, take the initiative to propose your own impact-oriented goals.
Connect Goals to Business Value: Understand the importance of linking your work to business metrics. While there's a risk that a project might not meet its business goals, you can also measure impact through clever technical solutions or process improvements, like reducing team cycle time.
Take Control of Your Career: Realise that your career success is ultimately dependent on your own actions. By proactively setting and tracking goals, you take control and can clearly tell the story of the value you bring to the table.

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Forced and Unforced Errors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we introduce a simple yet powerful mental model from the world of sports: forced vs. unforced errors. By understanding this concept, you can shift your focus from things outside your control to the simple, foundational behaviours that truly define a successful career.

Understand the Difference: Learn the distinction between forced errors—mistakes caused by chance, situation, or randomness that are hard to prevent—and unforced errors, which are avoidable blunders resulting from a lack of attention or care.
Focus on What You Control: Discover why the most successful engineers prioritise reducing their unforced errors. While most people worry about hard-to-predict "forced errors," top performers concentrate on the fundamentals they can directly influence.
Identify Your Unforced Errors: Recognise common unforced errors in your career, such as not testing your work, being late for meetings, erratic communication, or posting unprofessional content online. These simple mistakes can significantly impact your career over time.
Conduct a Self-Audit: Learn the value of regularly performing a "self-audit" to identify and correct the simple, common-sense things you may be failing at. By improving in these areas, you can dramatically increase your reliability and competitiveness.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

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Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions.
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View Your Productivity Through the Lens of Values and Priorities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we introduce two fundamental thought experiments to help you uncover your true priorities and core values. By exploring scenarios of scarcity and abundance, you'll learn to align your daily actions with what truly matters, leading to a more satisfied career and life.

Uncover Your Priorities: Engage in a "5% exercise" where you imagine only being able to complete a tiny fraction of your to-do list. This thought experiment leverages a scarcity mindset to reveal your genuine priorities, helping you distinguish between what you perceive as important and what truly is.
Discover Your Values: Participate in an "abundance exercise" by imagining all your obligations are met and you have complete autonomy. What you choose to do next in this state reflects your core values and helps you move beyond aspirational or culturally normative answers.
Go Deeper: Learn to challenge superficial answers when identifying your values, pushing beyond the obvious to find unique and potentially surprising insights that genuinely guide your decision-making.
Unify for Satisfaction: Explore the profound insight that the most likely path to a satisfied career and life comes from unifying your priorities and values, thereby avoiding actions that don't align with what truly matters to you.

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This One Skill Signifies Seniority For Software Engineers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 3 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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 the ability to synthesise and optimise for multiple factors at once. Instead of focusing on a single factor, such as performance or maintainability, senior engineers identify and weigh the various trade-offs involved in any decision.

Discover the key skill that distinguishes a senior engineer: It's the ability to synthesise multiple, competing factors—like performance, maintainability, cost, and time to market—rather than focusing on just one.
Learn why single-factor thinking can hold you back: Junior engineers often optimise for what they know best or what is easiest to measure, which can harm the overall solution, the team, and their professional reputation.
Understand how to demonstrate seniority in interviews and at work: You can show your maturity and wisdom by identifying the crucial trade-offs for any given problem, asking what factors need to be balanced, and exploring options that might satisfy multiple goals at once.
Explore how to find better solutions by thinking in trade-offs: The goal isn't just to make sacrifices; often, the mark of a great senior engineer is finding a third option that effectively balances or optimises for multiple important factors simultaneously.
Start practising this skill today: Challenge yourself to identify what you are giving up with any decision and consider factors you don't normally prioritise. Ask "What am I saying no to?" to develop this crucial skill.

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Backup Plans and Risk Reward Curves

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode focuses on the critical importance of having a backup plan, not just for technical redundancies but especially for situations involving human error, which are highly prevalent in one's career. The core argument hinges on understanding risk and reward curves, highlighting the disproportionate impact of failures compared to incremental successes.

Understanding Risk and Reward Curves:

Successes are often incremental. Delivering a project on time typically leads to opportunities for more projects, good performance reviews, and modest pay increases (e.g., 5-7%). These are positive, but linear or slightly bumpy gains.
Failures, especially uncaught ones, have a much longer negative tail. The potential for loss from a significant mistake or a disastrous project significantly outweighs the potential for gain from a success.
A bad performance review, for example, can affect future reviews, decrease promotion likelihood, and follow you for a much longer period than a good one.
Uncaught failures can place individuals in a pool for budget cuts or layoffs, leading to catastrophic curves where negative effects compound much faster, resembling a logarithmic function. One or two significant negative events could wipe out all accumulated incremental gains.

The Criticality of Backup Plans:

Backup plans are essential to avoid these catastrophic negative curves and major "wipeout scenarios".
This preparedness applies to project failures, personal career contingencies (e.g., getting laid off), and even events beyond direct control.
It's crucial to prepare for theoretically possible catastrophic events, not just those that have historically occurred. Even "Black Swan" events or things you're not prepared for can cause major issues.
Thinking like this (e.g., similar to life insurance, which you only need once if at all) encourages hedging efforts with basic backup plans, such as redundancy.

Benefits of Preparedness:

The more you prepare for contingencies, the more likely you can deal with the majority of failures, preventing the catastrophic curve.
Having backup plans can create a "flywheel effect", where your ability to respond to negative events actually increases the speed of stacking up further positive outcomes.
Being proactive in your career (e.g., interviewing even when you're happy in your current role) builds resiliency.

Actionable Advice:

Focus on what could go wrong: Try to figure out how things could fail and what catastrophic events are possible, even if they haven't happened yet.
Identify vulnerabilities: Locate areas where a catastrophe could lead to a steep drop-off in your career trajectory.
Implement a basic backup plan: The recommendation is to put just one in place this week for something that could catastrophically impact your career. This provides a sense of relief and ensures readiness if needed. Taking this first step is likely to encourage creating more backup plans for professional situations.

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Second Order Consequences and Forcing Functions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Todays episode delves into understanding and leveraging second and third-order consequences – the ripple effects that occur after an initial action – and introduces forcing functions, which are an inverted way of thinking about these consequences, designed to drive desired outcomes by first determining "what must be true" for them to occur. The episode also connects these concepts to the importance of effective goal setting, explaining how well-defined goals provide clarity, focus, and a strategic framework for decision-making and career advancement.

Grasp Second and Third-Order Consequences: Learn to identify the downstream effects of initial actions. For instance, setting a target for test coverage (first action) might lead to people adding tests that don't genuinely test anything but merely inflate the metric (second-order consequence), potentially resulting in disillusionment with testing or continued incidents despite high coverage (third-order consequence). Conversely, giving someone ownership or autonomy (first action) can lead to them proactively filling out details and owning ambiguity (second-order consequence), which may result in higher quality work, freeing up managerial time, and setting the individual up for promotion (third-order consequence).
Utilise Forcing Functions for Desired Outcomes: Understand forcing functions as an inverted approach to consequences, where you begin with a desired outcome and then identify the upstream requirements or desirable effects that must be true for that outcome to be achieved. This method helps to focus efforts on one to three key areas for improvement, rather than trying to enhance everything simultaneously.
Implement Effective Forcing Functions: Discover how various elements can act as deliberate or accidental forcing functions:
- A prioritised backlog acts as a forcing function for essential discussions, decision-making, gathering sufficient information for prioritisation, and ensuring knowledgeable individuals are involved in the process.
- Presentations, demos, or all-hands meetings serve as powerful social forcing functions, as the desire to avoid the discomfort of not having progress to show incentivises action and preparation.
- Sprint planning is a forcing function that necessitates a clear understanding of priorities and team capacity for the upcoming sprint.
- Quality metrics or Service Level Agreements (SLAs), such as a P95 response time, act as forcing functions by requiring other system components to be correctly aligned to meet the target.
- The choice of technology or tech stack can be a significant forcing function for hiring, unintentionally selecting for specific types of engineers (e.g., Java for enterprise experience, TypeScript for full-stack, functional languages for functional programming experience).
- Workplace restrictions, like requiring night availability, can be accidental forcing functions, potentially selecting against individuals with community involvement, family commitments, or social lives.
- Successful hiring and recruiting is a strong forcing function for many positive aspects of a company, indicating technical success, high retention, competitive salaries, and a high standard for talent across the organisation.
Harness Goals for Clarity and Focus: Recognise that a well-positioned goal is paramount for finding clarity, perspective, and purpose in your career. Goals provide a framework to make decisions about what to do, ensuring your time is spent on what matters to you rather than just on tasks handed to you, thereby enabling personal career growth.
Set Relevant and Directionally Correct Goals: Emphasise the relevance of your goals; even if they are specific, measurable, actionable, and time-bound (SMART), they are ineffective if they are not relevant to your desired career path. Aim for goals that are directionally correct, moving you generally towards a long-term outcome (e.g., leading a project if your long-term aspiration is to lead teams), rather than being paralysed by the pursuit of a "perfect" goal.
Leverage Manager Feedback for Goal Setting: If you are unsure how to set goals, consider what your boss would look for in your performance in six months. Proactively engage your manager by initiating conversations about career growth and goal setting, framing it as an opportunity for mutual success and seeking their input on what constitutes a "home run" for your role.
Set Sustainable and Challenging Goals: Avoid goals that are too abstract (lacking clear actions) or that significantly over- or underestimate your capacity, as both can lead to disengagement. Instead, strive for challenging but sustainable goals that require focus and making difficult choices (e.g., saying "no" to other things) but do not lead to burnout.
Be Mindful of Your Choices: Deliberately choose your forcing functions and become aware of those you are accidentally opting into. Consistently consider the downstream effects (second and third-order consequences) of your actions today, and set goals that imply a desired future state rather than dictating the exact methods. Consistency in this mindful approach to goal setting and understanding consequences is key to long-term career success.

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Don't Try to Solve Hyperobject Problems Once

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode delves into the philosophical concept of hyperobjects – problems so vast and complex they lack clear boundaries and cannot be "solved" once and for all. It explores why attempting to permanently fix issues like technical debt, user experience, or performance management is often ineffective. Instead, it offers a new perspective: how to interact with and manage these intractable problems by focusing on specific outcomes and accepting their ongoing nature.

Understand hyperobjects as problems that extend beyond clear boundaries and time, such as technical debt or performance management, which cannot be truly "solved".
Discover why a "one-time fix" approach is an anti-pattern for hyperobjects, as their dynamic nature means solutions must also be continuous.
Learn to shift your mindset from "solving" to "interacting" with these large, persistent problems, focusing on managing their effects rather than trying to contain them.
Explore the importance of focusing on specific, achievable outcomes and taking "snapshots" of the problem's current state, acknowledging that the hyperobject itself will continue to evolve.
Recognise that language and conceptualisation play a crucial role in framing and addressing these intractable challenges within your work and organisation.

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Behavior Change 101: Trigger, Incentive, and Ability

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 10 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode delves into a powerful model for encouraging behaviour change, applicable to both managing others and self-improvement, by focusing on three critical factors: Trigger, Incentive, and Ability. It challenges common, ineffective management approaches and provides insights into fostering new habits and desired actions by making the 'right' thing the 'easy' thing.

Uncover why naive management approaches, such as mandating rules or blaming individuals, are ineffective at solving underlying behavioural problems or creating new, lasting habits.
Learn about the Trigger, Incentive, and Ability model, a set of principles that can be applied to encourage specific actions in others or to facilitate self-betterment and incorporate new behaviours into your own life.
Understand that Incentives are the critical factor in deciding what actions to pursue, driven by the question, "what's in it for me?". It's crucial for incentives to be clear and understood; an unclear incentive is effectively no incentive at all. Beneficial incentives tend to be more effective from a scientific standpoint.
Discover the importance of a clear Trigger, which is the cross point or moment at which a decision to act is made. Assuming triggers will be self-generated is often a flawed management practice, especially when encouraging new behaviours.
Explore how Ability goes beyond just skill, encompassing clarity on how to do something and the reduction of friction and variability in the desired behaviour. The goal is to reduce cognitive overload and make the desired action the easiest option, thereby facilitating habit formation.
Realise the interconnection between Ability and Incentive, as a lack of clarity in how to perform a task (Ability) can make the incentive unclear because the reward for completion becomes uncertain.
Learn that the investment in encouraging behaviour change should focus on creating a better trigger, a better (and clearer) incentive, and higher ability (lower friction, higher skill) to ensure people engage in the desired behaviour.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode delves into the crucial role of well-positioned goals in a developer's career. It asserts that goals provide clarity, perspective, and purpose, particularly focusing on clarity as a primary benefit. The discussion challenges common struggles with goal setting, including the often-overlooked importance of relevance (the 'R' in SMART goals), suggesting that an irrelevant goal, no matter how specific or measurable, is ultimately ineffective. The core message highlights that the purpose of a goal is to serve as a clarifying and prioritising tool, enabling you to make decisions about what to do and focus your efforts, rather than simply doing work that is handed to you. You will learn to start small and focus on desired outcomes or what you want to be true, accepting that a goal only needs to be "directionally correct" rather than perfect. The episode also provides a practical heuristic: to set goals by considering how your boss will evaluate your performance in the future. It emphasises the importance of setting goals that are challenging but sustainable, avoiding common pitfalls like overly abstract, too easy, or demoralisingly difficult goals, to prevent disengagement and burnout. Ultimately, consistent goal setting and reflection are presented as key drivers for long-term career success.

Understand the fundamental importance of goals in providing clarity, perspective, and purpose in your career, especially for driven developers.
Recognise that relevance is the most critical factor in goal setting; a goal's specificity or measurability is meaningless if it is not the right goal for you.
Grasp that the primary function of a goal is to help you make decisions about what to do, acting as a clarifying, prioritising, and focusing tool for your efforts.
Challenge the mindset that your goal as a software engineer is merely to complete assigned work; without personal goals, your career changes and skill development will be difficult.
Learn to start small when setting goals and focus on desired outcomes or what you genuinely want to be true in your career.
Embrace the concept of a "directionally correct" goal, understanding that a goal does not need to be perfect to guide you effectively towards a larger, long-term outcome.
Utilise reflection after meeting a goal to assess whether it moved you closer to your long-term objectives, providing valuable steering for future goals.
Employ a practical heuristic for goal setting: imagine how your boss would evaluate your performance in six months or a year, and set goals around those anticipated factors.
Be proactive in discussing career growth and goal setting with your manager, framing it as an opportunity for them to direct your efforts towards organisational wins.
Identify and avoid common pitfalls in goal setting, such as goals that are too abstract (not tractable), too easy (causing disengagement), or too difficult (leading to demoralisation).
Strive for goals that offer a challenging but sustainable chance of success (e.g., around a 60% probability), requiring focus and the ability to say no, without leading to burnout.
Understand that consistency in setting and pursuing goals is what ultimately defines long-term success, rather than the perfection of any single goal.

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For further reading (external sources):

SMART Goals: The episode mentions the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) as a good set of checks for goals. You can find more information about SMART goals on their Wikipedia page. (Please note: This link provides information from outside of the provided sources and you may want to independently verify that information.)
The discussion on goal success probability (e.g., 60% chance of success) alludes to studies on optimal challenge levels for engagement and achievement. You may find further research on goal-setting theory and motivational psychology to explore these concepts in more detail. (Please note: This information is not explicitly from the provided sources and you may want to independently verify it.)

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Today we explore Cognitive Load Theory. This concept can profoundly influence how you structure your workday, manage teams, and approach learning in your career. The episode highlights that much of professional work, particularly in knowledge-based roles like software engineering, is fundamentally about learning. You will discover that there is an optimal amount of information processing for effective learning, and both overloading and underloading your cognitive capacity can be detrimental. A key insight is that cognitive load does not discriminate; all external factors, whether work-related or personal (e.g., tiredness, a messy desk), consume your finite cognitive capacity, leaving less "headroom" for optimal performance. Furthermore, cognitive load is not static but varies daily, impacted by an individual's diverse life experiences. The episode also delves into how skill development effectively lowers the cognitive load required for specific tasks, allowing individuals to achieve more with less mental effort or take on new challenges. It underscores the importance of self-awareness in recognising signals of overload or underload, and for managers, it emphasises fostering empathy by understanding how external life factors can impact a team member's cognitive capacity.

Understand the pervasive nature of learning in professional careers, particularly for developers, where acquiring new information and making connections is a constant.
Grasp the core principle of Cognitive Load Theory: there is an ideal level of information processing that maximises your learning ability. Both excessive (overload) and insufficient (underload) cognitive demands can negatively impact this learning rate.
Recognise that your cognitive load does not differentiate between sources. This means that personal factors such as being tired, anticipating events, or even having a cluttered workspace contribute to your overall cognitive load, reducing your capacity for work-related tasks.
Appreciate that an individual's cognitive load is not a fixed value; it fluctuates daily due to various life experiences.
For managers, learn to proactively discuss cognitive load with your team members to help them operate at an appropriate engagement level. A simple way to initiate this conversation is by asking about their energy and positivity levels.
Discover that while reducing non-value-producing cognitive load provides more mental overhead, it also carries the risk of underloading, which can lead to disengagement and reduced performance. The challenge lies in finding the optimal balance.
Learn how developing skills and gaining experience reduces the cognitive load required to perform a task. This means you become more efficient and can accomplish the same outcomes with less mental effort, freeing up capacity for new learning or additional responsibilities.
Consider career growth through the lens of cognitive load: it involves either increasing efficiency (doing more of the same with less load) or expanding your repertoire by taking on new types of cognitive load in parallel.
Understand why managing your personal life is intrinsically linked to your career success (and vice versa), as cognitive load universally affects your capacity to learn and handle challenges.
Build empathy by understanding that a person's capacity to perform difficult tasks can be significantly moderated by their current cognitive load, which may be influenced by challenging personal circumstances.
Recognise task saturation as the point of cognitive overload where performance declines rapidly, as observed in flight training. Repeated exposure to this point, however, can lead to skill development that lowers the cognitive load for those specific tasks over time.
Understand that multitasking often increases cognitive load due to switching costs, making it less efficient than sequential task completion.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions.
And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant.

All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind. Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com.

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For further reading (external sources):

To learn more about the academic background of Cognitive Load Theory, you may find additional information on its Wikipedia page. (Please note: This link provides information from outside of the provided sources and you may want to independently verify that information.)
The concept of "task saturation" discussed in the episode, particularly in the context of flight training, relates to a point of cognitive overload. More on this can be explored on its Wikipedia page. (Please note: This link provides information from outside of the provided sources and you may want to independently verify that information.)

Investigating Your Invisible Systems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode focuses again on the fundamental principle that your systems are perfectly designed for the outcomes you are experiencing, regardless of whether those systems were intentionally or accidentally created.

Here are the key takeaways from the episode:

Uncover how your systems, whether intentionally or accidentally designed, are perfectly configured for the outcomes you experience. The implication of design means choices have been made in setting up a system, but your intent is less important than the actual outcomes produced.
Learn why your intent is less important than the actual outcomes when evaluating your systems. If your intent was the sole factor, everyone would achieve their desired results. Instead, systems should be judged by the outcomes they generate.
Discover the concept of "accidental design," where unseen factors influence system behaviour. This can be inspired by Goodhart's law, where a measure becomes a target and changes behaviour, or by environmental factors, such as how your workspace impacts your thinking and heart rate.
Explore how "invisible systems" – the unexamined rules and assumptions that govern your daily life – profoundly influence your actions and results. These are forces changing your behaviour that you likely haven't evaluated, such as automatically accepting all meeting invites.
Understand that human behaviour, including your own, can be an outcome of your systems. This perspective offers the highest leverage opportunity for change, as modifying the underlying system is more effective than relying on temporary motivation or addressing knowledge gaps in isolation.
Realise that system boundaries are often arbitrary, and a system's design must account for all factors influencing its outcomes. For example, a quality assurance system cannot be considered good if it fails due to a "talent" issue; the talent pool and hiring procedures are part of the overall system affecting the outcome. Ignoring such factors because they fall outside perceived boundaries of responsibility can lead to irreducible or expensive risks.

You are encouraged to investigate the invisible parts of your systems and write down the assumed rules that govern your life, even if you haven't evaluated their truth or helpfulness.

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Perfection Is Fragile, and You Should Avoid It

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 9 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode discusses why perfection is a dangerous and fragile goal, explaining how striving for 100% leads to unsustainable outlier states. It highlights how setting perfection as a bar can cause commitments to break and plans to fail due to a lack of slack, and offers strategies like building redundancy and planning with slack to achieve goals more effectively without relying on perfection.

Uncover why perfection is a dangerous and fragile goal, as it often requires exorbitant, unsustainable effort and creates outlier states that are unlikely to be maintained, referencing the "Wedies effect" where things tend to regress to the mean.
Learn how planning for 100% utilisation or setting perfection as a commitment can lead to fragility, causing plans to fail when unexpected changes occur or leading to giving up altogether once a "perfect" streak is broken.
Discover practical strategies to avoid fragile perfectionism, such as planning with slack to accommodate change and building redundancy into your systems and personal commitments for more robust outcomes.
Explore why actively avoiding requirements or expectations of perfection is crucial, as investing in it can be an exponential or even asymptotic step, leading to an unsustainable and fragile state.

Note: sorry about the plane noise in the background. I decided to publish it, since it's imperfect (and that's kind of making the point!).

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Your System is Perfectly Designed for Your Current Outcomes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 3 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode introduces the potentially controversial principle that your system is perfectly designed for its current outcomes, urging listeners to embrace greater responsibility for systemic issues. It explores how to redefine system boundaries to holistically integrate all influencing factors, like talent and organisational processes, ensuring that interventions are effective and targeted.

Uncover the principle that your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting, prompting a re-evaluation of what constitutes a "good" system when outcomes are undesirable.
Learn why arbitrary system boundaries often lead to critical factors, such as talent, being excluded, and how to consider a system's full scope regardless of traditional lines of responsibility.
Discover how incorporating talent and other seemingly external factors into your system design can lead to more efficient and effective solutions, rather than simply patching symptoms.
Explore the distinction between judging decisions by their outcomes (resulting) and designing systems that proactively reduce uncertainty and improve the likelihood of success.
Understand that system thinking extends beyond technical architecture to encompass processes, policies, culture, and interpersonal dynamics, which collectively influence organisational outcomes.

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Using LLMs To Expand Your Working Vocabulary

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode explores the fundamental mindset of building your vocabulary, extending beyond literal words to conceptual understanding and mental models, and how Large Language Models (LLMs) can be a powerful tool for expanding and refining this crucial skill for career growth, clarity, and navigating disruptions.

Uncover why building your vocabulary is a fundamental skill that can help you navigate career transitions, disruptions (such as those caused by AI), and changes in roles.
Understand that "vocabulary" goes beyond literal words to include mental models, understanding your own self, specific diagrams (like causal loop diagrams or C4 diagrams), and programming paradigms or design patterns. This conceptual vocabulary provides access to nuanced and powerful ways of thinking.
Learn how LLMs can be incredibly useful for refining and expanding your conceptual vocabulary, allowing you to explore new subjects, understand systems, and identify leverage points. They can help you understand the connotations, origins, and applications of concepts, as well as how they piece together with adjacent ideas.
Discover why starting with fundamental primitives like inputs, outputs, flows, and system types can help you develop vocabulary, and how LLMs can suggest widely used tools or visualisations based on these primitives (e.g., a scatter plot for XY data).
Explore why focusing on understanding the "why" and "when" of using a concept or tool is a much higher leverage skill than merely knowing "how" to use it, enabling you to piece together different vocabulary pieces for deeper insights.

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Great Reviews and Terrible Tacos - Sharpening Substitute Questions with Counterfactuals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode delves into the use of substitute questions—simpler queries we use to answer more complex ones—and the crucial concept of cohesion between these substitutes and our true objectives. You'll learn how to leverage counterfactual thinking to scrutinize your assumptions and enhance the effectiveness of your decisions. Discover two powerful counterfactual techniques: asking "what else could be true?" to reveal alternative explanations, and employing thought experiments to, for example, precisely define your desires and career aspirations. The discussion offers practical applications, from refining hiring processes by identifying high-cohesion interview criteria to avoiding confirmation bias in debugging. By adopting counterfactual thinking, you can significantly improve your analytical skills, make more informed choices, and build robust strategies.

Uncover how cognitively taxing questions lead us to use substitute questions as heuristics, and why understanding the cohesion between these is vital for accurate decision-making.
Learn to implement "counterfactual thinking" to rigorously check your heuristics and substitute questions, ensuring they effectively align with your actual goals and underlying evaluations.
Discover two key counterfactual techniques: exploring "what else could be true?" to identify alternative explanations for observations, and conducting thought experiments to clarify nuanced personal and professional desires.
Explore practical applications of counterfactuals to drastically improve processes like hiring, by challenging low-signal interview criteria (e.g., LeetCode problems) and making more predictive assessments of candidates.
Understand how counterfactuals can combat biases like confirmation bias in problem-solving, such as debugging, by prompting you to consider alternative causes and avoid poor pathways of biased logic.
Realise the transformative power of counterfactual thinking in refining your thinking process, improving your career trajectory, and enhancing departmental operations by identifying and improving low-cohesion substitutions.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode explores why maintenance tasks, despite their fundamental importance, are often neglected or deprioritised in our daily lives and professional work. It delves into the psychological biases that make consistent maintenance challenging, such as hyperbolic discounting, where immediate gratification is valued over future gains, and the construal level theory, which highlights how psychological distance makes preventative work less impactful. The concept of the "maintenance paradox" is introduced, explaining that when maintenance is done well, its benefits go unnoticed, diminishing the sense of reward. The episode encourages listeners to adopt a maintenance mindset, making these tasks a standard habit rather than relying on typical prioritisation structures, as they are crucial for enhancing the quality of overall experiences and preventing future, more urgent problems.

People tend to discount future gains or devalue them relative to immediate gratification, a concept known as hyperbolic discounting. This means a dollar now is generally more appealing than a dollar tomorrow, or even two dollars tomorrow.
Many important tasks, whether changing guitar strings, making your bed, clearing email backlogs, or improving a development environment (often termed "tech debt" in a professional context), are easily put off because they seem like low priority in the moment.
The "maintenance paradox" illustrates that when maintenance is performed correctly, its positive effects are often invisible because it prevents negative outcomes that are never experienced. This lack of visible benefit means there's no immediate "dopamine rush" or gratification from consistent maintenance.
Construal level theory explains why maintenance is difficult by highlighting different forms of psychological distance.
- Temporal distance relates to the future value of maintenance being less immediate.
- Spatial distance suggests tasks further away (e.g., in an attic) are more likely to be in disrepair.
- Social distance refers to maintenance affecting others more than oneself, reducing direct personal impact.
- Hypothetical distance is particularly relevant for maintenance, as preventing a problem means never experiencing the potential downside, making the value of the preventative work hard to assess or feel. This contrasts with reactive work, where real losses are visible, making it seem more urgent and higher priority.
A "bad cycle" can be created by the dopamine rush experienced when allowing things to pile up and then finally cleaning or fixing them, which inadvertently trains individuals that it's acceptable to delay maintenance. The marginal benefit of immediate action doesn't provide enough immediate gratification compared to the larger reward of eventual relief.
To counteract these biases, maintenance must become a standard practice or habit. Adopting a "maintenance mindset" means understanding that these tasks enhance the quality of other experiences, such as making a bed to create a calm environment or applying sunscreen to prevent future pain.
Maintenance tasks often fall into the "important but not urgent" quadrant of the Eisenhower matrix, but they only become urgent when the disrepair is overwhelming, like guitar strings breaking on stage. It is vital to integrate these behaviours into daily routines rather than relying solely on typical prioritisation structures.
The podcast itself can be seen as a form of "maintenance behaviour" for one's career and professional life.

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Follow This Principle - Establish Your Baselines

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 5 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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

Uncover the fundamental idea that to recognise when something has changed, you must first understand what things were like before the change occurred. Often, people haven't been measuring their lives, making it challenging to spot shifts because their baselines are unknown.
Learn to identify your personal baselines across various aspects of your life. This includes understanding typical daily habits, such as whether you tend to skip lunch, or how many hours you usually work (e.g., 6, 8, or 10 hours). While general data might suggest optimal working hours (e.g., 35-45 hours for most benefit, rarely more than 55 hours), your personal baseline is unique, and the goal is to empower you to make conscious decisions about your habits.
Explore other crucial areas for baseline measurement, including simple health metrics like your typical body weight, baseline levels of activity with friends, expected energy levels, and even your baseline for positivity.
Discover how establishing these 'operating norms' for your life can be a critical factor in recognising positive changes, identifying when you are unconsciously changing a behaviour, or even detecting signs of burnout. For instance, if your body weight trends upwards, it might signal decreased activity. Similarly, knowing your baseline learning rate can help you assess if you are learning at an acceptable pace.
Understand the significant benefit of sharing your baseline measurements or expectations with others. What others observe about your life can provide a valuable starting point or confirm changes you might not perceive yourself. It's encouraged to get curious about what others are seeing, rather than dismissing their observations.
Grasp why this principle is so important: it helps align your actions with your values and purpose. If you care about spending quality time with family or friends, understanding your baseline investment in these relationships allows you to recognise if you're moving away from your expected commitment. Knowing your baselines demonstrates that you're putting action behind your values, rather than just stating them.
Consider starting by engaging a trusted person to help you be aware of your baselines, especially concerning the things that matter most to you. This provides external observation and support.

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Advice on Advice - Taking Everything with a Grain of Salt

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 22 May 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode explores the complex landscape of receiving advice in your career, particularly during uncertain times. It offers insights on how to critically evaluate feedback and external information, prepare for potential negative outcomes outside of your control, and adapt your focus to thrive in a changing industry.

Explore why the vast amount of advice you receive throughout your career, including feedback from bosses and peers, platitudes, anecdotes, data, opinions, and facts, will shape your thinking.
Discover that even people you trust and consider authoritative may give advice you shouldn't listen to. Sometimes, all the positive signals and feedback you receive may not predict negative career events like layoffs or not getting a promotion.
Learn not to stop listening to feedback, but instead listen for themes and common threads that resonate with your gut intuition.
Understand the importance of contextualising people's assertions, testing them, and putting them through the wringer. However, even when following great advice and testing it, you might still experience negative events like a layoff, as luck and chaos agents are often at the helm and are not under your control.
Discover why it is important to not only prepare for luck but also to prepare for failure modes – situations that go poorly regardless of your upfront actions.
Learn that resilience, preparation, and the ability to absorb impacts (becoming antifragile) are likely to happen because you recognise what happens in the margins and prepare for eventualities you may not think are likely, rather than solely from receiving good advice.
Consider that there are no real silver bullets or secret answers in career advice; moments of wisdom shared by others are often just a snapshot of one experience.
Learn to make decisions within your limited context and apply advice dynamically, considering how it changes with environmental shifts and plays out in unlucky scenarios.
Discover the advice to be a little bit more skeptical of the advice you believe the most and a little more accepting of advice that might seem counterintuitive or on the fringes.
Explore the crucial shift in focus from developing skills to emphasising ownership and responsibility to combat fear about the industry changing and your skills potentially losing value due to factors like AI or layoffs.
Understand that taking responsibility means being willing to be the accountable person and figuring out how to achieve goals, which doesn't necessarily require having the skill yourself but rather being willing to supervise, verify, or import skills.
Recognise that ownership and responsibility are difficult to export or outsource, and a human in the loop is critical for taking ownership and finishing the job, unlike trying to hold an AI accountable.
Learn the practical advice to drive conversations with your manager towards growing your scope of responsibility, accountability, and ownership, which builds trust and reliability beyond just your skill set.
Understand that your perception of the criticality of your tasks and meetings is usually inflated, and the ramifications of not attending are often much smaller than you imagine.
Discover a tactical method to evaluate your obligations (meetings, tasks) based on their pliability (ease of being moved or changed) and volatility (risk/negative effect of changing it) to help you manage your time.
Learn to be ruthless in identifying how you spend your time.

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Career Advice for Surviving AI Outsourcing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 15 May 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode addresses the fear surrounding industry changes, such as AI and potential outsourcing, and offers actionable advice for engineers, managers, and leaders to navigate these challenges. You'll learn why shifting your focus from just developing skills to embracing ownership and responsibility is crucial for long-term career resilience and agency.

Understand the fear and concern that traditional skills may lose value due to industry changes, including AI and potential layoffs.
Discover the critical shift needed in your career focus from solely developing skills towards embracing ownership and responsibility.
Learn why responsibility and ownership are becoming increasingly valuable and are difficult to outsource or export, contrasting with skills which may become more fluid.
Explore how human agency, including judging success, setting goals and direction, and translating inputs into action, complements or supervises work potentially done by machines or outsourced teams, with the human taking ultimate responsibility.
Gain practical advice on how to apply this shift by discussing where your responsibility, accountability, and ownership can grow in conversations with your manager.
Recognise how focusing on increasing the things you are personally accountable for builds trust and reliability, qualities that extend beyond your technical skill set.
Understand that accountability, ownership, responsibility, and reliability are becoming core behaviours for a good engineer as skills become more fluid.
Find support and discussion with other engineers by joining the Developer Tea Discord community.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 1 May 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode provides tactical ways to own your time, reduce meeting load and obligations, and regain agency, especially when feeling burnt out. You'll learn how to use a simple two-part model focusing on Pliability and Volatility to evaluate your tasks and meetings and make intentional choices about how you spend your time.

Learn how owning your time is a critical first step in combating burnout, tiredness, and feeling worn out, helping you evaluate whether you feel agency over your time.
Understand the principle that not all time is equal, whether it's sacred personal time or different times of day at work, and why you shouldn't treat it equally.
Discover a simple two-part model using the characteristics of Pliability and Volatility to evaluate your obligations, such as meetings and tasks.
Learn the definition of Pliability – how easily an obligation can be moved, changed, or cancelled, representing its flexibility.
Understand the definition of Volatility – the risk, downsides, and potential compound negative effects associated with changing or not attending an obligation.
Evaluate your tasks and meetings using their Pliability and Volatility scores to identify obligations that can likely be moved, made smaller, or cancelled with minimal downside, particularly those with low volatility and high pliability.
Explore why our perception of the criticality of our obligations is often inflated, and how the actual ramifications of changing them are usually much smaller than what we expect.
Learn how applying this model can help you consolidate obligations, create longer blocks of focus time (especially useful for engineers), and ultimately regain ownership and agency over your schedule.

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Iteration or Target State Planning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode explores the dichotomy between iterative planning and target state planning in software development, discussing the benefits and drawbacks of each approach and providing decision factors to help you choose the most appropriate method for your situation.

Understand the core difference between iterative planning, which emphasises agility and responding to change with short planning horizons, and target state planning, which involves laying out a more defined long-term direction.
Discover that while iterative planning is often considered the "right way" for software development, target state planning can be valuable for setting a general direction, which can be updated as you learn.
Learn why addressing problems atomically in an iterative fashion can be valid, but that evaluating multiple potential improvements together with a target state in mind can lead to better coordination, efficiency, and consistency.
Explore the decision factors that might lead you to favour iterative planning, such as high uncertainty, learning-focused work (discovery, prototypes), and fast feedback loops.
Understand the decision factors that might lead you to favour target state planning, such as clarity on the problem, working in production with high coupling, regulatory/safety risks, slow feedback loops, high cost of mistakes, broad scope of impact, and high coordination costs.
Learn why choosing a planning method by default is a warning sign, and that considering the usefulness of upfront planning without being limited by dogma is important.
Understand that upfront planning (target state) can enable adaptation as you learn, and that negative perceptions of it often stem from costly, incorrect plans that were difficult to change.
Discover that the choice between iterative and target state planning is a spectrum rather than a pure dichotomy, and that a target state doesn't necessarily need to be a long-term plan.

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Three Principles of Preparedness - Mitigate Risks and Capitalize On Opportunities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode delves into practical principles for navigating the unexpected in your life and career. Rather than attempting to predict specific events, the focus is on cultivating resilience and optionality by identifying vulnerabilities in your systems and adopting a proactive mindset to transform potential challenges into strategic advantages.

• Discover the three core principles of preparedness: first, build for change by investing in low-cost, high-upside options to prepare for many potential futures. Second, understand the weak points in your current systems (career, personal life, finances, etc.) to create mitigation strategies. Third, think like an engineer by identifying bottlenecks and single points of failure and pressure testing your life's resources.

• Learn how to invest in optionality by pursuing low-cost, high-upside opportunities such as maintaining your professional network and reading books. These investments provide flexibility, improve negotiation power, and enhance your psychological position when making decisions.

• Understand the significance of identifying and analysing the weak aspects of your personal and professional systems to either mitigate risks directly, for example, by developing multiple income streams, or to create plans to absorb risks if they materialise, such as building a financial runway.

• Explore the concept of thinking like an engineer by actively seeking out bottlenecks and single points of failure in your life. Employ pressure testing across various resources, including relational, monetary, and physical well-being, to bolster your resilience against potential interruptions.

• Recognise that mitigating risks is crucial for safely seizing opportunities and fostering growth in both your career and personal life. A strong foundation built on resilience allows for bolder and more strategic decision-making when beneficial options arise.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode introduces a simple yet highly effective communication habit that can be adopted by anyone to significantly reduce the risk of misunderstandings and enhance connection. It explores how this practice, which requires thoughtful communication but no special skills, can benefit individuals at all career levels.

Discover why misunderstandings pose a significant risk to your career and how our natural inclination towards low-effort communication contributes to this risk.
Learn the core of this high-leverage habit: restating what someone is telling you in your own words to ensure clarity and mutual understanding. This involves summarising or rephrasing the other person's message using your own terminology.
Understand the multiple benefits of this technique, including demonstrating that you are actively listening, encoding the information more effectively for yourself, and most crucially, giving the other person the opportunity to correct your understanding.
Explore how this habit provides a critical opportunity to refine your understanding and check it against the speaker's intended message, ultimately leading to better comprehension.
Learn how receiving confirmation ("That's right") builds credibility and fosters a sense of being understood, creating a genuine connection with others.
Grasp the idea that this "mirroring back" of meaning, rather than just the words, is a cheap, deep, and high-leverage behaviour that can significantly improve your communication effectiveness in professional settings.

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Meta Models - Logarithmic Returns

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 2 Apr 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode introduces a valuable meta-tool for understanding the generic shapes of models, focusing specifically on the concept of logarithmic relationships and how they manifest as diminishing returns in various aspects of our lives and work. Understanding these patterns can help us make more informed decisions about where to invest our time and resources.

Uncover a meta-tool for understanding generic model shapes, specifically focusing on the concept of logarithmic relationships, which operates at a layer above specific mental models.
Learn about logarithmic complexity as a concept often encountered in algorithmic analysis and graphing math, characterised by a curve where the slope continuously decreases.
Discover how diminishing returns serve as a colloquial way to understand logarithmic relationships, where each unit of input effort yields progressively smaller returns in value or output.
Explore examples of where diminishing returns are evident, such as increasing the reliability of a system through quality improvements, estimation efforts, and the value gained from time spent in meetings.
Understand how learning processes often follow a logarithmic curve, with rapid initial gains that gradually diminish with experience.
Grasp the connection between logarithmic returns and the Pareto principle (80/20 rule), where a small percentage of effort often produces a large percentage of the value.
Recognise the importance of identifying the threshold on a logarithmic curve where the returns on further investment become minimal, aiding in more effective resource allocation.
Consider how our natural perception might not align with logarithmic realities, potentially leading us to overvalue continued effort beyond the point of significant return.
Learn how understanding these fundamental input-output relationships can empower you to make better decisions about where to focus your time, effort, and resources.

Dimensional Reframing - Think Along a New Axis

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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

• Learn how adding a new dimension to a problem can overcome limited perception and lead to new insights.
• Discover how applying the dimension of time to bug management can help prioritise and address a manageable number of bugs within a specific period.
• Explore how considering your energy levels can inform your approach to personal tasks, matching tasks to your available energy.
• Understand how frameworks like Getting Things Done (GTD) use the dimension of context to make tasks more actionable.
• Learn how the KonMari method employs the dimension of joy to fundamentally change how you decide what items to keep.
• Understand that the key to effective dimensional reframing is choosing a dimension that you care about and that helps you make decisions.
• Discover that dimensional reframing can be applied to both individual items and lists of items.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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

• Understand the core message of Chesterton's fence: before getting rid of an existing system, process, or code, take the time to understand why it was put there in the first place.
• Learn about the common thought process that leads to wanting to remove things without understanding them ("Why on earth would anyone ever do it this way?").
• Discover the parable of Chesterton's fence: the more intelligent reformer questions the removal of a fence until its use is understood.
• See an analogy in code review where a senior engineer might question the removal of code or tests without understanding their purpose.
• Understand the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and the Dunning-Kruger effect, which can lead to overestimating one's own abilities and underestimating the reasoning behind existing systems.
• Recognise the mistake of assuming that predecessors were incompetent and that their work was done in error.
• Appreciate the importance of adopting a curious mindset and trying to understand the original reasons behind existing practices.
• Understand that Chesterton's fence is not a justification for never changing anything, but a caution against recklessness and the importance of being informed.
• Learn that even when deciding to remove something, understanding its purpose can lead to better decisions and improvements in the future (e.g., replacing an old test with a better one).
• Realise the value of learning from the experiences and reasoning of those who came before.

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Reframing Areas of Growth to Your Manager

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 07:00:00 +0000

This episode discusses how to reframe areas of growth identified in performance reviews with your manager, turning potential weaknesses into strategic strengths. It emphasizes focusing on excelling in your existing strengths rather than spreading efforts thinly across all areas of improvement.

Understand why it's misguided to immediately convert a list of growth areas into a to-do list and the importance of collaborating with your manager on this.
Learn to identify the growth areas you are interested in and determine what has kept you from excelling in them, such as time, opportunity, or self-confidence.
Discover why focusing on becoming extraordinarily good in your already strong areas can lead to unique opportunities for you and your company.
Explore how to strategically discuss your growth areas with your manager, focusing on a limited set of areas for improvement and suggesting compromises or delegation for others.
Challenge the conventional wisdom of balancing skills and instead consider how to become a top performer (top 2%) in your areas of strength.
Realise that a team composed of individuals excelling at different things, will probably be more effective than a team of well-rounded individuals.

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Owning and Requesting Forward-Framed Feedback

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 5 Mar 2025 08:00:00 +0000

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 encourages advice rather than judgment.

Understand that your manager giving you feedback is your responsibility, which means you should actively seek it out rather than waiting.
Discover how a simple question can shift the dynamic with your manager to get better feedback, focusing on advice for the future rather than dwelling on past behaviours.
Learn the tactical question to ask your manager: "What do you think will hold me back from growing?" or a modified version like, "What do you think will hold me back from getting X promotion?".
Explore why framing your feedback request as seeking advice is more effective because managers generally enjoy giving advice and it focuses on future improvement.
Understand that the intent is not to analyze past behavior but to identify potential roadblocks to future success and growth.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 08:00:00 +0000

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 autonomy and definition.

Understand how the quadrant is built using the X-axis of dependency (high to low) and the Y-axis of definition (high to low) to visualise different work modes.
Explore how the bottom left quadrant represents work that is highly exploratory and highly dependent, often requiring collaboration across multiple departments.
Learn how a "spike" usually fits into the bottom right quadrant, signifying autonomous exploration.
Discover how the top left quadrant is for work that is highly dependent but highly defined, such as a migration project or adopting a new tool.
Understand how the top right quadrant represents work that is the most defined and the most autonomous, typically a singular task assigned to an individual.
Recognise that many development frameworks focus on optimising work to fit in the top right quadrant to improve flow by reducing dependencies.
Consider that the top left quadrant is often the lowest value production due to high dependencies without creative thinking.
Realise that exploratory work, if unguided, can be a liability, and it may be useful to involve more people in the exploration or ensure the individual has significant experience.
Be aware that processes are often optimised for tasks in the top right quadrant, potentially leading to the avoidance of work in other quadrants.

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Manager Frameworks and Models - Product Lifecycle Governance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 08:00:00 +0000

This episode introduces product lifecycle governance, offering practical techniques for engineering managers to tackle challenges like backlog prioritisation and leadership misunderstandings, helping turn potential problems into strategic advantages.

Uncover how to use product lifecycle governance to expose vulnerabilities in your product development process, by understanding where decisions are made and who makes them.
Learn how to move beyond simply managing a product to governing its lifecycle, turning unexpected issues into opportunities for better alignment and strategic advantage.
Discover why understanding your governance model is crucial for ensuring that everyone is working on the most important tasks, and how to iterate on it for better clarity and effectiveness.
Explore why focusing on a clear governance model and identifying decision points can be more useful than simply executing processes without understanding the bigger picture.
Learn why surfacing tech debt and integrating it into your backlog is essential for a healthy product lifecycle.
Understand that documenting and sharing your governance model can lead to better collaboration and alignment within the organisation.

This episode provides language and a mental model around product lifecycle governance to help navigate challenges, especially when transitioning to a new role or company. It emphasises understanding where decisions are being made, what your power is as a manager, and how to collaborate to develop a better governance model. The goal is to ensure everyone is working on the right thing at the right time, optimising decision-making and processes.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:00:00 +0000

This episode explores philosophical frameworks—ontology, teleology, and dynamism—to inform decision-making in uncertain situations, providing practical advice for applying these concepts in your professional and personal life.

Understand how ontology, teleology, and dynamism can help you navigate conversations about future actions for teams, companies, families, or yourself. Ontology focuses on a thing's intrinsic characteristics, teleology on its purpose or outcome, and dynamism on the changing environment.
Learn how these philosophical frameworks address the uncertainty of the future and provide tools for making intentional decisions. The episode connects these concepts to practical advice, especially for engineering managers, demonstrating their relevance to your career.
Explore how ontology identifies a thing's characteristics in isolation, while teleology considers its purpose or outcome. Discover how dynamism identifies changes in the environment and intent, providing a contextual understanding.
Consider how dynamism can recognize the need to change a team's role due to external factors, like AI, which contrasts with the potentially static views of ontology and teleology.
Understand that 'should' implies value in decision-making, with choices leaning towards desirable or undesirable outcomes. The episode explores how to define the criteria for 'should' in various contexts.
Realise the importance of adapting your thinking to new realities, which is crucial in decision-making.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Wix Studio's developer-first ecosystem allows you to focus on crucial functionalities by reducing time spent on tedious tasks.

Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
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How Can You Prepare for High-Impact Unknown Events?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 8 Feb 2025 08:00:00 +0000

This episode includes practical techniques to prepare for the unexpected by identifying vulnerabilities and building resilience, using the "curse question" and the "assumption audit" to help you turn potential problems into strategic advantages.

• Uncover how to use a "curse question" to expose vulnerabilities you didn't know you had, by imagining realistic negative scenarios and what could go wrong.
• Learn how to move beyond resilience to antifragility, turning unexpected events into opportunities for growth and strategic advantage, by making them benefitial rather than harmful.
• Discover why your medium-confidence assumptions might be the most dangerous and how an "assumption audit" can help you rate them and their potential impact if they are wrong, to help you better understand your weaknesses.
• Explore why preparing for a range of possibilities, including black swan events, is more effective than trying to predict specific outcomes, and how to spot opportunities in the unexpected.
• Learn why focusing on areas of fragility and identifying risks can be more useful than focusing on trying to avoid negative events altogether.
• Understand that counterfactuals can help you challenge your assumptions and create more robust plans.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Misconceptions about Exceptions and Cultural Shifts - Invisible Inertia

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we discuss how invisible inertia can cause us to misinterpret our reality in work scenarios.
• Discover why common misconceptions about behaviour are so difficult to spot.
• Explore why your "unique" situation might be a common trap, a "uniqueness bias".
• Learn how exceptional states can become the norm and impact your life.
• Uncover how people's values shape company culture, and how to evaluate this.
• Why might expecting a culture to change in the direction you want be unrealistic?
• Learn why you should evaluate situations for what they are right now, instead of expecting future change.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Action Orientation and Making Faster Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

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 can make your team more action-oriented.
Stop endless planning and start doing: Learn how understanding action phases can help your team move faster from discussion to delivery.
• Is your team stuck in debate? Discover the "Rubicon" moment and how crossing it can boost productivity.
• Learn to recognise when deliberation is costing you more than it's worth, and how to commit to a plan, even with limited information.
• Is your team over-analysing? See how intuition and expertise can drive faster, "good-enough" decisions using the Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD) model.
• Learn to make quick decisions in high-pressure situations using experience, even without perfect data.
• Trust your team's expertise to move from talk to action sooner and more effectively.
• Want to improve your team's speed and decision-making? Tune in to find out how to get moving!

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

Use "What" to get more specific. Align actions with intentions for better time management.
• Stop wasting time on autopilot. Discover the power of the Five Whats and start being intentional with your time.
• Tired of vague labels? Ask yourself, "What am I actually doing?" to gain clarity over your activities.
• Learn how to move beyond "focus time" and define the specific actions you're taking.
• See how your actions align with your goals (or don't!). Use this to refine your schedule and achieve your objectives.
• These concepts can flex to apply to every aspect of your life

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

📮 Ask a Question

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Upgrade Your Resolutions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

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 quality and potential of success for your resolutions.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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Ten Years of Developer Tea

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 5 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

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 years, thank you!

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 bit about what an estimate is in the first place, and how it differs from a commitment / deadline.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 3 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 talking about career simulations. In this episode we discuss how the airline industry has fixed the problem of experience, and how we can learn from their insights to create low-stakes learning environments that boost our career and confidence through the roof.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

📮 Ask a Question

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 4 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 is Brought To you by: Wix Studio

Devs, if you think website builders mean limited control—think again.
With Wix Studio’s developer-first ecosystem you can spend less time on tedious tasks and
more on the functionalities that matters most:
● Develop online in a VS Code-based IDE or locally via GitHub.
● Extend and replace a suite of powerful business solutions
● And ship faster with Wix Studio’s AI code assistant
All of that, wrapped up in auto-maintained infrastructure for total peace of mind.
Work in a developer-first ecosystem. Go to wixstudio.com

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The Highest Leverage Work You Do - Footing the Ladder

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 07:00:00 +0000

High-leverage work often comes in the simplest form of helping another person with their efforts.

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Prioritization is the Ultimate Skill

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 4 Oct 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Learn to prioritize, and everything else falls into place. This is clarity through perspective and purpose.

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Career Growth Comes From Finding Low Hanging Fruit in the Gaps

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Your career growth will be directly correlated to your ability to solve critical unsolved problems in the gaps of your organization's problems. Focus on finding the problems that have a high chance of success for you specifically - the low hanging fruit.

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How Culture Might Eat Your Values For Breakfast

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 5 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 Brought To you by: Unblocked

Your developers know how to write code. What they’re missing is the context to know what code to write. Unblocked gives engineering teams the answers they need to get their jobs done – without having to wait on or interrupt their teammates. Get started for free at getunblocked.com.

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The Tricky Parts of Merit Cycles

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 speaking are disconnected from your biggest opportunities for growth.

So, where should you focus? That's what we talk about in today's episode.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

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Limiting Factors - The Hidden Focus That Matters the Most

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 focus on. You'll learn the real enemy of focus (note: it's not just distraction).

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 you can set yourself up to become a much better candidate in your job search as an engineering leader.

Values Exercise Live:

Jonathan and Brian perform a live exercise, transforming company core values into interview questions.
Discussing the importance of aligning your experiences with the values that a company holds.
- "I'm going to do this live right now with you, actually. I think it'll be a cool exercise..."

Advanced Interview Techniques:

How to handle unexpected questions by paraphrasing.
Preparing for common interview questions derived from company values.
- "You should convert every single one of those core values into a question that starts with tell me about a time when you demonstrated X."

Finding a Way to Succeed:

The importance of creative problem solving in leadership.
Examples of finding efficient solutions to technical problems without writing code.
- "With zero lines of code...the ops team just reconfigured a job to run more often."

Effective Storytelling in Interviews:

How to use stories to demonstrate competencies and cultural fit.
The role of storytelling in making a lasting impression on interviewers.
- "Stories move the world...people write $50 million dollar checks to startup founders based on stories."

Building a Culture of Excellence:

Strategies for fostering a high-performance team environment.
Reflections on leadership and creating positive workplace dynamics.
- "We provide stable, fast, low friction developer experiences for all engineering teams at Zillow."

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 8 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Introduction to Career Coaching:

What is a career coach and how they differ from a manager or mentor.
Brian Pulliam shares his journey from tech to becoming an athletics coach.
- "I was in tech for about 26 years...being an athletics coach with my wife...I sought out my own career coach."

The Value of Career Coaching:

How a career coach can provide objective, unfiltered feedback.
The benefits of having an advocate without conflicts of interest.
- "As a career coach, you know, I'm self-employed...no conflict of interest, maybe with your own boss."

Strategies for Career Growth:

The importance of optimizing your career path like you would optimize code.
Using career coaching to navigate sticky situations and grow professionally.
- "We optimize for memory, right? We optimize for CPU...coaches can help you learn how to optimize."

Interview Tactics and Mindset:

The value of authenticity in interviews and presenting your true self.
Why technical proficiency isn't the only factor in landing a job.
How asking the right questions can set you apart from other candidates.
- "The person who starts writing code right away...is almost certainly not perceived as a senior developer."

Preparing for Market Fluctuations:

Understanding the cyclical nature of the tech job market.
How to prepare for job changes even when you’re happily employed.
The analogy of tech hiring seasons and being ready for winter.
- "Tech has hiring seasons...the challenge with the hiring seasons in tech...they are of indeterminate length."

Building a Resilient Career:

Insights into maintaining career readiness and job security.
The importance of continual learning and adapting to market demands.
- "Test your ability to get a new job when you don't need a new job...the power you have when you go into an interview and you are happily employed."

Real-life Examples and Lessons:

Brian’s personal experiences with layoffs and career transitions.
Practical advice on leveraging your network and resources.
- "My very first job out of school...I got laid off very unexpectedly...26 years between layoffs."

Preparing for Interview Questions:

How to handle unexpected questions by paraphrasing.
Preparing for common interview questions derived from company values.
- "You should convert every single one of those core values into a question that starts with tell me about a time when you demonstrated X."

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Unblocked

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Focus On Outcomes By Resetting Your Base

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 2 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 outcomes in the long run.

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Portraying Confidence in the Face of the Unknown

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 building true confidence in what you do (and importantly, don't) know.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 basic text editor - that's it!

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Bias to Action As A Skill

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 5 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 difference between this skill and a more automatic cognitive bias.

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Managing Using Core Indicators of Team Outcomes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 3 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 discussion is based on. In this episode, we discuss the three core outcome indicators for managers to pay close attention to.

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Inverted Thinking As a Strategy To Combat Bias

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 15 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 space occupied by the thing you are seeking. For example, if you are trying to avoid failure, you might intuitively seek a "successful strategy" instead of looking at the reasons it may fail directly. Inversion will help you avoid these traps.

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Talking To Yourself for Better One-On-Ones

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 8 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Interview Prep: Two Counterintuitive Tips

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 1 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 meetings as well.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 about building a great resumé. This will take some work from you, but I hope you walk away from this episode feeling like you have the right mindset to improve your resumé drastically, and land more interviews, ultimately leading to better job opportunities for the Developer Tea audience!

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Prioritization Using Critical Path Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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, but rather a revisiting of the classic discussion started by Eli Goldratt in his book "The Goal", and later in his book "Critical Path", based on the theory of constraints.

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Cultural Antidotes - Clarity Isn't Just Honesty

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The most common mistake for any manager is to fail to clarify. This often happens because we mistake our average communications for having perfect clarity, when in fact we most often don't communicate at high levels of clarity. This isn't because we are bad at communication, but rather because our social communications carry less consequence when they aren't precise.

Clarity is not simply being honest. We'll discuss the importance of clarity in this episode, and your first steps towards achieving clarity above the norm.

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Demystifying Culture and Values

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 understand how they link, and more importantly, when they don't.

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Principles of Work - Shorten Your Feedback Loops

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 3 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 the magnitude of the cost of a mistake. In other words: shorten your feedback loops to the point that you're no longer afraid to make a mistake.

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Principles of Work - Be Your Own Advocate

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 point, the person advocating the most for you is almost definitely YOU.

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Practical Application of Information Theory

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode we discuss a practical application of information theory. Information theory is similar to the classic theory of communication, but distinct in important ways; these two theories together are a useful combo for creating a strategy for clarification.

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Revisiting Core Working Principles - Hyperfixation on Measurements and Communication Degradation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 18:50:00 +0000

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 curve of degradation that most communication follows.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:05:00 +0000

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 them, so please share however you can!

The principles we discuss today are around the relationship between clarity and focus, and about how most negotiations aren't about feasibility but instead about strategy.

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Two Principle Categories To Judge Productivity Advice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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. Once you connect with these ideas, you'll be able to use them for your own gain.

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Cost of Delay Curves and Classes of Service

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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 cost of delay has a cliff, or an exponential curve, how do you weigh one opportunity versus another?

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Taking Personal Accountability for Systematic Failures

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 8 Mar 2024 08:00:00 +0000

"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. In this episode we try to practice this self-accountability through an exercise.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 6 Mar 2024 08:00:00 +0000

In this episode we continue our discussion about the most overused statistical measurement. We'll talk about a few more counterintuitive properties of the average, and how you might be underserving your colleagues as a result of thinking in averages.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 1 Mar 2024 12:10:00 +0000

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

There's so much to talk about with averages that we're splitting this into two parts. Disclaimer: I am not a mathematician. But we will talk about some of the interesting properties of averages and why they are so addictive to use for humans, but more practically what counterintuitive ways we might be using them incorrectly.

If you're using your sprint velocity to forecast work, this episode is for you!

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Treat Your Time as A Product You Own

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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" statements?

Next, put on your product owner hat. How would you improve the situation, if you knew the "consumer"'s requests?

This exercise should provide unique insight and a new lens to view your time and agency through.

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Von Restorff Isolation Effect and a Backfiring of Process

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 01:00:00 +0000

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. But what isn't intuitive is the implied downside of uniformity, which is often the product of process.

In other words, if your process creates perfect uniformity, elevating any one thing, say, in priority, is going to be exceedingly difficult.

Additionally, if your "escalation" process is overused, it will once again violate the point of the escalation in the first place. "If everything is urgent, nothing is urgent."

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Perform a Career Premortem

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 hindsight, finding our wiser selves, and ultimately looking forward and backward...at the same time. It sounds a little odd, but it's all based in solid cognitive science. If you have a notoriously hard time figuring out your career path, I'd invite you to participate!

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Neo4j

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Delegation, Ownership, Responsibility, and Agency

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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

True delegation requires ownership, and ownership can be thought of in two critical parts: agency and responsibility.

In today's episode, we discuss the fool's errand of delegating only one or the other of these parts.

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Apply Little's Law To What You Can Control

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 3 Feb 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 work, and for our own lives, by recognizing how these relationships work and what we can do to utilize them. In this episode, we talk about when it is useful to use Little's law to your advantage.

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Finding Leverage by Escaping Functional Fixedness

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 reject the solution domain-set that comes to mind immediately, we may be able to consider options for solutions we had never considered. This larger solution set may also include a high-leverage option we had previously ignored.

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Is it Actually Important to Question Assumptions?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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

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9 Years - Persistence by Reducing Expectation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 5 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000

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 clarity, perspective, and purpose. (Don't worry, we aren't going anywhere!)

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Good Plans, Bad Plans, and Road Trips

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 intentions and processes to yield better plans.

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Negative and Positive Lollapalooza Effects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 9 Dec 2023 21:30:00 +0000

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

In this episode, we discuss lollapalooza effects and how you might fall victim to them, and more importantly, how you can use them to your advantage.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 1 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 pushing against you to adopt the beliefs of the team you are joining. What you do with it is one huge way a team can improve, or otherwise, stay the same.

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The Dark Side of Optimism Bias

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 12:00:00 +0000

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 will good things to happen, and when you don't prepare for adverse events, you won't be ready when they inevitably occur.

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Backlog Psychology - Breaking Out of the Habit Trap

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 9 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0000

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 remind yourself why you have a process to begin with: orient yourself to the outcomes!

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Availability Heuristic and Substituting Hard Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 3 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0000

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 reality looms so large in our decisionmaking.

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Spend Your Time Intentionally Through Expectation Mapping

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 09:30:00 +0000

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 framework as a starting lens for getting a better idea of how you are spending your time in relation to who cares the most about those investments. You'll walk away with a new lens on how to evaluate your most precious resource: time.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Almost every conversation you have will start with a question.
Have you stopped to listen closely? Questions are extremely meaningful and deeply human. Paying close attention to questions is a skill that will put you head and shoulders above the average engineer or manager.

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Backlog Psychology - Fix Your Broken Expectations

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 today's episode, I talk about a simple shift in thinking that will help improve your expectations for your work.

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Backlog Psychology - Practice Requires Rhythmic Predictability

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 3 Oct 2023 07:00:00 +0000

In this episode we continue a little mini-series called "Backlog psychology."

How do you get better at anything? (Hopefully you said "practice" almost instinctively.) What does good practice look like?

Your team has an opportunity to practice every meeting and every day. But if your days look different from one to the next, how will you ever have the opportunity to actually do that practice?

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 seems logically obvious which is better, does not always produce the same response. The required incentive to convince someone to wait tends to follow an exponential curve upward.

This is not just true with money, but for any benefit and incentive: monetary, social, emotional, physical, etc.

What does this mean for our backlogs? What about our daily habits?

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 more work in progress more difficult to handle?

Cognitive load isn't just about multi-tasking in the moment - it's also about limiting your open tasks.

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Two Tips for Better Retros - Add Specificity, Respect Uncertainty

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 5 Sep 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 than continuous improvement, today's episode is for you.

Retros are for improving iteratively over time. That can only happen if your outcomes are aligned to that iterative mindset. Two simple adjustments can help drive that improvement.

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One Big Step Versus A Small Random Step

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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, it is easier to learn by a series of smaller steps, even if they start out as random, rather than take on the major risk of a large step possibly going the wrong direction. This isn't always true; sometimes, the cost of learning is *greater* with small steps. Determining which is true in your situation can make or break your plans.

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Interrogate Your Decision Making Rules

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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

But, we eventually develop rules as a part of habit-building. These are "implicit" rules - they aren't necessarily something you have set as a rule, but they are followed as if they were.

These are worth interrogating, and perhaps replacing with more explicit rules.

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Schedule Carving

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 in your schedule, budget, or decisionmaking.

Figure out what you need to avoid first. This creates the opportunities you need to say yes.

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Long Term Scoreboard for Short Term Games

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 4 Aug 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 is working. It's time to rethink your scoreboard.

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Slow Down and Start With One Goal

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 01:55:00 +0000

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 by aligning your plan to your actual goal, or vice versa.

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Using the Accountability Triangle When Diagnosing A Failure

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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

But true accountability starts before anything goes wrong. In this episode, we discuss the Accountability Triangle, a mental model for ensuring that your accountability structures are valid and actually usable.

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Career Growth Starts With Improving Your Clarity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 3 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Improving your clarity is the beginning of your journey in engineering leadership. This takes courage and patience, but the investment will benefit everyone you influence, including yourself.

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Tech Lag Over Tech Debt

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 the repayment isn't always a clear-cut investment. Most importantly, the concept of "debt" doesn't as easily take into account the human factors involved.

Tech lag (taking inspiration from jet lag) is about the thrash involved in changing the standard of quality. In this episode, we talk about how this metaphor applies where you normally might think of tech debt.

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Good Negotiation is About Collaborative Problem Solving

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Negotiation is not about getting more of what you want out of another person. Real artful negotiation is about finding alignment, and solving the problems presented at a level of divergence.

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Tools To Deal With Layoff Anxiety

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 3 Jun 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 layoffs occur. In this episode, I give you two principled mental tools to help you deal with layoff anxieties no matter where you are in the picture.

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System Design - Limiting the Responsibilities Of A Given Actor

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 20 May 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Everything around us is primarily governed by some kind of system. The question is, are you designing your systems intentionally, or just letting them emerge? In today's episode, I give you one piece of advice when designing your systems: limit the responsibility of a given actor in the system.

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Focus on Process Orientation for Goal Setting

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 12 May 2023 07:00:00 +0000

If you don't have agency over your goals, how can they help you to begin with?

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 5 May 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 important). It's about finding a problem that you and the person you are sharing feedback with both care about, and working towards a solution.

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Planning is About Creating Clarity, Not Certainty

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 impossible to predict, and the further away from now that you get, the more difficult it becomes to predict at an exponential rate. Focus on creating the best pathways for present decision-making.

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Process is Primarily for Managing Critical Moments

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 things happen in your career. Have a process, even if it feels useless on a standard day.

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Taking Advantage of Hedonic Adaptation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 create lasting habit change and focus on what matters most.

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Weber's Law and Contextual Framing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 3 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 engineers and people leaders, and can help us understand just how deeply humans depend on context to understand the world.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 limited in how you can practically use it in a given circumstance.

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The Pitfall of Control and Antidote of Trust

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

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 increasing control.

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Working Balance - Confronting Reality with Optimism

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we explore the duality between confronting difficult realities while maintaining optimism. Specifically, we discuss a critical question: what does it mean to be optimistic?

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 9 Mar 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 traits and habits of a senior engineer.

In today's episode, we'll add more detail to the commonly recommended skill of "work breakdown." Sometimes this extremely valuable skill is the opposite of what you really need to practice.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 4 Mar 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 traits and habits of a senior engineer.

In this episode, we'll discuss the fact that difficulty does not equate to value, and hazard a guess as to why we can easily confuse this, especially as we begin to grow from junior to senior roles.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

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What Defines a Senior Developer? - Systematically Communicating Value

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 traits and habits of a senior engineer.

In this episode, we'll discuss the importance of systematically communicating value to various audiences.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 traits and habits of a senior engineer.

Feel free to incorporate these into your skill matrices, reviews, or job descriptions - I'd love to hear about it if you do!

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Long Game, Short Game

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 game. But in reality, we need both.

Be aware of leaning too far the opposite direction, and accidentally abandoning the long game entirely.

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The Rate of Change for Change Itself

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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

Eventually, change will level off. We accumulate fewer skills later in our careers, our network of connections might seem to top out, or our salary bumps slow down.

If we know that change tends to follow a logarithmic shape, we can prepare and plan better for the changing rate of change.

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Protecting Flow State - Setting Your Session Feedback And Goal

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 shot at getting into flow by controlling a few simple variables. We talk about two of them in today's episode: Session Feedback and Session Goal.

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Protecting Flow State - Plan Now, Pause Later

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 make the biggest strides and highest achievements.

In this episode we start a conversation about what it takes to protect your flow state.

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Golden Advice - Always Leave Margin For Extra

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 6 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 life and career efforts.

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Your Purpose is A Projection of Your Complex Identity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 2 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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, of your identity.

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Demystifying Purpose by Focusing On Your Purpose For Today

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 and powerful force, but only if you hold it lightly.

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Reframing Deficiencies as Strengths

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 28 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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. Instead, think about how you can best position yourself and that behavior to be valuable instead of a detractor.

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Management Model of Ability and Will Applied to Self

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 development, and explore the boundaries of the model.

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Beginner Confidence

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 more likely to gain you favor than disdain.

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Comparing Cost Curves and Second Order Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 to deliver. But what about after that?

The cost of our decisions is not limited to the short term - usually, a decision has a long term cost curve. Knowing what the cost curve is for any significant investment helps you make better decisions and have clearer anticipation and planning intuition.

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Spectrum of Buy-In For Behavior Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 this spectrum, and when one might help you make better systems for behavior change in your organization.

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Your Learning Investment Portfolio

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 9 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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 what you invest in carefully.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 5 Jan 2023 05:05:00 +0000

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 to be wrong.

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Using Strategy, Tactics, and Operations to Achieve Intentions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 3 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0000

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

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Resolve To Make Important Asks In The New Year

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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 new year, make that a part of your resolutions.

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Complexity As A Depreciating Asset

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Complexity is an asset, but often it depreciates in value over time. Simplification strategies should evaluate what kind of value complexity is providing, and whether that could be replaced or if it doesn't provide sufficient exponential value versus the cost over time.

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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 software stack that empowers them to achieve their goals. To get started building remarkable business applications, visit https://developertea.com/square to learn more and create an account.

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Your Biggest Opportunity is In Your Daily Influence

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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 external observer. If you change that mental model, and view yourself as an active participant with the power to influence others, your perception of opportunity will follow.

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Get Acquainted With What Holds You Back

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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 from going further? In today's episode, we'll do a visualization exercise to help understand the assumptions we make about our own problems and flaws, and why avoidance isn't helping us grow.

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How Ordering Your Events in A Day Can Matter

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 9 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Practical application of psychology can help us understand how to order our days more consciously. In this episode, we talk about priming and regression to the mean, and how they could impact our work as engineers and managers.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 7 Dec 2022 02:05:00 +0000

AI will change your work... But it's time for us to find the path forward.

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Don't Fear AI Taking the Coding Jobs

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 5 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

AI will change your work... But it's time for us to find the path forward.

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Focus On Activities With Asymmetrical Upside

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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

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Misjudging Others Attention On Us

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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 most other times. Both of these are errors in judgment.

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An Outsider Exercise in Gratitude

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 01:05:00 +0000

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 same experiences.

In today's episode, we use a version of an exercise from Julia Galef's excellent book, The Scout Mindset, to help us break out of our status quo thinking and recognize what is in front of us.

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You Know The Right Decision, Now Reduce The Friction

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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 decision, you may be tempted to focus on the "left side" - increasing the energy, gumption, reasoning, or motivation. Instead, focus on the barriers - the friction.

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Using Observational Techniques to Find Your Personal Values

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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 observation as a tool for determining your values, and why those values are not just buzzwords.

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Avoid Defining Success Outside Your Locus of Control

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Focus on what you can control. Create incentives and language and internal narrative that produces the right actions within your locus of control. Avoid attaching your definition of success to things outside of your control.

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The Toxic Laziness of Overwork Culture

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Start With Precise Communication

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 7 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I provide a simple coaching tip on improved communication for software engineers. It's simple: always make precision explicit, and layer context. Start with precision, then create meaning on top.

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The Error of Discounting the Unexpected

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 2 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 of mind, and discount the likelihood of things we don't expect. This may lead us to prepare for expected events without consideration for what we'll do in the face of the unexpected.

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Looking at What Wasn't Done

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 and outcomes - look at the quality of decisions through the lens of information, and wonder: was there a better decision? Was there an option that was nearly as good, but this one was better?

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Success is Born From Luck and Action

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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!

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Build Environments That Produce Habits

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 follow.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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?

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Better Goals - Deriving Values from Personal Investment and Risk Tolerance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Having trouble setting goals? Take a look at a different angle with the guided exercise in today's episode.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 19:15:00 +0000

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, giving us more clarity and purpose.

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Better Goals - Two Guidelines for Better Outcomes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Two guidelines for better goal setting.
First, goals don't stand alone.
Second, ranges often beat arbitrary points.

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5 Powerful Questions To Design Your Time More Effectively

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 5 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 five powerful questions will help you reconfigure your time today.

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Short Term Tactics, Long Term Principles

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 4 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 answer this question, you can start to work towards finding a solution that balances both.

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Revolutionize Your Most Important Meetings with Powerful Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Your best tool is your next question.

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Diffuse and Focused Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Diffuse thinking produces options and draws connections. Focused thinking narrows things down to a specific path.

Use them both, and watch for when they collide.

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Why It's Hard to Do Nothing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 choice. However, if there is no reason to believe one action over another would be better, or action over inaction for that matter - why are we taking action at all?

If we think about our efforts as spending time and energy, we can more adequately understand that inaction may be a valuable skill, rather than a risk.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 and build features at your job. The principles always apply.

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A Way Out of Overwhelm

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Choose one thing. Only one important thing. Do that over and over. That's your way out of overwhelm.

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Understand Position and Interest To Make Better Collaborative Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 9 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 critical - the interest is just as important as the position.

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Future Thinking Is Not Planning For A Single Course of Events

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 5 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 expect it to be. We can think in terms of multiple possible futures, and prepare for most of them. This leads us towards flexibility and adaptabiity.

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Balancing Decision Frames

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Making good decisions is about tuning context. If you can't determine the context that matters, the decision itself is impossible to measure against. All decisions can be framed within a context with other decisions; choosing those decisions in concert is often the best strategy.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 01:20:00 +0000

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 unexpected ways. Tuning in to this adjustment loop can help us use it as a tool, rather than reacting to it.

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Reframing Every Decision As A Tradeoff

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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." This could have the effect of aligning your biases to work in your favor.

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Judging Quality of Decisions Instead of Outcomes in Performance Reviews

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 27 Aug 2022 04:00:00 +0000

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 situation? The outcome may not be desirable every time, even with good decision-making.

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How Feedback Loops Shape Our World

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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Solve Specific Problems by Composing General Solutions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 17:30:00 +0000

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

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Common Excuses for Not Setting Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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

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Better Process to Match Intentions to Actions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 are haphazard and habit-driven. What if we made that outcome explicit, and made our calendars reflect specific processes instead of vague outcomes?

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Change Through the Lens of Adjustment and Maintenance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 more than for change we do expect.

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Built to Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 6 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

The flow of change is inevitable. Are you building with it, or ignoring it in vane?

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Deconstructing Status Meetings

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 3 Aug 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 measuring against.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 leverage you experienced when you first picked up the tools you have, but now your highest leverage activity is focus.

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Lower Cognitive Load - Primary Activities, Modes, and Cues

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Lower cognitive load by looking at your primary activities and modes, and creating cues that help you shortcut to those modes. This importantly gives you a better signal and a spike in cognitive load when something comes up that doesn't match your primary activities and modes.

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Lower Cognitive Load - Limit Everything In Progress

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 limiting work, and everything else, in progress.

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Lower Cognitive Load - Principle of Least Surprise

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 the unexpected effects of surprise on cognitive load, and what you can do about this in your work.

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Applying Systems Thinking for Better Thoughts

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 through a lens of systems-thinking, you are likely to identify opportunities for improvement, even if only as a byproduct of that investigation.

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Outside View or Anecdote? The Right Answer is Both

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 iteration and empiricism. So how can we? Seek the outside view, without abandoning your experience.

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Protect Transparency On Your Team

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 8 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 7 Jul 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 flags that may show up in your meetings, and what kinds of problems these flags may signal.

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Better Meetings: Who Is the Audience?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 popcorn.

What can you do to improve this? Managers and individual contributors can start by focusing on what the goal of the meeting is. If the goal of the meeting is to solve a problem, that's a yellow flag.

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Your Career Growth Doesn't Just Depend On Your Competency

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 their reports, and I can guarantee (from many experiences) this is not only not the case - it's not even the norm.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly

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Two Questions Focused On Unearthing Hidden Information In Yourself

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Sometimes a small question can change the course of your career. It doesn't have to be complicated, and it doesn't have to be detailed. A well placed question might unearth information you didn't realize was in you.

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Asking a Taboo Question

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I give you one question that is considered taboo (for some unknown reason) often in the workplace: What Do You Want? Amazingly, this diverse question is at the root of some of the most important conversations you'll have in your career. You are, after all, a human working with other humans - each with their own unique desires.

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Reframe Play as a Principle

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Play isn't just for kids. In today's episode we'll reframe what play means, and why it's a principle for great work and lifelong learning.

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Interrogating Beliefs and Treasuring Those Who Disagree With You

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 8 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

When you find something that is counterintuitive, it's possible that it will create immense value to whatever problem you are trying to solve. Seek to interrogate your beliefs to build better explanations for what is true, and find those who disagree with you at an intuitive level.

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Two Forks in the Road On the Path Towards Optimization and Productivity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 6 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Productivity is about working towards your goals, and optimization is about sharpening those efforts more directly.

We talk about two forks in the road when you choose the types of optimization you'll deploy in your career and personal life.

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Techniques for People Struggling to Define Their Values

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 1 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Determining your values doesn't have to be an extremely serious or permanent exercise. Start at the simplest place you can, and iterate. Your values are as evolving and changing as you are - keep them held lightly.

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Using Core Tools and Activities for Grounded Productivity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 31 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

If you feel like everything is spinning around you and it's difficult to remain productive, you aren't alone. In this episode we talk about core tools and activities, and why it's so important to spend the majority of your time working in your core.

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Productivity, But Only On Paper

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 25 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Productivity measurements often show nothing of value at all. Today we'll discuss how complexity (or "story") points may actually show exactly the opposite of productivity.

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The Only Productivity Discussion Worth Having

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 23 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Productivity is meaningless without a goal, and no activity is banned from being considered productive.

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Make Room to Expect the Exceptions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 20 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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You Need Better Inputs to improve Your Options

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 18 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Tradeoffs Of Control Optimized To Serve Your Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 11 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 intention.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly

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Scheduling Time To Go The Extra Mile

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 9 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Premortems for Personal Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 4 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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?

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Compare, Carefully

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 2 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Busting False Coupling and Finding Positive Negotiation Positions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Making Space for Intuition in Decision-making

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Blueprint for Better Intermediate Decisionmaking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Finding Perspective On Purpose - Make it Visible, Make it Clear

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we talk about finding perspective and purpose through the lens of two principles and one bonus exercise.

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The Principle of Isolation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Better Report, Better Manager - Reiterate and Reflect for Better Communication

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 framework for doing just that in today's episode.

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Ambiguous Target Decisions and Noise

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 6 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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?

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Better Report, Better Manager - The Assumption of Motivation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 4 Apr 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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 are suboptimal to their goals.

In this episode we talk about the importance of alignment and clarity for those motivations.

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The Big Picture Pyramid

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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!

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Better Report, Better Manager - Two Questions to Find Guidance If You Don't Have A Manager

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Swizec Teller and the Senior Engineering Mindset, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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!

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Swizec Teller and the Senior Engineering Mindset, Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Better Report, Better Manager - One-On-One Frameworks: Focus and Fears

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Better Report, Better Manager - Investing in a Healthier Manager-to-Report Relationship

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Better Report, Better Manager Series: Calibration Conversation - 3 Questions to Ask Your Manager ASAP

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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 getting you aligned with your manager by asking 3 calibration questions.

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No More Status Meetings - A Forcing Function For Better Team Information Flow

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 7 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Two Principles To Improve Your Software Design Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 2 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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!

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Clearly Define What Your Toolset Can't Do

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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When Sense-making and Statistics Collide

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Opportunities of Convergence and the Cost of Divergence

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Viewing Teams Through the Lens of Trust

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Everything we do in our teams is based on trust. Trust, however, is a limited resource. We should spend it wisely.

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3 Habits For Your First 30 Days As A New Engineer On A Team (Corrected Audio)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 15:00:00 +0000

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.

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Your Media, Your Message

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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

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Two Shifts to Change Our Working Mindset from Static to Dynamic

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 8 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Taking Advantage of Uniquely Human Capabilities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 3 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Seek Context to Offset Prediction Errors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 1 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Excessive Cohesion - When We Fill In Gaps to Make Things Make Sense

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Some of My Productivity Mechanisms

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Assimilating Advice - Dealing with Information Overload

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Help, I'm Blocked! Four Common Root Causes for Developers Getting Blocked

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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?

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Julian Gutman, CPO at Patreon, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

We continue our discussion with Julian Gutman about community and culture in today's episode.

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Julian Gutman, CPO at Patreon, Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Today, Julian Gutman, Chief Product Officer at Patreon, joins us to discuss community, culture, and buy-in.

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Purpose Oriented Resolutions, Part Two, and 7 Years of Developer Tea!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 5 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Developing Purpose Oriented Resolutions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 3 Jan 2022 09:00:00 +0000

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.

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Your Only Challenge Is To Focus

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Taking Back Ownership Over Your Priorities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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3 Cognitive Pitfalls of Mental Models

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Using Proactive Decision Tools To Reduce Reactive Decision Error

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Two Perspective-Sharpening Tools For Your New Year's Resolution Making

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Two Tools for Improving Your Closest Relationships

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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

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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One (Fixed Audio)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Input Quadrant - A Tool for Better Retrospectives

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 8 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 6 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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The Focus IS the Work

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 1 Dec 2021 11:00:00 +0000

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 with software business owners already use like tax and bookings. so business owners can have an integrated software stack that empowers them to achieve their goals. To get started building remarkable business applications, visit developer.squareup.com to learn more and create an account.

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Dealing with Inevitable But Unpredictable Events

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Think in Composition

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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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 software stack that empowers them to achieve their goals. To get started building remarkable business applications, visit developer.squareup.com to learn more and create an account.

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Substitute Better Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Focusing On Fundamentals Is Not Repetition, It is Refinement

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 peel back layer after layer, developing intuition.

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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 POS-sible Hackathon here!

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Metamodeling and Steering Systems for Self Improvement

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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When Pressure Turns To Poison

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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Less Confidence, More Bravery

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 8 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

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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. Trajectory is a fully-virtual conference that focuses on the technology, people, and processes that continuously deliver better user experiences and more powerful software. Registration for free today at www.TrajectoryConf.com.

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Habits, Languages, Processes, and Other Behavior Engines

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 2 Nov 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Mindful Job Search: Myths and Psychology of Interviewing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Mindful Job Search: Is it really time for me to quit my job?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

If you've ever felt bad about looking for a job, or you're wondering if now is the right time because a bunch of coworkers or friends are on the move, this episode is for you. We talk about approaching making a career change decision mindfully, and considering how it will affect your internal happiness.

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Can You Really Pick the Right Tool for Every Job?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Pick the right tool for the job.

But who is picking? What tools can they choose from? And what is the actual job, anyway? This advice is important because it gives you a starting framework to answer some of the most important clarifying questions in any task of significance.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Compiler

Compiler is a brand new podcast from RedHat where the hosts answer the most complicated questions about our work. Demystifying the tech industry, one question at a time! Find it wherever you download podcasts, or on the official website.

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A Statistical Case for Iteration Over Perfect Preparation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

You are much more likely to succeed with iteration than you are with a perfect first attempt.

This is purely a function of probability, and is even more supported by the idea of progressive improvement.

When you can iterate, it is a better route to higher confidence of success than perfect preparation.

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Avoid Unnecessary Prediction

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

When you have to predict, you're likely to have error in your prediction. Sometimes that error is easily handled - other times, it can be catastrophic in effect.

The next time you have the urge to predict into the future, ask yourself - what benefit do you gain from predicting this now? Can you avoid unnecessary prediction all together with a different route?

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Give Random a Chance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Random choice may actually be your best bet. At the very least, starting with random is a good exercise in self control, and will help reveal information more easily than intuitive guessing might.

Give random a chance!

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Two Illusions of Agreement

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 7 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

It's easy to believe that everyone you get along with agrees with you about anything and everything.

The truth is harder to confront, but often, this illusion can cause problems - especially when you actually want diverse perspectives.

In this episode, we talk about two types of illusion of agreement, and how you might combat them.

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Limit Your Options By Limiting Your Obligations

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 4 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

The number of things you have to choose to do in a day is constantly being fought over. Your calendar, if it's like most calendars, has very little to do with how you want to spend your time.

Limit your options. Focus on fewer things. Eliminate your obligations.

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Feature Exploitation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

When we understand the features and boundaries of any object, we can do more with that object based on those constraints.

This doesn't just apply to code - it applies to our lives in meaningful ways, and acts as a heuristic and a powerful model for thinking.

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How Averages Can Trick You and Obscure the Truth

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Averages can trick you into thinking a generalized idea about a complex set of data. This kind of compression happens not only with averages but any other process that summarizes information.

Ask yourself: What am I missing in this story?

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Dominik Zane, Founder of Around - Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I have a discussion about product development and counter-intuitive decisions Dom had to make along the way in making Around. This is part two of the interview - make sure you go back and listen to the first part as well!

Note: The previous episode had a glitch in the audio, it is fixed as of September 26, 2021. Thanks for your patience!

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Dominik Zane, Founder of Around - Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I have a discussion about product development and counter-intuitive decisions Dom had to make along the way in making Around.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Retool

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Inner and Outer Layers of Context

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Context is critical, but what does that mean? What are the parts of context you should care about?

In this episode, we talk specifically about temporal context, and how you can think about context in terms of "inner" and "outer" layers.

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Finding the Good in the Negative - Ask, "what do I do about this?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

"What do I do about this?"
This question is one that can trigger action, even in a moment of pain. When we make a clear decision about how we are going to react to our situation, we immediately change the narrative from "this is happening to me" to "this is what I'm choosing to do." This agency is critical to processing and managing difficult situations, and it will change how we relate to our experiences for the better.

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Two Razors for More Efficient Decision-making

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 9 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

If you can make better decisions, every other effort you put forth will benefit.

One common error made when making decisions is overtuning on perfection. In today's episode, we'll talk about two razors that help combat this tendency.

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Use Your Expectations As a Tool

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 6 Sep 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Expectations can cause pain, but they can also be useful. An expectation should be a hypothesis. Where we go wrong is when we mix our expectations with our hopes or fears.

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Flexibility is a Resource to Gather When You Least Need It

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 2 Sep 2021 11:00:00 +0000

Flexibility is not something you conjure in a moment of need. It is something that is developed and gathered like a resource when you least require it.

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Deconstructing Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

There is something almost pseudo-religious about talking about purpose that is easy to get hung up on, especially if you don’t consider yourself a particularly spiritual person. Purpose is often equated with some kind of externally designated path. We often think of purpose as something that is destined or otherwise set out before us. If you have been hesitant or afraid to explore your own purpose, I want you to take some time to explore why.

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Two Variations of Confirmation Bias

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Our brain wants beliefs to stay the same. We don't want to change, and yet progress is dependent on change.

That doesn't mean your beliefs are all wrong if you have had them for some amount of time. But confirmation of pre-existing beliefs can limit your growth and progress as an engineer and as a human being.

Put your beliefs on trial.

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How You Shape Your World With Macro and Micro Stories

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

We see the world through stories. We communicate about the world through stories. So, the stories we tell turn out to be incredibly important to the way we operate in the world.

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Friday Refill: Always Keep Your Tank Full

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

If you wait until your tank is empty, you've created an urgent situation you could have avoided. Keep your tank full, early and often.

This applies to almost everything in our lives, but so often we sacrifice a full tank for some marginal gain. This leads to a scarcity mentality and a lack of flexibility.

What can you do to fill your tank?

The Most Critical Career Mistake You Can Make

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

The most critical career mistake you can make isn't a secret. Are you in control? If you aren't driving your career, who is?

What if the best thing you could do was nothing?

Not indefinitely, of course - but often, we intervene in the world when the right choice is to do nothing.

This is uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar, but might be the most critical change you can make in your thought process.

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Failure is an Opportunity for Responsibility

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

The romance of endless success is a broken picture of reality.

Instead, focus on inviting failure and taking advantage of the opportunity it brings: the opportunity to take responsibility.

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Friday Refill: What Are Your Ideals?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

What are your ideals? For many people, ideals are fragile. The moment we see a hero fall, our own lives are immediately thrown into a state of confusion. Instead of having fragile ideals, we should explore the underlying motivations, and set ourselves up for dynamic ideals that don't break easily.

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4 Questions To Understand Your Long Term Career Trajectory

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Great questions trigger thought and further questions. In this episode, I pose 4 questions (and a bit of homework) to help you get a handle on where your career is headed.

Whether you are in a transition point, at the beginning of your career, or in a senior role, these questions can help point you down the pathway to better understanding and clarity for where you stand today.

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Joel Beasley from Modern CTO, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 9 Aug 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Joel Beasley is the host of Modern CTO, a podcast with guests coming from IBM, Microsoft, Nasa, Reddit, and hundreds of others. Joel and I have wanted to have this discussion for a long time, and we finally found the right overlap to do it!

You can learn more about Modern CTO at https://moderncto.io and listen to this episode in the alternate podcast universe here.

Thanks for joining me on Developer Tea, Joel!

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Friday Refill: Give Tomorrow-You Advice from Today

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 6 Aug 2021 11:00:00 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! Today we talk about fighting the inertia of the daily slide into habits. How many days have seemed to slip through your fingers? One way to combat this is to develop a "meta-behavior" that short-circuits your other habits. Write advice to yourself from today, for tomorrow. This is best done at the end of the day, or in preparation for the week ahead.

Joel Beasley from Modern CTO

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 5 Aug 2021 12:45:00 +0000

You can learn more about Modern CTO at https://moderncto.io and listen to this episode in the alternate podcast universe here.

Thanks for joining me on Developer Tea, Joel!

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Uncomfortable Silence: What If You Do Nothing?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 3 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0000

What if the best thing you could do was nothing?

Not indefinitely, of course - but often, we intervene in the world when the right choice is to do nothing.

This is uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar, but might be the most critical change you can make in your thought process.

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Friday Refill: Imaginary Comparisons

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Comparison is an incredibly important tool. But most of the time, the comparisons we are making are imaginary - even the ones that seem real. In this episode we'll talk about why we should be mindful of this, and in some instances, take measures to debias our decisions.

Implicit Hypotheses

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Are you acting on impulse? How would you know? One door to understanding this "acting without thinking" is to investigate our hypotheses. Implicit hypotheses are expressed as instances of our beliefs. What implicit hypotheses are you relying on today?

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Model Manager - What We Don't Manage

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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

Great managers don't attempt, in vain, to control the actions of others. Great managers take advantage of the unique parts of being a human: that they can self-improve through learning and change, and they can create environments that encourage others to do the same.

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Friday Refill: Waiting and Replaying

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 something exciting, or remembering a positive experience. But what are you missing right now?

Reframing Discipline and Elastic Habits

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Discipline is not about punishment or punctuality. It's about perseverance in the face of changing circumstances.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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

Processes create uniform approaches and uniform outputs. But what is the output you should care about the most? In this episode, we'll discuss why human behavior is the primary and most critical output of any process.

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Friday Refill: Focusing On Mastery Will Not Limit Your Options

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 levels, and picking up skills that are ancillary to that master-set. Don't follow the latest trend - develop mastery.

Compounding Time In Your Favor

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 different types of decisions and actions, and provide a reminder that direction is ultimately the most critical thing to align.

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The Bowl of Mediocrity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 risk, but are also disconnected from the fundamentals of your business or role. In today's episode, I challenge you to work on the edges of this bowl instead of the middle.

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Friday Refill - Stay Mindful During Phases of Execution

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 9 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 broken working process.

It's difficult to stop working and fix the process, and especially difficult to balance fixing process with actually being productive. In this episode, we'll discuss this dichotomy and the practice of staying mindful during execution.

Step One Always Goes On Your Calendar

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 8 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 calendar in as much detail as possible is a proven way to break through the barrier of inaction.

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The Tension Between Purpose and Mindfulness

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 6 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 present moment and plan for the future? We don't have every answer to that question, but we'll discuss the tension on today's episode.

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Friday Refill: Intuition Over Memorization

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 2 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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

Local and Global Rationality

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 1 Jul 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 are arguing from a local rationale. We'll talk about local vs global rationale in this episode and how they apply to your job as an engineer or manager.

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Skill-Building Is Not One Dimensional

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

We intuitively imagine our skills and capabilities to be one-dimensional and permanent. However, what goes into whether we can actually execute on our skills is multi-dimensional. In today's episode, we'll discuss a frame of thinking for capabilities that provides a lens for thinking about constraints and context.

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Balancing Entropy and Focus

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 lives to some extent, we'll never be able to make meaningful progress in a chosen direction. How do we invite luck into our lives without floundering in place endlessly?

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Decision-making Skills: Two Types of Probabilistic Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 drawbacks, and decision-making in the face of uncertainty.

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Using Cognitive Dissonance as a Tool

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Humans are driven to resolve cognitive dissonance as efficiently as possible. We pay little regard to whether our solutions are accurate or correct, but rather we only seek harmony in our minds. Unfortunately this can mean reinforcing unhealthy thought patterns and incorrect beliefs. However, cognitive dissonance can be turned around and used towards positive gains.

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Non-Linear Learning and Progress

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

How does learning happen? In one fell swoop - linear? Or is there another path that learning takes? We pass judgment on ourselves and others, designing our attempts in ways that are suboptimal based on the assumption of linearity.

Almost nothing is truly linear.

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Friday Refill - Clarified Intentions and Flexible Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

If you don't understand the motivations underlying your goals, you will always deal with brittle, high-stakes situations. If you understand your goals through the lens of your deeper human motivations, you will be more able to see the flexibility and many pathways to success.

Too Serious to Succeed

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 9 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 serious you are, the more fun you need to be able to incorporate in your audacious goals. Throw out the continuum - it's a fallacy.

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Make Your Obstacles Irrelevant

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 7 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 do we so often choose a difficult path? Perhaps it is pride, or maybe we like testing our fortitude. But if you care less about proving yourself and more about accomplishing your goals, you need to look at obstacles with more nuance. In this episode, we talk about making your obstacles irrelevant.

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Friday Refill: Growth, Uncomfortability, and the Unknown

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 4 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Growth and comfort rarely mix. But there's more to growth than getting uncomfortable. Different kinds of growth produce different kinds of uncomfortability; which types are you seeking?

Finding Resonance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 2 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0000

What specific components of your situation have an outsized effect on you? What resonates in a given scenario? This mental model will help us understand and come to accept why sometimes things just "click."

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Reframe Your Plateaus

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 31 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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.

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Friday Refill: Your Baseline Determines Your Leverage

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 28 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about how your baseline perceptions and assumptions are the building blocks of your leverage.

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Ethan Kross, Author of Chatter - Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 26 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 and how we can shape them as a helpful tool.

Chatter on Amazon

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Ethan Kross, Author of Chatter - Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 24 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 and how we can shape them as a helpful tool.

Chatter on Amazon

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Friday Refill: Inviting Growth Into Your Regular Schedule

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 21 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Humans have the unique ability to intentionally practice and better ourselves. What makes you grow? Are you inviting those triggers and contexts into your regular schedule? How are you making time for growth?

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Becoming Your Best Coach - Questioning Your Self

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 19 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 journey in this episode.

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Sources of Truth

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 17 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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

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Friday Refill - One Thing at a Time

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 14 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 12 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 and how we make the choices we make. Katy also just released a brand new book, How To Change - be sure to check out both of these incredible resources!

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 10 May 2021 16:30:00 +0000

The previous episode's audio had a bit of a hiccup - this one is fixed. Sorry about that!

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Friday Refill - Seeking a Different Inside View

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 7 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 perspectives.

Detaching to Seek an Outside View

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 5 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Our inside view is made up of invisible, inescapable walls. Can we simulate an outside view?

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Conflating Uniqueness with Value

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 3 May 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Uniqueness is not inherently valuable. Our heuristic brains interpret uniqueness as worth paying attention to and possibly valuable, and for that reason we tend to over-index on protecting that value by resisting things that make us less unique. But this can lead to inefficiency or an inaccurate picture of what actually generates value for your venture.

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Refill Friday - Best Practices and Asking When

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 14:15:00 +0000

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

Welcome Back Ali Spittel - Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 17:20:00 +0000

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 topics around what it means to be a developer advocate! Ali has a passion for making code accessible and fun, and you'll hear that in this episode.

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Welcome Back Ali Spittel - Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 14:15:00 +0000

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Friday Refill - Complexity Inversion (Fixed)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 15:20:00 +0000

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 characterized once and that characterization may never be updated. In this episode we'll talk about this inversion, and how to push back on it.

Friday Refill - Complexity Inversion

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

The Scout Mindset with Julia Galef, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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, seeking truth, and her new book, The Scout Mindset.

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The Scout Mindset with Julia Galef, Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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Introduce Intentional Asymmetry

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Friday refill - happy Friday!

We have a drive to balance everything. Move back towards the middle, maintain status quo. But usually, balance is wasteful and an illusion.

Narrative Complexity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 history gets more and more complex the further away we try to predict. We should be careful with our predictions.

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Changing Work Environments and Availability Bias

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Huge transitions are happening for most people right now. As this occurs, our environments will change. Partially as a result of the availability bias, we'll also see peoples' behaviors and thought patterns will also change. We'll talk about how this bias works in today's episode.

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Friday Refill: Making Limited Work Look Good on a Resumé

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 9 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 value of what you did, so how can you communicate that in a bullet point?

Minding the Observer Effect as We Transition Together

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 8 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

As we transition together through strange periods (whether at large scale like the present moment, or at a smaller scale within your organization or culture), the way we look at each other changes. This observation shift brings behavior change - that's what we're talking about in today's episode.

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Find Your Values in the Dark

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 6 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 compass to find your values.

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Friday Refill: Seek Leverage and Access

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 2 Apr 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 term.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 common occurrence. We talk in depth about designing constraints and opinions into products with the long term in mind.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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Friday Refill - Stop Your Weekend Half-Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 likely not going to improve how we deal with it on Monday, and we degrade our rest and recovery time over the weekend. How do you deal with this? Consciously choose to stop.

Ban the Heroics On Your Team

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Heroes appear when something has gone wrong. What does a team look like with no heroics?

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Two Blessings and Two Curses of Intuition (Corrected)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 important to develop a healthy caution towards intuition, as it can create a brittle framework for thinking. In this episode, we discuss both sides of this.

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Two Blessings and Two Curses of Intuition

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 22 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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Friday Refill: How Patience Pays Off

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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 control what you cannot. In this Friday refill, we'll discuss some of the mechanics of patience and how it relates to other parts of our lives.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Geoff Schmidt joins me to discuss GraphQL, Apollo, and how the responsibilities are shifting and roles are changing to give more leverage and better separation of concerns between client side and service architectures.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 07:00:00 +0000

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Friday Refills - Stop Predicting Your Priorities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 values and planning to make margin for the principles in our lives.

Superpowered Imagination

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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.

✨ Sponsor: Linode

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Biases of Attention

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 8 Mar 2021 11:40:00 +0000

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 skill and a potential pitfall.

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Friday Refill - Divergent and Convergent Meetings

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 5 Mar 2021 15:25:00 +0000

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

Clean Up Your Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 4 Mar 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 principles and what makes you different from others is the hardest part.

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Lego Problems - Modes of Operation on Component-Driven Problems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 1 Mar 2021 13:35:00 +0000

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 your daily problem solving.

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Friday Refill - Anchor Behaviors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 tool I've used to combat this sense of aimlessness.

Quincy Larson, Founder of freeCodeCamp - Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 freeCodeCamp, a non-profit teaching millions of people to code.

In this and the last episode we talk all about what it means to be a beginner.

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Quincy Larson, Founder of freeCodeCamp - Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

In this and the next episode we talk all about what it means to be a beginner.

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Friday Refills - Rest is Not an Optional Luxury

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 living under the illusion that those choices were imposed on you.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 into a post-pandemic world.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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? How can we think about "normal" when so much has changed?

✨ Sponsor: LaunchDarkly

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Self Distancing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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 one important way to reduce negative self-talk and improve decision making.

Mentioned in this episode: Chatter

Design Lead at Basecamp, Jonas Downey - Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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

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Design Lead at Basecamp, Jonas Downey - Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 8 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0000

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

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 5 Feb 2021 08:05:00 +0000

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

But now, we have an overload of information. Our first reaction is to believe we need to know it all to succeed... But we immediately run into a problem: there's vastly more than we can ever handle. So we resort to silly brain tricks to convince ourselves and others that we either know it all, or that most information isn't important.

We can do better.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 3 Feb 2021 08:05:00 +0000

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 about where we will work, and how COVID has changed the question all together.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 1 Feb 2021 08:05:00 +0000

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.

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Friday Refill: Consider an Alternate Story

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 08:05:00 +0000

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 to consider an alternate story.

Paying the Tax for Our Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 08:05:00 +0000

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.

Mentioned: Developer Tea Interview with Gabriel Weinberg (@yegg) - https://developertea.com/episodes/e140196f-6a26-4ff3-8f21-3848e53080ef

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The Downside to Inaction

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 08:05:00 +0000

We underestimate the knowledge we have. (Interestingly, we also *over*-estimate the knowledge we have, just a different type of knowledge.) We also underestimate the knowledge we don't have.

We overestimate the downside to failure, and we underestimate the downside to inaction.

We are afraid of failure, but perhaps we should be more afraid of inaction.

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Friday Refill - Ignore Motivation, Focus On Removing Obstacles

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 09:00:00 +0000

Our first Friday Refill!

Ignore motivation. Remove obstacles.

Motivation is not your fuel. You already have enough motivation. Don’t add more. Focus on removing the small distractions, things that will add resistance. Tilt the scales.

The Bucket Model

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 11:31:25 +0000

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. We'll also talk a little bit about non-linear curves and how they fit into this model.

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The Shape of Work

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 11:47:22 +0000

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 context.

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 11:00:00 +0000

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 logical reasons why believing you are right is easier than questioning yourself.

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Designing Your Skill Portfolio

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 15:00:48 +0000

🌎Design your skills together, as a portfolio.

Portfolios benefit from diversity and risk management. You can think about your skills in the same way.

But skills are more than just a portfolio. They also require an integrated approach; one skill modifies another. Focus on stacking your skills to make your learning and growth much higher leverage.

🔔Today's Sponsor: Red Hat

The Red Hat Developer program brings developers together to learn from each other and create more extraordinary things, faster. Visit https://developers.redhat.com/about to learn more today!

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Optionality Sweet Spot

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 6 Jan 2021 13:07:43 +0000

Today, we talk about options. The word "optionality" typically refers to the amount of flexible agency a person has in a given scenario; not necessarily a discrete number of options, but how much latitude there is in a given decision-making process.

A few thoughts we consider: Are options always good? How often do we think about *all* of our options? Is there a way to trend towards having only good options? And, most importantly, how can we strike the right balance between time invested and optimal choice?

The Dangers of Measuring Side Effects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 4 Jan 2021 10:00:00 +0000

You want to measure what matters. But your measurements might change what matters.

Understanding that anything that is measured might modify behaviors, it's important to then understand what should be targeted. How can we incentivize the right actions that produce the side effects we want, rather than incentivizing direct manipulation of those side effects?

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 20:47:56 +0000

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

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Imagining the End

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 17:28:30 +0000

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 importance of transformation and change, and the ultimate reality of everything: it all ends, at some point. If we want to build better software and lead better lives, we should build with open eyes about the end.

Today, we also celebrate the shutdown of Spec.fm, the podcast network Developer Tea has been a part of for over 5 years!

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Making Things Invisible

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 14:06:12 +0000

🌎 Things slowly fade to invisibility over time.

Our conscious thinking is optimized to remove as much as possible. The more we can accomplish without hard thinking, the easier it is on our brains. As a side effect, much of the reality of our lives becomes invisible to us.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Retool

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The Paradox of Transcendence

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

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, we care less and less about the details, and we care more about the "big picture." Interestingly, if you study individuals with high levels of excellence and experience, they tend to care deeply about the details and notice things others may not. This expansion of the current moment is the paradox of transcendence - only once we care deeply about the present moment, enough to notice the minute details, can we rise above it.

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

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Misusing Exceptions in Code and in Life

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

🌎 Exceptions are Unusual

Exceptions are, by definition, unusual. An exception is something we wouldn't expect - out of the norm. Yet, we often craft much of our behavior around an abundance of perceived exceptions. In this episode, we talk about how this is a problem in code and in life, and a way to look at things differently.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Retool

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Refactor Your Labeling Techniques

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I hope to challenge you to reconsider how you label your world.

🌎 Fix your labels

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 9 Dec 2020 10:15:00 +0000

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 recently released the book, "The Coding Career Handbook".

In this part 2 with Swyx, we focus in on productivity, strategy and tactics of senior vs. junior engineers and what beginning engineers can do to level up in their career.

🌎 Swyx on the Web

Swyx Twitter
Swyx Personal Website
Swyx on GitHub
The Coding Career Handbook
- use code DEVTEA30 at checkout to enjoy 30% off
LearninPublic.org

✨ Sponsor: New Relic

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 7 Dec 2020 10:15:00 +0000

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 recently released the book, "The Coding Career Handbook".

In this part 1 with Swyx, we discuss his background and how he got started in engineering.

🌎 Swyx on the Web

Swyx Twitter
Swyx Personal Website
Swyx on GitHub
The Coding Career Handbook
- use code DEVTEA30 at checkout to enjoy 30% off
LearninPublic.org

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 2 Dec 2020 10:00:00 +0000

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 created some of the most important teaching materials for React developers at epicreact.dev.

In this part 2 with Kent, we talk about building a teaching platform and the importance of giving away most of your knowledge for free.

🌎 Kent on the Web

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

In this part 1 with Kent, we talk about the roots of why Kent cares so much about teaching.

🌎 Kent on the Web

✨ Sponsor: Linode

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Building Products w/ Keith Pitt (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Have you ever thought about building something because you assumed the product already existed?

In this part two of our interview with Keith, we dig into the difference between being a CTO vs. CEO and why Keith chose to be the CTO at Buildkite.

🌎 Keith On The Web

✨ Sponsor: New Relic

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Building Products w/ Keith Pitt (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Have you ever thought about building something because you assumed the product already existed?

In today's episode, we dig into this question with Keith Pitt. Keith is the CTO and co-founder of Buildkite and in this part 1 of our two part interview, we dig into starting Buildkite and Keith's journey in development.

🌎 Keith On The Web

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

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Maintainability w/ Robby Russell (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

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 focus on goals of a team and how to identify areas that need some maintainability focus.

🌎 Robby on the Web

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Maintainability w/ Robby Russell (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

🌎 Robby on the Web

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

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

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

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 interview, we dig into leadership mindset and leading a company during difficult times.

🌎 Venkat on the Web

✨ Sponsor: New Relic

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Make managing and analysis of complex digital architectures work for you. Check them out at NewRelic.com to become a full access user with 100GB per month totally free.

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Leading A Team During Difficult Times w/ Venkat Venkataramani (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 9 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

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 1 of our two part interview, we dig into leadership mindset and leading a company during difficult times.

🌎 Venkat on the Web

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier.

Listeners of Developer Tea can now enjoy $100 in free credit! You can find all the details at linode.com/developertea.

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Exactly How Different Are You From Average?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 6 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

We've been talking about making decisions and in today's episode, we're going to focus on the status quo.

Something happens to each of us when we think about ourselves with relation to other people. We are much more likely to image that we are better than or on par with the average person.

But exactly how do we measure the status quo and how does our assumption effect our decision making?

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

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Think About Invisible Things More Often

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 4 Nov 2020 10:00:00 +0000

What we're talking about in today's episode are the invisible events that happen around you.

Finding clarity and perspective deals with invisibility, and when we say invisibility, we're talking about the events that haven't happened yet.

✨ Sponsor: New Relic

Thank you to New Relic for sponsoring today's episode!

Make managing and analysis of complex digital architectures work for you. Check them out at NewRelic.com to become a full access user with 100GB per month totally free.

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Why It's Harder to Accept That You're Wrong if You Have More Experience

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about what it means to be right about something.

✨ Sponsor: Monday.com

Thanks to Monday.com for supporting the show!

Ever dreamt of building an app that impacts the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people?

Well now is your chance!

Monday.com is an online teamwork platform that just launched a contest to develop apps for the 100,000 teams that use monday.com for their daily work. And the prizes? They’re insane.

With $184,000 in total prizes, they are giving away 3 Teslas, 10 MacBooks, and more!

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Explicitly Choose What You Won't Do

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about things that we choose not to be good at.

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier.

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4 Ways Smart People Make Bad Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

✨ Sponsor: Monday.com

Thanks to Monday.com for supporting the show!

Ever dreamt of building an app that impacts the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people?

Well now is your chance!

Monday.com is an online teamwork platform that just launched a contest to develop apps for the 100,000 teams that use monday.com for their daily work. And the prizes? They’re insane.

With $184,000 in total prizes, they are giving away 3 Teslas, 10 MacBooks, and more!

Check it out at monday.com/DEVTEA

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Leadership & Management w/ Ravs Kaur (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 18:34:24 +0000

On today's episode of Developer Tea we're joined by Ravs Kaur. Ravs is the CTO at Uplevel and in the next two episodes she joins us to talk about leadership and management.

🌎 Ravs on the Web

✨ Sponsor: DeepSource

Thanks to DeepSource for supporting the show!

DeepSource continuously analyzes source code changes using static analysis to find and fix issues categorized as security, performance, anti-patterns and bug-risks. It integrates with GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket and runs analysis on every commit and pull request, discovers and fixes potential issues before they make it to production.

Generally available analyzers: Python, Go and Ruby

Plus it's Free to use for open-source repositories and small teams. Check it out and let them know we sent you: deepsource.io/devtea

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Leadership & Management w/ Ravs Kaur (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea we're joined by Ravs Kaur. Ravs is the CTO at Uplevel and in the next two episodes she joins us to talk about leadership and management.

🌎 Ravs on the Web

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier.

Listeners of Developer Tea can now enjoy $100 in free credit! You can find all the details at linode.com/developertea.

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Elm in Action: Interview w/ Richard Feldman (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 8 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

🌎 Richard On The Web

✨ Sponsor: DeepSource

Thanks to DeepSource for supporting the show!

Generally available analyzers: Python, Go and Ruby

Plus it's Free to use for open-source repositories and small teams. Check it out and let them know we sent you: deepsource.io/devtea

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Elm in Action: Interview w/ Richard Feldman (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 8 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

🌎 Richard On The Web

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier.

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Self Confidence is Accepting Your Weakness

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 5 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0000

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier.

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Interview w/ Michael Kennedy (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 09:00:12 +0000

🌎 Michael On The Web

✨ Sponsor: DeepSource

Thanks to DeepSource for supporting the show!

Generally available analyzers: Python, Go and Ruby

Plust it's Free to use for open-source repositories and small teams. Check it out and let them know we sent you: deepsource.io/devtea

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Interview w/ Michael Kennedy (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 09:00:11 +0000

🌎 Michael On The Web

✨ Sponsor: Linode

Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier.

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Interview w/ David Marquet

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 09:00:22 +0000

🌎 David On The Web

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Give Up Control, On Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 09:00:03 +0000

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Naomi Ceder Interview - 20 Years with Python (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 09:00:08 +0000

🌎 Naomi On the Web

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Naomi Ceder Interview - 20 Years with Python (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 09:00:26 +0000

🌎 Naomi On the Web

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Intention, Action and Result

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 09:00:32 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: imgix

imgix is the API for fast, responsive, optimized images. Your images create complex technical challenges. Our APIs solve them.

Listeners of Developer Tea can enjoy a $300 account creditwhen signing up for a new account!

Get that credit when you visit www.imgix.com/developertea

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Complexity Is A Scarce Resource

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 8 Sep 2020 09:00:12 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: imgix

imgix is the API for fast, responsive, optimized images. Your images create complex technical challenges. Our APIs solve them.

Listeners of Developer Tea can enjoy a $300 account creditwhen signing up for a new account!

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5 Stages Of Relationships With Mistakes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 2 Sep 2020 09:00:19 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: imgix

imgix is the API for fast, responsive, optimized images. Your images create complex technical challenges. Our APIs solve them.

Listeners of Developer Tea can enjoy a $300 account credit when signing up for a new account!

Get that credit when you visit www.imgix.com/developertea

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How Zero Sum and False Dichotomy Thinking is Distorting Your Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 09:00:06 +0000

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Interview w/ Nicole Archambault (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 09:00:31 +0000

🌎 Nicole One The Web

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Interview w/ Nicole Archambault (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 09:00:07 +0000

🌎 Nicole One The Web

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Retool

Build internal tools, remarkably fast. Connect to anything w/ an API. Drag-and-drop React components. Write JS anywhere.

Check them out over at https://retool.com/devtea

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4 Things You Have to Leave Behind as a Beginning Engineer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 09:00:21 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Retool

Build internal tools, remarkably fast. Connect to anything w/ an API. Drag-and-drop React components. Write JS anywhere.

Check them out over at https://retool.com/devtea

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Building Empathy To Focus on Downstream Effects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 09:00:44 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Command Line Heroes

Command Line Heroes is an original podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up.

A new season was released on July 14th, in which Author Clive Thompson joins host Saron Yitbarek to share his insights from over 200 interviews with coders for his latest book.

This 3-episode mini-season will cover: the many paths to a coding career, where coders work, and what coders expect from each other.

Head on over to the podcast platform of your choice to listen and subscribe for free to Command Line Heroes.

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The Unique Advantages of Being a Beginner

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 09:00:19 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Command Line Heroes

Command Line Heroes is an original podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up.

A new season was released on July 14th, in which Author Clive Thompson joins host Saron Yitbarek to share his insights from over 200 interviews with coders for his latest book.

This 3-episode mini-season will cover: the many paths to a coding career, where coders work, and what coders expect from each other.

Head on over to the podcast platform of your choice to listen and subscribe for free to Command Line Heroes.

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Explicit Heuristics and Cheap Tests

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 09:00:05 +0000

Find. Cheap. Tests.

When you face situation with infinite possibilities, it's important to break those options down into easy to digest components.

How can you better validate your direction as early as possible and cheap?

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The Critical Importance of Labels

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 5 Aug 2020 09:00:13 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Command Line Heroes

Command Line Heroes is an original podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up.

A new season was released on July 14th, in which Author Clive Thompson joins host Saron Yitbarek to share his insights from over 200 interviews with coders for his latest book.

This 3-episode mini-season will cover: the many paths to a coding career, where coders work, and what coders expect from each other.

Head on over to the podcast platform of your choice to listen and subscribe for free to Command Line Heroes.

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Using Your Brain Without Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 4 Aug 2020 04:00:11 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the limits of our brain and mind shifting strategies to solve problems faster.

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Interview w/ Aaron Upright (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 09:00:24 +0000

🎧 Part 1

Interview w/ Aaron Upright Part 1

🌎 Aaron on the web

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Command Line Heroes

Command Line Heroes is an original podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up.

A new season was released on July 14th, in which Author Clive Thompson joins host Saron Yitbarek to share his insights from over 200 interviews with coders for his latest book.

This 3-episode mini-season will cover: the many paths to a coding career, where coders work, and what coders expect from each other.

Head on over to the podcast platform of your choice to listen and subscribe for free to Command Line Heroes.

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Interview w/ Aaron Upright

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 09:00:31 +0000

🌎 Aaron on the web

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Are You Really An Exception, Or Are You Inflexible?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 09:00:12 +0000

Can you operate under a different circumstance and best practice when your job changes? Where can you be flexible in your career and where are the exceptions?

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Future Focused Feedback

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 09:00:06 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Command Line Heroes

Command Line Heroes is an original podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up.

A new season releases on July 14th, in which Author Clive Thompson joins host Saron Yitbarek to share his insights from over 200 interviews with coders for his latest book.

This 3-episode mini-season will cover: the many paths to a coding career, where coders work, and what coders expect from each other.

Head on over to the podcast platform of your choice to listen and subscribe for free to Command Line Heroes.

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Stop Pushing Down Your Emotions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 09:00:13 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about the discomfort of silence and stillness, and how to face the quiet part of ourselves.

Can you stay still without any distractions today for 1 minute and just listen to your own thoughts?

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Small Problems and Principled Engineering

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 09:00:09 +0000

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Command Line Heroes

Command Line Heroes is an original podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up.

A new season releases on July 14th, in which Author Clive Thompson joins host Saron Yitbarek to share his insights from over 200 interviews with coders for his latest book.

This 3-episode mini-season will cover: the many paths to a coding career, where coders work, and what coders expect from each other.

Head on over to the podcast platform of your choice to listen and subscribe for free to Command Line Heroes.

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The Stories Your Code Tells

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 8 Jul 2020 09:00:02 +0000

What does your code explain both in the code and outside of it?

In today's episode, we're talking about the reason for making the coding decisions that we choose to make.

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Offensive and Defensive Software Engineering Strategies

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 6 Jul 2020 09:00:06 +0000

In code we are trying to construct, but we often leave out the consumers, machines and co-workers who are using the code we're writing.

How can we think in terms of human realities in our code?

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Whether you’re working on a personal project or managing your enterprise’s infrastructure, Linode has the pricing, support, and scale you need to take your project to the next level. Get started on Linode today with a special $20 credit for listeners of Developer Tea.

Visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code developertea2020

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Your Present is Soon Your Past

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 1 Jul 2020 09:00:02 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about the concept of time. We'll linger on the idea that moments have a timeline: future, present, and past.

How do our moment timelines help us become better developers and coworkers?

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Command Line Heroes

Command Line Heroes is an original podcast from Red Hat about the people who transform technology from the command line up.

A new season releases on July 14th, in which Author Clive Thompson joins host Saron Yitbarek to share his insights from over 200 interviews with coders for his latest book.

This 3-episode mini-season will cover: the many paths to a coding career, where coders work, and what coders expect from each other.

Head on over to the podcast platform of your choice to listen and subscribe for free to Command Line Heroes.

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Rejecting a Duel Identity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 09:00:14 +0000

Just like many of the other distortions that our brains trick us into believing, the idea that we have two selves, good and bad, hides away our complex ego.

In today's episode, we're talking about ego and how to get outside of our self-perception when we make a mistake in order to grow and learn.

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Uncomfortability, the Ultimate Teacher

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 09:00:03 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about an environment of learning that you can create on your own.

How can we create an environment that puts us in a state of discomfort in order to keep us growing?

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Baseline Happiness and Delayed Achievements

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 09:00:14 +0000

If you think about most achievements awarded, they are handed out over a period of time when the dues are paid and effort put in.

In today's episode, we're talking about pictures of achievement and taking a moment to reflect on what it means to live a full and satisfying life as a developer.

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Finding Underlying Motivations to Stay Resilient In Your Career

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 09:00:17 +0000

Aside from the fact that we're making a living being engineers, what is it that keeps us coming back into work every day?

At some point in your career, the initial things that brought you into engineering will shift, and when those things change, what is left?

What keeps you going?

Today, we talk about what motivations drive us and how to keep our motivations relevant when the career changes.

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Strategies for Overcoming Mental Blocks

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 04:00:05 +0000

What do you do when you hit a mental block and don't know how to solve a problem?

Today we'll dig into what we can do about this blocked scenario and how can we better deal with negative emotions that follow.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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What Will You Say When You Don't know?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 09:00:03 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking to early engineers and challenging all new engineers to think about how they will handle the pressure of not knowing the answer to a question asked by a co-worker.

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Wishes, Beliefs, and Knowledge

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 09:00:24 +0000

In this short episode, we're digging into the relationship between our belief and knowledge and how we form our beliefs based on knowledge.

🎟Upcoming Events

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Listener Question from Saul: How Do I Communicate with Non-Technical Decision Makers?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 09:00:07 +0000

In today's episode, we dive into Saul's question by recounting past experience and providing tools to approach this situation at a human level and from your employers expectation.

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How Questions Influence Pathways to Solutions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 09:00:19 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about problems and how we involve questions into our day-to-day tasks as developers.

We'll cover question framing techniques and practices to boost collaboration with your co-workers on problem solving.

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4 Points Of Advice For Brand New Developers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 8 Jun 2020 09:00:04 +0000

As someone who was a self-taught developer, I have an affinity for people eager to become a developer.

In today's episode, we'll offer four different pain points that you're likely to experience in your career and give tips on how to use those moments to continue your growth and develop your skills.

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What Does It Take To Change Your Mind?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Wed, 3 Jun 2020 09:00:12 +0000

Changing our minds on a belief or issue that we stand by is not easy and as humans but is required of us to grow as people and as professionals.

In this episode of Developer Tea, we're walking through three different visualizations to help us better understand and become more comfortable with when and why we decide to change our minds.

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Play, Stakes, and Learning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 1 Jun 2020 09:00:03 +0000

🎟Upcoming Events

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Check them out and reserve your spot at live.jsnation.com

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To You By: HeadSpin

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Check them out at headspin.io

Leveraging Our Emotional Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 May 2020 09:05:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about goals and what we tend to give up in order to reach those goals. We'll cover how to define goals, and how to keep going toward your goals when motivations run thin.

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Mental Models for Finding Balance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about balance as it relates to decision making. We'll dig into two models of thinking that can help us understand the nuance of balance as it relates to daily decisions.

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High Certainty, High Value Defaults

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 May 2020 17:12:00 +0000

A useful default is an action you can take on a regular basis that you expect to provide some level of utility.

In today's episode, we're talking about the fine line between useful default behaviors and when those behaviors can lead you astray and become more of a distraction from an overall goal.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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3 Ways to Be a Better PR Author

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

How can you write a pull request that's productive?

in today's episode, we're talking about how to be a better PR author by offering three guidelines to writing productive pull requests so that PR reviews go quickly and smoothly.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To You By: ZeBrand

ZeBrand helps you launch a product with minimum visual brand design resources without internal designers, costly agencies, or questionable freelancers. This week, they're offering Developer Tea listeners 60% off all marketing assets!

Go c heck them out at https://zebranding.com

🧡 Leave a Review

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4 Ways to Be a Better PR Reviewer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

What does it mean to collaborate as an engineer with other engineers? In today's episode, we're talking about the pull request process and the lack of attention it seems to get from engineers.

In this episode, we'll cover what a PR process is, the players in a PR review and offer four ways to be a better PR reviewer.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To You By: HeadSpin

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What is Code, to Our Evolved Mind?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

How do our brains and our minds perceive code?

In today's episode, we're talking about what code is to our mind vs. our brain?

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Correlation, Causation, Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 May 2020 09:01:00 +0000

When you think correlation and causation you might think of graphs and research. As one data point changes another data point also changes.

In today's episode, we're talking about controlling variables and how to avoid assuming that correlation is causation.

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Context-Dependent Decisions and Linear Heuristic Mental Models

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 12 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

What effect does your value system have on your personal and professional growth?

In today's episode, we're talking about context dependent decision making and how your current state of mind can influence decisions you make on a day-to-day basis and influence our happiness long term.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To You By: HeadSpin

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Productive Self-Sabotage

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

We often don't know about all of the failures that exist, but what causes failure?

The path to success is filled with failures along the way. In today's episode, we're challenging you to take a step into an unknown situation with understanding that you will likely fail and what failure means to your personal and professional growth.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Simple Prioritization Visualization

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're doing a visualization exercise. Grab a piece of paper and pen or pencil and get ready to think about what you did today.

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There Is No, "Way We've Always Done It"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

The average engineer hears this over and over, "question your assumptions." In today's episode, we're identifying assumptions that make based on our behaviors in various situations.

How can we avoid throw away responses like "it's the way we've always done things" when we or our teammates ask the question, "Why?"

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When To Walk Away From (and come back to) A Problem

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000

When do you walk away from a problem to find the solution?

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're answering this question submitted from a listener.

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Default Problem Solving Modes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

What are your default problem solving strategies?

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about the things we do on a regular basis and how our default behaviors shape the way we approach problem solving strategies when faced with a new situation.

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Educative.io

Supercharge your career with interactive, text-based software courses. Visit Educative.io/DeveloperTea to get 10% off.

What Orders Have You Inherited?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

What makes up the orders that we follow?

In today's episode, we're talking about truths about the world based on our pre-determined perceptions. We dig into how our predispositions inform our decision making and shape the way we solve problems as developers.

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Upstream w/ Dan Heath (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we conclude the conversation with Dan Heath, author of a new book , Upstream.

In this part 2 of the interview, Dan talks about quality of leadership and giving more praise to those leaders who solve for disaster before it happens and reduce the need of heroes to save the day when the system breaks.

If you missed part 1 of the interview with Dan, be sure to go back and check that out. in which we kicked off the with Dan, discussing preventative work over reactive work among teams.

🌎Dan Heath On The Web

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Upstream w/ Dan Heath (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we sit down with Dan Heath, author of a new book , Upstream. In this part 1 of the conversation with Dan, we discuss preventative work over reactive work among teams.

🌎Dan Heath On The Web

✍️Mentions & Resources

🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Educative.io

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Protecting Uncertainty

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

At some point our knowledge runs out, but even more perplexing is the ability to look forward in time. In today's episode, we're talking about uncertainty that teams experience and how that uncertainty within a team can be a healthy marker to successful workers.

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Learning Isn't A List of Items Your Can Check Off

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

If you had to define learning to an engineer, you'd probably mention some type of fact memorization and functions to perform a task. In today's episode, we're talking about information gathering and better ways to learn a new skill.

🌪🤗 Tornado Relief Fund

If you have the ability to help the Chattanooga communities hit by a tornado this week they are accepting donations here: https://cfgc.org/tornado-relief-fund/

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Consider Your Cues

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

For the sake of this episode we're calling habits the effort it takes to do something with intuition. In today's episode, we're talking about how to break out of old habits and learn new habits when asked to adapt to change.

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How Little We Really Know

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 04:00:00 +0000

What are some things you don't know about?

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about uncertainty, lack of knowledge, lack of clarity, and pushing past the feeling of guilt when we think about the things we don't know in order to stay mindful of our limitations and outline where we can improve.

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🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Improving Through Bad Ideas and Silly Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Why are bad ideas important and why are silly questions needed? Very likely you've been in a meeting welcoming any question, good or bad.

In today's episode, we're talking about being vulnerable in meetings with your peers and how the person leading the meeting can participate in the discussion by being vulnerable themselves.

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Forcing Functions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the model of forcing functions or the choice that requires us to move in a specific direction.

We'll talk about difference constraints that we can apply to our development or rules that we apply to our work in order to stretch our ability to problem solve and get around tough situations.

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Growth, Uncomfortability, and Deliberate Practice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

What exactly is deliberate practice and how does it apply to intensionally putting yourself in a state of discomfort? That's what we're talking about in today's episode of Developer Tea.

In today's episode, we'll talk about positive stress situations and the choices a developer can make to grow in their career.

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Practical Steps for Reframing Problems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Apr 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about the words we use to describe a problem we're working on. We'll discuss how our words frame problems faced and how we can broaden our ability to effectively communicate a problem to find a solution more quickly.

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Take Advantage of What You Already Have

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

The difference between speed and acceleration is vast. When driving at a consistent speed, you often don't notice how quickly you're going, but when you accelerate, you feel it immediately.

In today's episode, we're talking about the feeling of falling behind when you stop accelerating or learning as quickly as a developer and start to steadily travel down your career. We'll talk about specific scenarios to help focus your growth using the strengths that you've already established when you feel like you're starting to stall out.

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Stress and Tolerance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 09:01:00 +0000

How do you react to stressful situations?

In today's episode we're talking about expectations versus the realities of how we respond to new stress in our daily lives and a concept that could help redirect actions to help you better manage how you respond to and handle stress.

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Architecting Change - Interpolation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Most change we experience in our world is unpredictable and uncontrollable. So if change is happening all around us, constantly, how can we maintain homeostasis?

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about different ways to view change and better accept change that you're not particularly excited about.

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When Do Long-Term Models and Habits Betray You?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

The idea of having long-term mental models and habits that you've built over time is the route to lasting change. However, sometimes our lasting habits can become so ingrained in our day-to-day that they can limit us in personal and professional growth.

In today's episode, we're talking about cases when our habits are standing in our way of growth and what we can do about it.

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The Overreaction Paradox

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

We can't anticipate everything that is going to happen as developers and sometimes we over-prepare for any events that could happen as a developer. In today's episode, we're talking about when overreaction is appropriate and when it can get in the way of a more nimble and simple response.

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Hidden Environment Inputs - Mindful Remote Work

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about coping with remote work and how to be mindful during social distancing. We'll cover the different effects remote work can have on your work and home life and focus on the environmental changes when opting into a remote work environment.

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Interview w/ Carl Yates Perry (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

What is your mindset?

In this second part of our discussion with Carl Yates Perry, we're talking about healthy developer mindsets and how to identify a healthy team mindset and how your team mindset can affect your own growth.

Carl Yates Perry On The Web

Twitter

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Interview w/ Carl Yates Perry - Part 1

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Carl Yates Perry leads Square's developer business but made a few tough career decisions to get there. In today's part 1 of this 2-part conversation with Carl Yates Perry, we're digging into his career trajectory and how he knew when it was time to make the next career change.

Carl Yates Perry On The Web

Twitter

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Flattening the Cost of Change Curve

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're digging into the C2 wiki interview with Bill Venners, which focuses on flattening the cost of change over time so that cost becomes more constant.

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4 Reasons You Will Never Pick the "Right Tool For the Job"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Mar 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Tools are not a solution to a problem, but people are. In today's episode, we're talking about how choosing the right tool for the job can limit us to uncovering a better solution to the problems we're trying to solve.

How can we choose a tool best suited for the operator doing the job?

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Four Questions for the Weekend

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 7 Mar 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Happy Saturday!

In today's episode, we're asking four questions that cause us to pause and reflect in order to answer.

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Breaking Your Own Rules Accelerates Bad Habit Formation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Mar 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Whenever you take action, there will be feedback. Today we're talking about when to break your own rules and solve a problem. There are functional reasons to break rules, but what are the possible long-term repercussions of our decisions and how can we regulate our incentives to break rules better?

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Redefine Your Career Search Rules

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Mar 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Searching for a job is hard for both the people looking for a new job and a company looking for the perfect candidate to fill a position. In today's episode, we're talking about a different way to approach your next job search.

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Functional Autonomy and Finding Meaning in the Small Things Today

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Think about the mundane tasks that you're going through today. In today's episode we're talking about finding joy in even the small things that we do on a daily or weekly basis. How are the small things we do, connected to a larger goal?

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Your Influence is Catalyzed By What is Influencing You

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Studies show strong-willed friends, greatly influence your choices.

In today's episode, we're talking about the experiences and relationships that influence our personal drive and behavior. The things that influence you are the things that teach you, and the people you surround yourself with influence your behaviors and reactions through learned habits.

How does the team you'er on influence your career development?

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Your Time is An Account With An Unknown Balance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 05:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about time as a resource of abundance. We'll cover self-care as an investment, work as something that you can enjoy more consistently and free-time as something you can learn and grow from.

Today's challenge will be to enjoy your life, no matter where you're at.

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Don't Make the Problem Fit the Model

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

A model is not the pure picture of the truth. If we think about road maps as we use them today, they are almost always slightly out of date. In what way can a map be useful as they relate to developers?

In today's episode, we're talking about how we can easily abuse a model by changing a problem to fit a model that a team relies on and the repercussions of broken models in our code and our career as software developers.

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Implicit Models and Processes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

We often hear the term, "process", and this carries a lot of baggage. It's easy to believe that processes are one concept that we apply to something we do. In today's episode, we're talking about implicit processes that we follow without realizing it.

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Measuring Freedom to Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

The freedom we want to create as managers is the freedom to disagree and solve problems towards a goal. In today's episode we're talking about freedom and autonomy among a team and offering different ways managers can provide as much freedom and autonomy as possible to their team.

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Embracing Confusion

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

What does it mean to be confused?

In today's episode, we're talking about confusion and how we manage and learn from points of professional confusion. We'd dig into the perception of confusion in the workplace and offer tips to embrace confusion both in ourselves and with our co-workers.

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Thought Experiment - Rejecting Your Intuitive Solution

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Take a problem that you expect to face - one that you haven't solved yet or taken action on but have an ideal of how you would take action. Today's thought experiment is to imagine rejecting your proposed solution and forced to think of an alternative solution.

What exactly are you solving?

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You Don't Have to Be a Slave to Self-Improvement

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

When we allow surrounding cultures to drive our goals, we fall back to the systems and goals that the people around us have created. Where do our goals come from and how does it make our lives dysfunctional?

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Getting Stacked Value From your Daily Activities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 7 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

The amount of time in a day is the same but the amount of margin you have in your day can vary. In today's episode, we're talking about some heuristics for choosing the best activities for your time and value output.

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Defining Your Reference Points

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

When was the last time you asked a question in a meeting?

Questions are an invitation to collaboration, especially in our jobs as developers. In today's episode we're talking about the questions we've been asked that change the way we think.

This episode will challenge you to be vulnerable and ask more questions for the sake of your code and professional growth.

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Engineering Your Habits Like Interfaces

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Feb 2020 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about the idea of interfaces as some kind of expected way to interact with our code and how to take that frame of mind to our day-to-day lives.

Being explicit about what we need to make our days successful can be rare but it might make sense to imagine each day as it's own function and the outputs that you want for each day. What kind of outputs do you want to happen today and what do you need to make that possible?

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Plans Should Be Functions, Not Documents

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

We expect things to go one way, but often, they go in another way. In today's episode, we're talking about plans and how to stay agile when the plans we make, don't necessarily go the way we expect.

This episode especially applies to timelines that we sign our names to when attempting to accomplish a development goal and how we can developer a better strategy when things don't go the way we're expecting.

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What Are your Fundamentals?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a developer is to overcomplicate whatever you're doing. This comes all the way down to every line of code you write. In today's episode, we're talking about simplicity, complexity and value of our work.

At what point does complexity devalue our code?

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Getting On The Right Level When Solving Problems Collaboratively

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Often as a developer you'll find yourself either too far in the weeds of solving a problem or too far up in the clouds. In today's episode, we're talking about the levels in which we choose to contribute to solving a problem and tips to identifying roles our teammates can play help us solve a problem we're all facing.

How do we solve the relational issues that a team is facing and how can we support each other in solving problems we are faced with?

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Management Anti-Pattern - Detail Abstraction

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

The anti-patterns we are talking about today are details. Who manages the details and when is management getting too involved or not getting involved sooner in the details of a project?

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Management Anti-Patterns - False Homogeneity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Focus is perhaps the one superpower that's common in successful people. In today's episode, we're talking about a management anti-pattern that totally destroys focus and provide a solution to get focus back for you and if you manage a team, for them as well.

This episode is not just for managers of teams but general personal time management.

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Management Anti-Patterns - Implicit Assignment of Responsibility

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

There are so many ways to be wrong as a manager and this week, we're talking about management anti-patterns. One thing we all do is assign responsibility to ourselves and possibly to others around us.

In today's episode, we're talking about our relationship with assigning responsibility.

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Two Biases that Can Affect Your Work and Relationships

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

We carry our minds with us through our careers. Our perceptions of the world around us are based on our biases or predispositions. In today's episode we're talking about models of thinking and how we can identify biases that affect our working habits and relationships.

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You'll Never Have All of the Information

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Today, we're talking about gathering information as part of the developer's job. We'll dive into what it means to use the information we have to translate or create a solution to problems we're solving on a daily basis.

What is the function of the information we're trying to gather and how does this information translate to a usable solution?

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Productivity Isn't About How Much You Get done

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Productivity is an endless hill. How can you increase the output of you or your team as an engineer? In today's episode, we're zooming out to explore how individuals contribute to the productivity of a team as a whole.

What is the least amount of work that's necessary to reach your goal?

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3 Guidelines for Happier Work with Designers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Clarity is hard to find when things are ambiguous.

In today's episode, we're talking about solutions in uncharted territories and coming to conclusions from our own point of view. Specifically, we'll be exploring opportunities to strengthen relationships between designers and developers when our opinions to solutions collide.

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Connecting Tasks to Operating Modes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 9 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

The work that you do and actions you take have outcomes. In today's episode, we're talking about finding better outputs through the actions and effort that we put into our day. What tasks deserve more effort and what tasks don't require as much effort to complete and how can we identify the level of effort an event needs quickly?

Get in touch

If you have questions about today's episode, want to start a conversation about today's topic or just want to let us know if you found this episode valuable I encourage you to join the conversation or start your own on our community platform Spectrum.chat/specfm/developer-tea

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Success and Cumulative Advantage

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

What are the common systems of successful people?

In today's episode, we're talking about the common systems of successful people, and how we could incorporate some of those systems in our daily lives to help us improve our own personal and professional success.

Get in touch

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A Key Misconception About Resolutions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Jan 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year to everyone listening to this show!

In today's episode we're focusing on automating as much of our daily life as we can and one misconception of habit forming and how we can better shape our lives to make habit building easier.

Get in touch

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Holiday Re-Air: Interview w/ Gabriel Weinberg (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Today's guest, Gabriel Weinberg, the CEO of DuckDuckGo uses connections to help steer the company. What we're talking about today with Gabriel are mental models for building a team and business.

In part 2 of this interview, we dive deeper into Gabriel's mental models specifically for engineers. His book, Super Thinking, which we base the discussion on can be found here: Super Thinking.

Get in touch

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Holiday Re-Air: Interview w/ Gabriel Weinberg

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Today's guest, Gabriel Weinberg, the CEO of DuckDuckGo uses connections to help steer the company. What we're talking about today with Gabriel are mental models for building a team and business.

In part 1 of this interview, we dive into Gabriel's recent book, Super Thinking. This is a big book of mental models. Don't miss part two of this interview, airing on Friday, December 27th.

Get in touch

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Simplifying

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

This is the last episode of the 2019 year, and like most people spending time with family and preparing for the upcoming year, we're thinking about goals. In today's episode we're talking about resolutions, planning and focus in the new year.

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What We Do With a Lack of Information

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

What exactly does it mean to forget?

In today's episode we're talking about perspective. Most of what we experience in our day-to-day will eventually be forgotten and there isn't a clear definition of what it means to remember or forget things.

We'll dig into the detail of moments that we forget and those details that cause memories to stick. Understanding how we can make more memorable decisions when designing our code structure and what we can do when we have a lack of code decision information.

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Disagreeing Better, On Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Imagine you're running a team. As a manager, you're setting up the processes and expectations among your team. What are the organizational responsibility, ceremonies and disciplines?

In today's episode, we're talking about setting expectations and specifically how we can plan better for when disagreement happens.

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Two More Guidelines for Better Feedback Loops (Part Three)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Developers tend to create process for themselves and a shared process with a team, but what defines whether or not a process is useful? In today's episode, we're talking about feedback loop processes and the reality of their usefulness.

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Two Guidelines for Better Feedback Loops (Part Two)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Take a moment and imagine three or four days ago. Replay a mundane event, like your commute. Imagine each movement and turn you need to make to arrive where you need to go.

In the last episode we talked about feedback loops and in today's episode, we're talking about how that feedback loop can lead to automatic response systems and how to build better feedback loops that encourage continuous learning.

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Better Feedback Loops (Part One) - Validation and Cycle Time

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

We are embarking on the end of the decade. January 1st, 2020 marks a new decade and this means a lot of people are reflecting on the past decade. Specifically on their own individual improvements.

In today's episode, we're focusing on self-improvement, specifically focusing on the idea of a feedback loop and how we can use them to explicitly change and improve.

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Justifying Feature Work with User Roles and Motivations

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about wasting time on features we hope are useful, but turn out not to be. We can't control for every single variable, so how can we better predict the usefulness of a feature before building it?

How do we justify the work that we do?

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Hypocognition and the Importance of Concepts

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Imagine for a moment that you don't have a concept for what a podcast is.

In today's episode, we're talking about shared concepts and the ideas that come out of a group of people who share the same concepts to meet a common goal. If you couldn't put a name to your experience, how can you communicate it?

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Colliding Titles and Roles

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Dec 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Titles for developers are meant to quickly describe our function we play on a team and allow us to set expectations. Where this can go wrong is when we struggle to understand what a title means.

In today's episode, we're talking about problems that can occur when roles are unclear on a development team and how to solve these common problems.

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Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

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Managing Requests, Making Commitments

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Requests are tied to expectations. In today's episode, we're talking about managing overload of requests and managing expectations so we can focus on our goals and have better working relationships with ourselves and our coworkers.

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The Benefit of Our Predecessors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

If you were born one year earlier, something would likely have changed in your life. In today's episode, we're taking a moment to express a bit of gratitude for the environment that we grew up in, and the people who helped us build our careers today.

What lessons we can learn from the people who developed before us?

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The Illusion of Balancing Priorities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

If a team agrees to a set of goals and values, then our priorities should align, yet it too often falls on individuals to negotiate their priorities with the team. In today's episode we'll ask the question; how do teams decide priorities?

Should we allow individuals to negotiate their priorities or should this fall on the team to determine together what each individual's priority should be in working toward a common goal?

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Commit To Actions, Measure Outcomes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

How do we end up in a place where our responsibilities and commitments outrun our cognitive ability to fulfill them?

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we'll talk about the responsibilities we choose to take on and how to identify commitments that can overwhelm us and discuss a way to take back control of your day and succeed in the commitments we agree to.

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Check Your Leverage

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Your words have power. They can influence the people around you. Your words matter.

In today's episode, we're talking about what our words mean to our fellow team mates and how we can use our words to leverage our influence and provide clarity in what we say to represent ourselves and our fellow co-workers.

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Meetings Can Trick Your Emotions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Meetings are often times the only chance to have a face-to-face conversations with your co-workers and can occasionally end in good feelings that only fade as the week goes on. In today's episode, we're talking about the value of meetings, understanding the work and what needs to be done in order to keep the work moving forward.

How can we avoid the false sense of positivity that can occur after meetings and how can we engage in the right kinds of meetings?

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Preserving Subcultural Language

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Vocabulary is the basis of language and unique cultural meaning. Developers share a common code and have created their own vocabulary and language over time.

In today's episode, we're talking about how sub-cultural language is established at a company level and how that language development can either help or hurt a new employee's experience.

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Different Behaviors with the Same Values - Practicing Modes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Hopefully the last episode about modifier functions and behaviors helped spark and idea of how you might change small behaviors and cascade that into bigger behaviors. Like leaving your phone outside of your room before you go to bed, leading to better sleep and during the day, better focus.

In today's episode, we're taking the ideas of changing small behaviors and zooming out to look at the roles we play in our lives and how we can evaluate the roles we play to lead to positive daily behaviors.

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🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

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How Small Behaviors Cascade into Life-Changing Results

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Context is a big deal in the job of a developer. In today's episode, we're applying a zoomed out model of thinking to everyday behavior to make us better developers, co-workers and leaders.

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Focusing On Improving One Value At A Time

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

If you were to list your values today, it's likely that the list is not simple. There's a lot to understand when we try to explain what we think and our place in the world as we see it.

In today's episode, we're talking about how we can practice our values and stay focused without overanalyzing every detail.

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Tracing Chained Motivations

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

What causes us to do the things we do? In today's episode, we're discussing the complexity of motivations and identifying the chains of motivations in our actions as developers.

How can our chained motivations help us consider the motivations of our co-workers around us and how can we choose better actions to better reinforce positive behavior?

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Productivity In The Face of Ambiguity with Functional Assumptions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Senior engineers will often answer questions by peers starting with, "It Depends." In today's episode, we're talking about getting beyond the "It Depends" answer by challenging us to asking questions as they regard to context.

How can we provide more context and help fellow developers make decisions in the face of uncertainty?

🙏Thank You To Our Sponsor: Vettery

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Ask Better Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Nov 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We've talked a lot about questions on this show. Questions are a powerful tool for developers and our collaboration. In today's episode, we're talking about questions as they lay the path to where our conversations lead us. How can we ask better questions?

🙏Thank You To Our Sponsor: Vettery

Vettery is an online hiring marketplace that's changing the way people hire and get hired. Make a free profile, name your salary, and connect with hiring managers from top employers today.

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Interview with Anil Dash (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Anil is the CEO of Glitch, an activist, writer and host of the podcast, Function. In today's episode, we sit down with Anil to talk about animating motivations, community building and career goals.

##👋Anil On the Web

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🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Interview with Anil Dash (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Anil is the CEO of Glitch. He's an activist, writer and host of the podcast, Function. In today's episode, we sit down with Anil to talk about the origin story of Glitch and the journey to making cool things for and with the developer community and thoughts on the whiteboard interview process.

👋Anil On the Web

🙏Thank you to today's sponsor: Flatiron

Learn UX/UI design flatironschool.com/developertea in 24 weeks and discover our global community on campus or online and go back to school with Flatiron School! flatironschool.com/developertea!

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Seeking a Disconnected Perspective

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Finding perspective is a key component of this show and in today's episode, we're going to explore a visualization of perspective to help us get a more zoomed out perspective for our day-to-day work.

🙏Thank You To Our Sponsor: Vettery

Vettery is an online hiring marketplace that's changing the way people hire and get hired. Make a free profile, name your salary, and connect with hiring managers from top employers today.

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Balancing Accountability and Empathy

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Accountability provides an observable access to the things you're committing to following through on. Whatever your commitment is, having accountability means someone else has some visibility into what you're doing and what you said you would do.

In today's episode, we're talking about effective accountability and accomplishing the things we set out to do and identifying the gaps that cause us to miss the things we set out to do.

🙏Thank You To Our Sponsor: Vettery

Vettery is an online hiring marketplace that's changing the way people hire and get hired. Make a free profile, name your salary, and connect with hiring managers from top employers today.

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Habits of Successful Software Engineers - Multiplying Value by Thinking in Systems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Most of what we do as developers is solve problems. In today's episode, we're talking about the skill of problem solving and working out hard problems in more detail. We'll talk through the nuance difference between multiplying their value and simply adding value.

🙏Thank you to today's sponsor: Flatiron

Learn UX/UI design flatironschool.com/developertea in 24 weeks and discover our global community on campus or online and go back to school with Flatiron School! flatironschool.com/developertea!

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Messages in Object Oriented Programming

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about a misconception that many developers carry about object oriented programming. We'll keep the episode short today but in today's episode we'll talk about object orientated programming as a message.

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Be Present While Thinking on the Past and Future

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

If you're living like the average developer, you have a lot of things coming up. Events, plans and holidays to name a few. We're looking forward based on our calendar and benchmarking what we've done in the past based on what we accomplished according to meetings and events on our calendars.

In today's episode, we're talking about intentionally thinking about the future and reflecting on the past and identify when we're missing out on things happening in the present moment.

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🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Leverage As A Career Heuristic

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

How do you set your goals? In the context of a company and as an individual contributor. In today's episode, we're talking about sustainability as a heuristic to help drive your career growth.

🙏Thank you to today's sponsor: Flatiron

Learn UX/UI design flatironschool.com/developertea in 24 weeks and discover our global community on campus or online and go back to school with Flatiron School! flatironschool.com/developertea!

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Don't Use Transparency As a Weapon

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about a behavior that's gained a lot of traction lately and that's being candid with people. We're going to talk about why this can be counter productive as a developer and how we can practice a transparent work culture in a more healthy way.

🙏 Today's episode is sponsored by Bluemedora.

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Steps to Become a Terrible Developer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What does it mean to be a bad developer? In today's episode, we'll focus on the actions that won't get you fired but while continuing to keep your job these are actions that will stunt your career growth and personal development.

🙏 Today's episode is sponsored by Bluemedora.

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The Ocean of Choice Between Can and Will

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Understanding the difference between can do and will do, might be the key to understanding the affordance of possibilities especially when it comes to development decisions and what a user will chose to do because of that choice.

🙏 Today's episode is sponsored by Bluemedora.

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Priming Effects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Today, we're talking about priming. Specifically in this episode we'll cover our reactions and responses to the things that happen to us on a day-to-day basis. The subtle cues that we take from our environment and how we act in relation to our careers and career growth.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: GitPrime

Our sponsor GitPrime published a free book - 20 Patterns to Watch for Engineering Teams - based data from thousands of enterprise engineering teams. It’s an excellent field guide to help debug your development with data.

Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Dealing With Overwhelm

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 3 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Life gets overwhelming. In today's episode we'll talk about facing overwhelm and how can we focus on the things that matter the most and avoid crippling our progress when we're overwhelmed.

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🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Admitting When You Don't Know

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

A lot of bad advice is given on ways to manage being in a bad interview as the interviewee. In this environment the interviewer is waiting for you to fail or talk about a time when you failed and how you respond to that question as an interviewee.

In today's episode we're going to talk about how to handle bad interviews in a positive way.

🙏 Today's episode is sponsored by Bluemedora.

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From Explicit to Implicit: When Our Mental Energy is Wasted

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 28 Sep 2019 12:30:00 +0000

In today's episode we talk about moving some wasteful processes and systems from explicit to implicit.

Today's episode is sponsored by Bluemedora.

Upgrade your monitoring platform with BindPlane and unlock insights from all your on-prem, hybrid-cloud, and multi-cloud technologies. Get started today at Bluemedora.com/tea

Implicit to Explicit: Management Systems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In our last episode we talked about taking implicit or automatic processes and making them more explicit, bringing them to a slower thought process. If you're a manager at a company, this episode is for you. Today we're digging into implicit and explicit management systems.

We'll cover some systems that you can effect and how they can create a more positive working experience for you as a manager and your team.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: Stackbit

Stackbit lets you build and deploy a full JAMstack site, with an SSG and headless CMS in just a few clicks. You can already choose from about a dozen prebuilt themes for Hugo, Jekyll and Gatsby and connect to Forestry, NetlifyCMS, DatoCMS or Contentful.

Check it out and give it a spin by using our link: stackbit.com/developertea. Feel the magic, and let us know what you think.

Implicit to Explicit: Perception and Emotions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In our last episode we talked about taking implicit or automatic processes and making them more explicit, bringing them to a slower thought process. In today's episode we're digging into our emotions.

We'll cover the influence our emotions have in our daily lives and specific ways that we can have a positive influence on our own emotions and understanding why those emotions are happening and offer some tips on how we can manage any negative or intense emotions.

🙏This episode is sponsored by Barclays.

Barclays is hiring! At Barclays, developers are always developing. Find your next role at https://home.barclays/developers today.

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Moving Implicit Systems to Be More Explicit

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Auto-pilot systems that we use to help us make decisions can be incredibly useful and in the worst of times these can take away from our ultimate goals. In today's episode, we're sharing two things that you can do to take implicit systems that you care about and make them explicit.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Progress by Habit, Perception by Exception

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the relationship between our perception of habits and how those effect the outlook on our careers. How does our baseline behavior effect the outcome of our exceptional life and career events?

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P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Product Mindset w/ Jessica Hall (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode we're joined by Jessica Hall, Co-Author of the book Product Mindsetand in this part two of our two part interview with Jessica we dive deeper into the product mindset and talk about things to look for in order to progress to the next chapter of a career in product development.

Jessica On The Web

🙏 This episode is sponsored by Barclays.

Barclays is hiring! At Barclays, developers are always developing. Find your next role at https://home.barclays/developers today.

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Product Mindset w/ Jessica Hall (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode we're joined by Jessica Hall, Co-Author of the book Product Mindsetand in this part one of our two part interview with Jessica we talk about the career things she's most interested in right now and the three things that distinguish the folks she works with.

Jessica On The Web

🙏 This episode is sponsored by Barclays.

Barclays is hiring! At Barclays, developers are always developing. Find your next role at https://home.barclays/developers today.

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How To Be A Bad Manager

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about bad managers but instead of outlining the things to avoid as a manager, we are looking at the things we want to do in order to become a bad manager and uncover the "why" behind bad manager's behaviors.

This episode is sponsored by Barclays.

Barclays is hiring! At Barclays, developers are always developing. Find your next role at https://home.barclays/developers today.

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Imagining a Clearer Reality

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Sep 2019 13:45:00 +0000

Today, we discuss the difficulty of imagining an alternate reality, and how that affects our decision making for the future.

This episode is sponsored by Barclays.

Barclays is hiring! At Barclays, developers are always developing. Find your next role at https://home.barclays/developers today.

Digging Up Your Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Sep 2019 14:34:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the difficulty of finding your personal purpose, and the tension we can all feel when we can't put our finger on our purpose.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

The Nuances of Behavior and Research

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about behavior changes. Specifically motivations and how tricky it is to find the things we need to accomplish the goals we're focused on.

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Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Advice I Would Have Rejected Ten Years Ago

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 3 Sep 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We can all expect to change daily, monthly and yearly. In today's episode, we're going through an exercise to identify changes we've experienced in our lives to identify how far we've come and where we're headed.

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Your Purpose is Not a Point in the Future

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

One of the most common topics for this show is the topic of finding purpose as a driven developer. In today's episode, we're talking about a different way to find purpose for yourself in the form of happiness.

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Listen To This In You're Feeling Stuck

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

The feeling of being stuck is hard and emotionally draining. In today's episode, we're providing strategies to help you get unstuck when you find yourself in it and offering tools when you're in the middle of being stuck.

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Improve Your Team by Rejecting These Bad Assumptions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We talk a lot about setting ourselves up for personal success. In today's episode, we're focusing on the philosophies of self-improvements as they would relate to working on a team.

How can we create better habits as a development team?

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Using Pre-Mortems to Find the Opposition to Our Focus

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about why we lose focus and how we can get back into a focus state when it's lost.

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Taking Advantage of Your Time as a Student

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about taking advantage of unique positions we are put in as a developer to learn and grown. If you're a student heading back to school, or going through a life change, this episode is for you!

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Beating Boredom in Your Career

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about boredom. We can't avoid it in our day-to-day but we can provide ways to address boredom when it occurs.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Short Term Decisions, Long Term Mindset

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

The most valuable decisions you make are the ones that last, but most of the decisions we make as a developer are small day-to-day. In today's episode we're talking about how we can bring long-term thinking into our everyday life as a developer.

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Beating Dogma And Choosing The Right Tools

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about being highly opinionated as a developer. We'll talk about resolving opinion differences between developers in a positive way.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Reaping Rewards by Expecting Success

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about success and what it has to do with motivation, learning and at least a little bit of success amongst the failure we may also be experiencing.

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Going Beyond Simply Fixing Failures

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 9 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Most of the developers listening to this episode are responsible for your own learning efforts and career growth. Very often you hear stories about how to be or act like a superstar programmer.

In today's episode, we're going to talk about how to become a better programmer through improvement.

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

How to Engineer More Epiphany Moments in Your Day-to-Day

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Whether you're in a contributing role or you're a leader, you run into idea blocks. The moments when you get moments of epiphany can be rare. In today's episode, we're talking about understanding what we need to have in order to unlock those epiphany moments.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

3x3 - Misconceptions About Senior Engineers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What exactly does it mean to be a senior engineer? In today's episode we're talking about three misconceptions about what it means to be a senior engineer.

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3x3 - Relating Better With Difficult Coworkers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's 3x3 episode we're talking about three different strategies when dealing with difficult coworkers better.

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3x3 - Uncovering Hidden Information

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about uncovering hidden information using three different techniques.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: GitPrime

They're hosting a panel on August 1st where you can hear from Erica Stanley, Lara Hogan, and Matt Greenberg as they discuss various approaches to facilitating growth in software engineering teams.

Reserve your seat over at webinar.gitprime.com

Belief Substitution

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about why we believe and hold our beliefs so strongly. We'll talk about our reasoning behind the complexities of our beliefs and try to break those down into more manageable questions.

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Career Decisions and Penalty Kicks

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the intensity of being faced with prediction when making a complex calculation and make decisions. Many of these decisions we make while other people are watching us.

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How to Affect Organizational Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Pretty much everything we do as developers affects change.

In today's episode, we're talking about the hardest types of change. The types that require buy-in and collaboration and how to approach affecting organizational change at your company as a developer.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: GitPrime

They're hosting a panel on August 1st where you can hear from Erica Stanley, Lara Hogan, and Matt Greenberg as they discuss various approaches to facilitating growth in software engineering teams.

Reserve your seat over at webinar.gitprime.com

Every Decision is an Opportunity Tradeoff

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Take a moment and think back on the last 24 hours. What did you give up and what are you giving up to listen to this podcast episode? In today's episode, we're talking about opportunity fear, specifically the fear of opportunity cost.

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✨Become a Sponsor

If you'd like to support the show and send a message to the community, get in touch by emailing sponsors@spec.fm

The Dangerous Characteristics of 10x Engineers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're uncovering core features of the 10x engineer stereotype and why this could be viewed as unhealthy.

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

You're Not So Important - Why Our Ego Drives Anxiety in the Workspace

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Much of our careers are based on relationships and shaped by the decisions we make with the people around us. It makes sense, that if we're shaping our careers with the people around us that we care what those people think.

In today's episode, we're talking about making better decisions with the opinions of the people around you.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Finding Beginner's Luck Again

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What is the reason for beginner's luck and how can we figure out how to have beginner's luck when we're no longer beginners? That's what we're talking about on today's episode of Developer Tea.

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Part 3: An Elegant Puzzle Book Discussion w/ Will Larson

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode ,we release part 1 of a three part interview with Will Larson. Will is an engineering manager at Stripe, and he recently published a book titled, An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management.

In this part 3, we discuss focus and how Will built depth in your career journey.

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Part 2: An Elegant Puzzle Book Discussion w/ Will Larson

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In this part 2, we dig into common patterns that help us create a fair evaluation system.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Part 1: An Elegant Puzzle Book Discussion w/ Will Larson

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 5 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In this part 1, we dig into why Will chose that title and about his developer journey.

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What You Feed Will Grow

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We all experience the experience where we try to take on too many goals. In today's episode, we're working on prioritizing and different ways we can act on those priorities.

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Deploy a server in the Linode cloud in minutes. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Mid-Year Resolutions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Jul 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What do you want your life to look like in the next five years? In today's episode, we're reflecting on the year to date and looking forward to the rest of the year ahead. We'll work on a mental practice to motivate you as a positive outcome and build strategies for when you're faced with challenges along the way to accomplishing your goal.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: GitPrime

Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

How Do I Choose a Starting Point for Best Practice?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 14:00:00 +0000

There isn't a simple answer to starting your best practice foundation for yourself and your team. That's what we're talking about in today's episode of Developer Tea. We'll use the topic of budgeting to explore the subject of best practices.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

Discover.bot – a digital space for bot developers and enthusiasts of all skill levels to learn from one another, share stories, and move the bot conversation forward. Want to learn more about building bots? Get started with their Guide to Bot Building Frameworks

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Reversing Adversarial Dynamics in Interviews

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about the things we often misunderstand during performance reviews, 1:1s and in job interviews. We'll talk about how to identify and transform adversarial questions to your advantage.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: Sentry

Sentry tells you about errors in your code before your customers have a chance to encounter them.

Not only do we tell you about them, we also give you all the details you’ll need to be able to fix them. You’ll see exactly how many users have been impacted by a bug, the stack trace, the commit that the error was released as part of, the engineer who wrote the line of code that is currently busted, and a lot more.

Give it a try for yourself at Sentry.io

Accelerate Your Career with Pattern Matching

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Mentally walk through your house and count the sinks you have. In today's episode we're talking about patterns and rules that we can use to generate an output. How can we take advantage of these patterns as developers?

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Individual Contributor Career Growth w/ Matt Klein (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What does a long career as an individual contributor look like? The answer isn't always clear cut, especially if you're given the option of becoming a manager. Today, we'll talk to Matt Klein about how to stay an engineer in part two of our interview with Matt.

Matt on the Web

Matt is on the engineering team at Lyft and one of the main contributors to the open source project, Envoy.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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Individual Contributor Career Growth w/ Matt Klein (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What does a long career as an individual contributor look like? The answer isn't always clear cut, especially if you're given the option of becoming a manager. Today, we'll talk to Matt Klein about how he approaches this in part 1 of our two part interview.

Matt on the Web

Matt is on the engineering team at Lyft and one of the main contributors to the open source project, Envoy.

Get in touch

🧡 Leave a Review

If you're enjoying the show and want to support the content head over to iTunes and leave a review! It helps other developers discover the show and keep us focused on what matters to you.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: Sentry

Sentry tells you about errors in your code before your customers have a chance to encounter them.

Give it a try for yourself at Sentry.io

The Connection Between Imagination, Confidence and Performance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

How do you see yourself and what do you expect from yourself? In today's episode we're talking about perceptions and expectations of ourselves. So much of our motivation is impacted by how we and those around us perceive ourselves.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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How Can Two Rational People Disagree?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're taking a different frame of reference. We're going to assume that you've found a way to get something that you want, but then we'll dig into that next step, finding your boundaries.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: Sentry

Sentry tells you about errors in your code before your customers have a chance to encounter them.

Give it a try for yourself at Sentry.io

Test Driven Meetings - Measuring Outputs and Side Effects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're revisiting the meaning of meetings and how they can support engineering and tips to avoid meetings that don't align with the support of your engineering work.

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🙏 Thanks to today's sponsor: GitPrime

Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

3 Assumptions That Can Hurt Your Job Search

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Jun 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Most of us don't have formal training when looking for a job. In today's episode we're looking at job searching from a different perspective and uncover three assumptions that we make about the job search, that can actually hurt our job search.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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Mental Models w/ Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 31 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Today's guest, Gabriel Weinberg, the CEO of DuckDuckGo uses connections to help steer the company. What we're talking about today with Gabriel are mental models for building a team and business.

In part 2 of this interview, we dive deeper into Gabriel's mental models specifically for engineers. His book, Super Thinking, which we base the discussion on can be found here: Super Thinking.

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Go to GitPrime.com/20Patterns to download the book and get a printed copy mailed to you - for free. Check it out at GitPrime.com/20Patterns.

Mental Models w/ Gabriel Weinberg (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Today's guest, Gabriel Weinberg, the CEO of DuckDuckGo uses connections to help steer the company. What we're talking about today with Gabriel are mental models for building a team and business.

In part 1 of this interview, we dive into Gabriel's recent book, Super Thinking. This is a big book of mental models. Don't miss part two of this interview, airing on Friday, May 31st.

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Great Code is Marked by Flexibility

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Good software is determined by context. In today's episode, I want to give you a heuristic that is broadly associated with successful software development.

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Crafting Your Work By Your Strengths

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We all have a lot to learn and we all have shortcomings. In today's episode, we're looking at self improvement as a progressive path in your career and your life.

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Make Your Problems Smaller

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're looking at a way to make your problems easier to solve by breaking them down into smaller parts.

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Three Things I Wish I Learned Earlier in My Career As A Software Developer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

As a developer we never stop learning, but there are some "I wish I knew" moments that we can share to help up-and-coming developers level up, faster. In today's episode we're sharing three things I wished I'd learned earlier in my career as a software developer.

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

Instantly deploy and manage an SSD server in the Linode Cloud. Get a server running in seconds with your choice of Linux distro, resources, and node location. Developer Tea listeners can get a $20 credit and try it out for free when you visit: linode.com/developertea and use promo code: developertea2019

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

3 Red Flags that You're Heading for Burnout

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Burnout is a real effect and in today's episode we'll dispel the myths of being burned out and talk three ways to watch out for burnout in yourself and in your peers.

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3 Principles for Your Job Search

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

How can you think about job searching differently? Today, we're talking about three principles you can keep in mind to be a smarter job hunter.

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Mental Simulations - Information (A)Symmetry

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

When we're given a choice to make the first thing we do is try to create the candidates, options and places we can go. We try to judge these options immediately. Sometimes we create false options to push us toward the one we think is right.

In today's episode we're talking about different ways we can uncover new options that you didn't think existed to make more informed decisions.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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Mental Simulations - Persona Perspectives

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

There are moments in our lives when our mental awareness can drastically change a decision we make and sometimes those decisions have major impacts on our lives. In today's episode we're talking about mental clarity through simulations.

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Metal Simulations - Artificial Constraints

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Stop and think about a problem or issue you're facing right now in life or work. In today's episode of Developer Tea we're talking about clarity and its inevitable shift as we go forward in life. To maintain our sanity we've constructed a lot of stories or framework to drive our decision making.

In today's episode we're talking about the artificial constructs we use to control our decisions made and change our futures.

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The Fear : Value Connection

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What do you value? Values aren't always easy to find. In today's episode, we talk about using the lens of fear to understand our values better.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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What Kind of Decisions Are You Optimizing For?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Incentives shape our decisions and we need to be thinking about the way we're positively or negatively incentivizing and how those things shape the decisions around us, including our own.

In today's episode we break down the kinds of decisions we optimize for and what motivates us.

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Contingencies and Planning for Failure

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 May 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We're going to talk about preparing for failure in today's episode and provide perspective on what it means to fail and what to look out for as opposed to avoid failure.

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Three Career-Changing Perspective Shifts When Preparing to Start A New Job

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

One of the scariest things we can encounter is starting new jobs. In today's episode, we're talking about alternative perspectives to your first 30, 60 and 90 days at a new job.

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Uncovering Your Unconscious With Flagged Behaviors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're looking at ways to see unconscious decisions as they occur and potentially choose a better way that may benefit us in the future.

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Meetings - Good, Bad, Or Just Complex?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

There seems to be a war on unnecessary meetings. In today's episode we're talking about how to call, make and maintain productive meetings.

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Modeling Decisions as Dynamic Functions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

As a developer, part of your job is estimating risk and value. In today's episode we're talking changing our risk and value evaluations from a static process to a functional process.

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Thinking in Bets w/ Annie Duke (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we talk to Annie Duke about the decisions we make like bets. Annie is a former professional poker player and today she focuses on consulting to help people make better decisions throughout their life.

In this part 2 we dig into different way to approach thinking in bets. If you missed part 1 of this episode check it out here: https://spec.fm/podcasts/developer-tea/292556.

Annie on the Web

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Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

Thinking in Bets w/ Annie Duke (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In part 1 we talk about where her interest in decision making came from and in part 2 we'll dig into way to approach thinking in bets.

Annie on the Web

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Uncovering Deeper Motivations and Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Everyone has goals, whether we've stated them or not, and we all carry values for ourselves whether we state them or not. In today's episode we're exploring the idea of goals and the drive for continuity.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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Ambiguous Goals, Concrete Actions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about how you can survive the map of progress toward goals and stay motivated when those career goals don't turn out the way you're expecting.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Focusing Career Progress

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We've talked about long-term vision in past episodes, and in today's episode we're talking about habit forming and constant progress and bringing those together into focus.

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Fail Mode

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Imagine for a moment that you are a hiring manager who needs to determine who is a good addition to a team of developers. You need to make a judgement call. That's what we're talking about in today's episode of Developer Tea. In today's episode we're talking about track-records of failures and how that maps to your progress today.

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Feedback Shouldn't Be Scary

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about why we feel fear during some feedback sessions and how we as employees can facilitate healthier feedback sessions.

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Mental Accounting

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Apr 2019 09:00:00 +0000

It's the beginning of April and for many folks, this will be a fresh start, especially if you run an accounting department. Many things are measured in quarters and most influence or story has been written, but when the next quarter is beginning we have the ability to write a new story for ourselves and our teams.

In today's episode, we're talking about making the most of our fresh start.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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Headroom

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the feeling of safety and the idea of headroom. We'll talk about why it's important for us to have some padding in our careers and personal lives so we can work more creatively and less urgently.

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Seek to Understand Rather than Persuade Others Perspectives

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In the past, we've done exercises that focus on us as the person who is at the center of the story but today's exercise is going to focus less on you as a person and what you want and more on your vantage point, what you see and perceive. In today's episode, we want you to think about this moment in time.

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Bonus Episode - Soft Skills Engineering Meets Developer Tea

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Today is a special episode of Developer Tea, we're airing an episode in which Jonathan was interviewed by the folks at Soft Skills Engineering podcast. We talk about looking for a job when you already have a job and so much more with Dave and Jameson.

Soft Skills Engineering on the Web

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Habits and Replacement Behaviors for Interrupting Triggers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

What is the one thing you do automatically that you wish you could change? In today's episode, we're talking about different ways we can intervene in our bad behaviors and modify them in a healthy way.

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Interview w/ Ali Spittel (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We all have different experiences coming into development, and today we talk with Ali Spittel, a software engineer at Dev.to, Director at Women Who Code - DC and lead instructor at General Assembly.

In part 2 of our interview with Ali we cover what Ali's working on now and things she wishes people would ask her more about.

Ali on the Web

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Interview w/ Ali Spittel (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We all have different experiences coming into development, and today we talk with Ali Spittel, a software engineer at Dev.to, Director at Women Who Code - DC and lead instructor at General Assembly.

In part 1 of our interview with Ali we dive into her work at Dev.to and how she got into teaching.

Ali on the Web

Ali on twitter

Ali's website

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Witness Protection Program

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about trusting yourself to know what you want on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. This episode will challenge you to trust yourself when you get feedback to make a confident decision that builds on your personal growth and development.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Habits of Successful Software Engineers - Getting to Code Quickly and Model Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about two habits that successful software engineers employ when facing a problem. Not just any problem but problems encountered as a team.

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Habits of Successful Software Engineers - Clarity, Brevity and Context

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 9 Mar 2019 10:00:00 +0000

What do you do as a developer? This question may seem obvious but does any single sentence capture everything we do in our work? In today's episode, we're talking about coding being the output of our work and what that means when considering the habits that keep us successful.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Interview w/ Bryan Helmig - CTO at Zapier (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Mar 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Every company has its own unique challenges. In today's episode, we continue the conversation with CTO and co-founder of Zapier, Bryan Helmig about the different challenges he faced when starting Zapier and the challenges he's facing today. Part 1 released on Monday.

Bryan on the Web

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Interview w/ Bryan Helmig - CTO at Zapier (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Mar 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Every company has its own unique challenges. In today's episode, we talk with CTO and co-founder of Zapier, Bryan Helmig about the different challenges he faced when starting Zapier and the challenges he's facing today. Stay tuned for Part 2, coming out on Wednesday.

Bryan on the Web

Bryan on twitter

Bryan's website

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Habits of Successful Software Engineers - Seeking Feedback

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Mar 2019 10:00:00 +0000

There's more to being a developer and person than constantly seeking a single purpose. In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking consistent action that improves our goals and systems that we use on a day-to-day basis and challenges our thinking.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Stress Response and Anger as a Secondary Emotion

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about response tactics to stressful situations as we experience them in our day-to-day work environment.

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Problem Solving Intuitions - Additive, Subtractive and Reorganizational Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Take a moment to imagine a problem that you're currently facing. Take a minute to think about ways that you might solve this problem. In today's episode, we're going to take a minute to think about ways to solve the different problems we're faced with on a day-to-day basis and give a framework for problem-solving.

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Starting Your Work Day with Autonomy

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

One of the most valuable things you've got is the first part of your working day. In today's episode, we're talking about the best use of those first hours in your day and taking advantage of the analytical part of your brain.

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Making Decisions - Fighting Fear and Time Warping

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

One of the barriers to connecting with your career purpose is fear. In today's episode, we're going to talk about working toward your goals knowing that fear will be there with you.

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How We Construct Software, Part 4b: Code and Communication

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we dive into the rest of the communication model we started discussing in the previous episode in this series.

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How We Construct Software, Part 4a: Code and Communication

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 14:15:00 +0000

In part four of our discussion on how we construct software, we're discussing a theory of communication, and how it applies to code. This is a two-part episode (A and B) - subscribe so you don't miss the second half!

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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How We Construct Software - Part Three (Decision Variance)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Giving someone a broad software problem is a little like asking them to plant a tree. In today's episode, we talk about how different mental effects can cause variance in decision-making for complex and compound decisions.

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How We Construct Software - Part Two (Beliefs and Models)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're going to talk a little bit about belief. Often this word is used and abused as something more than it is. In today's episode we're going to reinvigorate your appreciation for the word blief and hopefully, encourage you to use the concept of beliefs when constructing software.

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How We Construct Software - Part 1 (Substitute Questions)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In this special series on Developer Tea we're talking about the different ways that software information flows, and how that informs our decisions when constructing our software

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Beating Procrastination

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

The things that seem to cause procrastination is value. Either in the outcome of the work or in the future state getting in the way of the tasks at hand. That's what we're talking about in today's episode of Developer Tea. We'll talk about different ways to fight against procrastination and keep you focused.

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Poisoning Retrospectives With Hindsight Bias

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

We recommend structured retrospectives. Identify things that went well and things that didn't go so well during a project or given week. Today, we're going to talk about recognizing our own faults when we look back on a project and how to truly get to actional insight.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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When Best Practices Backfire - The Peltzman Effect

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

We write tests for our code because it gives us another angle to understand the code and ends up being more efficient for most types of projects. It also has an effect on the way we actually write the software, but there can be a backfire of having tests and rules. That's what we're talking about in today's episode of Developer Tea.

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Replace Your Implicit Questions to Break Out of Incrementalism

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about a different kind of change. Instead of updating beliefs incrementally we're going to look at ways to approach change at a scaled level both in your work and in your life.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Self-Awareness and Intellectual Honesty

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about lying. The kind of lying that is often unintentional and very rarely condemned.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Clubhouse.io

Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together so that teams can focus on what matters – creating products their customers love.

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Treating Your Brain as More Than a Machine

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

We've talked about how treating yourself like a machine and others around you like a machine is a bad idea. Today, we're talking about our missed opportunities. More importantly those moments we chose not to take in order to take care of ourselves.

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Improving Confidence and Neutralizing Threats Through Detached Perception

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

What drives us to respond to situations like being behind on a project? In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about over-working and investigating why we've decided to overwork ourselves.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Clubhouse.io

Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together so that teams can focus on what matters – creating products their customers love.

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High-Churn Code Should Be Your Cleanest Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about the different types of code and different approaches to developing good code hygiene.

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Mental Models - Lenses for Thinking and Decisions (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea we're continuing the discussion on challenging our mental models and talking about criticality and coding standards.

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Mental Models - Lenses for Thinking and Decisions (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Improvement is not a simple concept but usually comes from experience. In today's episode, we're talking about improvement based on questioning what kind of information you should be seeking.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Clubhouse.io

Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together so that teams can focus on what matters – creating products their customers love.

Listeners of Developer Tea will receive a special two-month free trial when signing up at: clubhouse.io/developertea

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Adding tests to a big untested codebase - Where do I start?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Where do you start when you're adding tests to an untested codebase? That's what we're talking about in today's episode of developer tea.

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5 Tips for Improving Your Principles of Experimentation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

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Visualize Your Goals in Details

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

One of this year's goals may be to become a healthy developer. In today's episode, we're giving a few tips to keep you on a path to maintaining a healthy lifestyle as a developer.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Clubhouse.io

Clubhouse is the first project management platform for software development that brings everyone together so that teams can focus on what matters – creating products their customers love.

Listeners of Developer Tea will receive a special two-month free trial when signing up at: clubhouse.io/developertea

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Expectations vs. Reality

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

What are you learning today? In today's episode, we're talking about movement in our careers and how our tools can be progressing or limiting our options and how to self-correct. We're also announcing the Tea Break Challenge!

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Interview w/ Ben Orenstein (pt. 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

You might remember today's guest back in episode 19 & 20. Today, we talk about new projects with the guest of the show, Ben Orenstein. During part 2 of this two-part episode, we dig into financial opportunities and I challenge you, while you're listening to this episode is to consider the lessons you've learned in 2018 and continue to grow in 2019.

If you'd like to connect with Ben, you can find him on Twitter, @r00k: https://twitter.com/r00k and view his work on GitHub, @r00k: https://github.com/r00k

Thanks to today's sponsor: Sentry

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Interview w/ Ben Orenstein (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

You might remember today's guest back in episode 19 & 20. Today, we talk about new projects with the guest of the show, Ben Orenstein. During part 1 of this two-part episode, we dig into different opportunities in learning and I challenge you, while you're listening to this episode is to consider the lessons you've learned in 2018 and continue to grow in 2019.

If you'd like to connect with Ben, you can find him on Twitter, @r00k: https://twitter.com/r00k and view his work on GitHub, @r00k: https://github.com/r00k

Thanks to today's sponsor: Manifold

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Interview w/ Michael Chan (pt. 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today's episode of developer Tea is a personal episode with Michael Chan and today we're digging into faith, life and difficult situations. I challenge you as you're listening to part 2 of this week's two-part episode is to ask yourself how you would answer these same questions.

Check out more about Michael Chan via his Twitter profile: @chantastic

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Interview w/ Michael Chan (pt. 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today's episode of developer Tea is a personal episode with Michael Chan and today we're digging into faith, life and difficult situations. I challenge you as you're listening to part 1 of this week's two-part episode is to ask yourself how you would answer these same questions.

Check out more about Michael Chan via his Twitter profile: @chantastic

Thanks to today's sponsor: Manifold

Why build your own logging platform, CMS or Authentication service yourself when a managed tool or API can solve the problem for you?

As a Developer Tea listener, you will get a $10 credit to put toward services when you sign up. Get started at https://www.manifold.co/devtea.

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Why Rules Apply Especially to Exceptions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about a different way of looking at rules and perhaps come to a different conclusion on rules and understanding how and when rules apply.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

Discover.bot – a digital space for bot developers and enthusiasts of all skill levels to learn from one another, share stories, and move the conversation forward. New to bots? Get started with their Beginner’s Guide.

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3 Practical Steps for Avoiding Narrative Biases

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

One of our brain's main jobs is to predict our safety and survival, and stories are one of the best ways to pass down a framework to predict the future based on past experiences. In today's episode, we're talking about the power of narrative and ways to break out of story-driven thinking.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Proof of Complexity and Seeking Simplicity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about the reality that the work we're doing as developers is complex and those complexities interact with each other. In today's episode, we're talking about ways to chase simplicity when working on complex problems.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Manifold

Why build your own logging platform, CMS or Authentication service yourself when a managed tool or API can solve the problem for you?

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The Zen Developer - What Are You Pushing On?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 7 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

On today's episode, we're talking about the idea of striving or pushing toward a goal. That energy we're putting into our goals based on our past. In this episode, we're asking you to think about where we're pushing and how we can shift our thinking to establish a more calm view of our careers and personal selves.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Discover.bot

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Bad Bugs - Avoiding Burnout When Solving Elusive Problems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Practical Tips for Minding the Details

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

It's December and a lot of folks are thinking about the gifts they plan to purchase or make for loved ones. In today's episode, we're going to talk about how we can take advantage of our appreciation for details and practical ways to come back to the details we put into our personal lives and as a developer.

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If you'd like to connect with Julian about anything he mentioned in today's episode be sure to follow him on Twitter. Be sure to check out what he's working on over at Julian.com and his past work over at http://velocityjs.org/

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Practicing Non-Attachment as a Developer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the concept of detachment and how it corresponds to a developers work and behavior.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Digital Ocean

DigitalOcean is the easiest cloud platform to run and scale your applications. From effortless administration tools to robust compute, storage, and networking services, DigitalOcean provides an all-in-one cloud platform to help developers and their teams save time while running and scaling their applications.

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A Discussion On Falsehoods Developers Believe

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about various falsehoods. We'll identify some common encounters, and offer some insight into resolving falsehoods when you identify them.

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Three Overconfidence Smells

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Digital Ocean

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A Challenge Towards Gratitude

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Having a thankful attitude of the world around you has proven to benefit you mentally, physically and emotionally. In today's episode, we're talking about a particular way of reflecting inward by recognizing how people who have helped us progress in our careers.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Manifold

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Observing Your Stress Responses

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Take a moment to think about how you respond to stress. You're tested when you face a challenge or a problem occurs in your world. In today's episode, we're going to talk about the ways we express ourselves when faced with stress or challenges we're faced with.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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How Relative Comparisons Affect Our Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

There's a common reason why we over optimize code, why different companies have different levels of quality of code, and why you choose the size of coffee you choose when grabbing a cup of joe. In today's episode, we're talking about how these three things correspond.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Manifold

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Interview w/ Julian Shapiro (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're joined again by Julian Shapiro and in the second part of a two-part episode. In this episode, Julian talks about how his past experiences building projects lead him down the Marketing path.

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Interview w/ Julian Shapiro (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're joined by Julian Shapiro and in this first part of a two-part episode, Julian talks about building Velocity. js and what he learned while building that project. Be sure to subscribe in whatever podcast app you use so you don't miss out on part-two, coming out this Friday.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Manifold

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Inhibition, Fear, and Two Mindsets for Moving Forward in the Face of Uncertainty

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Fear can often keep us from moving forward and in today's episode, we're talking about different techniques to keep us moving into uncertainty a step at a time.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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Make Programming Principles More Useful with These 3 New Angles

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 9 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

One of the ways you can do better work and uncover more about the world around you are through different patterns of thinking and angles that usually come from rules we've learned. In today's episode, we're focusing on rules and how we can approach a new rule from three different angles.

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Could We All Be Right? Event vs. Construct Theories

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

When was the last time another developer said something that you disagreed with? In today's episode, we're talking about theories. How someone can be wrong but more often how we can all be right.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

P.s. They're also hiring! Visit https://www.linode.com/careers to see what careers are available to you.

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3 Rules for Designing Lasting Habits

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 6 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about three rules or practices to live by when building healthy and sustainable habits.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Manifold

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Exit Points - Where Productivity Turns Into Procrastination

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

It's November now and we're closing in on the end of the year. As we look past the year and forward toward the future, we reflect and observe. Most of the days past were filled with things we could have done or what we could have done differently. On today's episode of Developer Tea, we're talking about habits.

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3 Counterintuitive Rules of Communication with Co-workers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Nov 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about communication with co-workers and how we can improve those interactions.

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3 Considerations of Symmetry in Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're going to define symmetry in code and identify three things to consider when identifying what tradeoffs we're making in our work.

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Learning React - Part 2 (Three lessons from the perpetual path)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode we're talking about three specific lessons that I've learned while working in React, and the hope is that this episode to help you consider how a tool can help you learn a concept.

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Learning React - Part 1 (More than just tooling)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Usually, on this show, we talk about ideas or research, but in today's episode, we're talking about my personal experience learning React and how we can apply an experience of learning in your career as you're using it.

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How to Argue Better

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're going to talk about a couple of strategies to get your ego out of the way so you can argue better.

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Three Perspective Shifts for Philosophical Engineering

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll talk about vantage points or thoughts to ponder or lenses that we can look through to view our careers and goals from time to time and get a better grasp on the meaning for what we're doing in development.

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Harmony Over Perfection

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

You are not the only person who matters in your purpose-driven career. That's what we're talking about in today's episode of Developer Tea. Finding advocates within you team or with your customers with help you move faster in your career.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Backwards Reasoning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

It's important to view yourself as more than a part of a story. In today's episode, we're talking about the self-sabotage that comes with algorithms we identify for ourselves and how we can learn from our past when planning for the future.

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Elected Distractions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about ways that we intentionally give our attention to things that really don't matter, and how we can easily convince ourselves that a distraction is happening to us, instead of chosen.

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Interview w/ Trevor Hinesley (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we have an awesome guest that I met outside of his profession. Today's guest is Trevor Hinesley, who is the CTO of Soundstripe, and in part 2 of this two-part interview with Trevor, we talk about some struggles that go along with being a leader at a company.

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Interview w/ Trevor Hinesley (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we have an awesome guest that I met outside of his profession. Today's guest is Trevor Hinesley, who is the CTO of Soundstripe, and in part 1 of this two-part interview with Trevor, we talk about the path we took to get to a leadership role.

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Exploring the Dreyfus Model

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 5 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're going to talk about the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition.

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How Code Evolves Through Human Influence

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about our humanity, combined with deadlines, revenue or other business goals get in the way of how we write our code day to day, but if we recognize the humanity in our code we can work on improving the way we work.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Why Great Developer Still Google Their Errors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about how we can still become great developers in craft and yet still find ourselves googling the things we've forgotten. We'll talk about how to get beyond ourselves as being great at something and remind ourselves that we are all continuing to learn and get better.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: .TECH

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5 Learning Anti-Patterns

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're getting back to the bread and butter of learning and talking about the ways we learn and talk about five different anti-patterns for learning.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Three Co-Worker Anti-Patterns

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about three anti-partners that you are probably experiencing or creating with your co-workers that you have learned, observed or emulated based on the people around us and specific behaviors that we can avoid to improve our relationships with our co-workers.

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When (Not) To Listen To Advice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Think about a time when you got great advice. In today's episode of Developer Tea, we're going to talk about the relevance of advice we receive and how we should be listening and following the advice we get today and advice we've gotten in the past.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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The Truth About Self-Consciousness & Likeability

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Doing good work breaks down when you can't realize your own self-worth. In today's episode, we're talking about decision making. accepting that we'll make mistakes and the ability to take action in the face of uncertainty.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Advice and Survivorship

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

There are some huge glaring problems when we only look at successful people and try to emulate them. That's what we're going to talk about today, advice from successful people and what to question.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Evaluating the Downside of Shortcuts

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the idea that shortcuts lead to a faster solution. Typically we make shortcuts in the name of getting a minimum viable product out the door. We'll dig into what these shortcuts can do well and what we can miss is taking a shortcut as developers.

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Purposeful Mini-Rituals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What are some key things that make up your days? In today's episode, we're talking about purposeful rituals to help us find our career purpose.

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Change Yourself Instead of the World

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What do you need to be happy? Today we're going to talk about finding the things that we need to make us happy in ourselves and where we can put our efforts to continue making us happy down the road.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Linode

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Facing Fears Instead of Supporting Them

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about uncovering internal fears and how we can face them, instead of avoiding them.

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The Advantage Inexperienced Developers Have

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 7 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're going to talk about how the experiences you have influence your behaviors and the pros and cons of being experiences vs. experiencing something for the first time.

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Magnitude of Our Beliefs

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about our development beliefs and how we can prepare ourselves if those development beliefs are challenged and change.

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What Exactly Is Bias, Anyway?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

We talk about bias on this show quite a bit but haven't talked about what biases are. In today's episode, we're going to identify different types of biases and give you some tools to respond when you notice yourself reacting to bias.

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2 Ways to Use Explicit Systems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about intentionally defined systems to help us do our jobs better, so we can do our work smarter in the long term.

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Suffering, Fear and Safety

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

It's the middle of the week and if you're like most people, you go into auto-pilot to get from the beginning of your day to the end of your day. In today's episode, we're reflecting on how we acted yesterday and exploring our opportunities ahead of us.

Thanks to Breaker for sponsoring today's episode!

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If you listen to the podcast via the breaker app and looking for an option to subscribe and skip the sponsor messages you can get all three episodes per week ad-free by subscribing to Breaker.audio

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3 Ways to Simplify and Avoid Ego Depletion

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're going to talk about different tactics and times of day to make tough vs. easy decisions during your day.

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Power of Expectations

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What do you expect to happen today? Maybe it's in your career or if you're job searching, maybe it's an expectation in your email inbox, but what do you expect to improve on personally, today? In today's episode, we're going to talk about our will and actions on a day-to-day basis.

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Interview with Daniel Pink (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we are thrilled to have Daniel Pink on the show, Daniel has four New York Time Best Sellers and Daniel has a wide variety of experience including being a chief speechwriter for Al Gore in the 90s, and has one of the 10 most watched talks on TED talks.

In part 2 of our interview, we're going to talk about Daniel's recent work he's done and what he's excited about in his latest research and dig into his newest book, "When" The scientific secrets of perfect timing.

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Interview w/ Daniel Pink (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In part 1 of today's interview, we're going to talk about Daniel's experiences and writings and dive right into what Daniel wishes more people would ask him about.

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Accepting Change by Focusing on Continuity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today I have some personal news to share, in addition to talking about life changes and accepting the fear that comes with change.

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Appreciating Jerry Weinberg

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

The world of computer science lost a legend last week when Jerry Weinberg passed away on August 7th, 2018. Author of "The Psychology of Computer Programming" as well as "Introduction to General Systems Thinking and quite a few other books, Jerry left us with a better understanding of what it means to be a developer.

Today's episode is a tribute to Jerry's work.

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Asymmetry and the Halo Effect

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Something that's interesting about instruments is the asymmetry of the job of each hand for skilled musicians. That's what we're going to be talking about in today's episode, the idea of asymmetry that developers experience.

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Fixing Remote Work Communication

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

As a developer, you've probably encountered an offer to pursue remote work. More and more people are working in a nomadic state as opposed to in an office. So it makes sense to do some studying around remote work and the tradeoffs between remote and in-office work.

##Thanks to today's Sponsor: Reaktor

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Check them out and tell them about what work motivates you at https://www.reaktor.com/careers/

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Accepting Irrationality

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

##Thanks to Breaker for sponsoring today's episode!

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Fluidity of Time

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

One of our most popular episodes on the show was on a subject that's tough to talk about. The subject was time and time management, and that's what we're going to talk about in today's episode - the plasticity and difficulty that time presents.

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Primitive Obsessions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today, we're talking about doing good work and writing better code, and this episode will ask you to question what good code is. We'll be exploring that through the lens of the code smell called Primitive Obsession.

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Future Features (Are Futile)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Aug 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What code do you need today? Today's episode is all about business objectives that get translated into our code.

##Thanks to today's Sponsor: Reaktor

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Evidence is Not Proof

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What was the last time you felt 100% certain about a conclusion you made? We're talking about conclusions and how we come to them, and in today's episode I'll challenging you to ask more questions before landing on conclusions

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Fixing Overconfidence with Probabilities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about how we view our co-workers around us and our perceptions of ourselves.

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Replacing Implicit Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What questions are you answering right now? On today's episode we're talking about the power of questions, and more specifically the implicit questions that you're asking in your day.

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Underestimating the Effects of Gratitude

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the people who you're thankful for or impressed by and letting others know that we appreciate them with zero expectation.

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Smaller Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Part of the point of Developer Tea is to help driven developers connect to their career purposes. In today's episode, we're going to talk about finding purpose in smaller ways.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Digital Ocean

Build your next app on DigitalOcean. Get started today with a free $100 credit at do.co/tea. It only takes a few minutes to get up and running.

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Problem Chains

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about problems we face every day as developers, and we face problems every day in a lifecycle -- meaning our problems are almost never atomic. We're going to talk about breaking problems down.

Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Digital Ocean

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Rollercoasters of Emotions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

It's important that we remember ourselves as humans with emotions and recognize how our emotions affect our behavior and decisions. In this episode, we're talking about understanding our emotions and using that understanding to help us communicate and empathize with the people around us.

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Astrology and The Barnum Effect

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about astrology's methodology can be very persuasive and similarities in perceptions of code.

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A Bug Story - How Narrative Bias Creates Blind Spots

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Our brains are lazy, but if a story makes sense, that can be more persuasive than raw data and often picked up more readily than data.

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A Research-Backed Argument for Empathy

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about empathy and why everyone needs it.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Datadog

Thousands of organizations rely on Datadog to collect, visualize and alert on out of the box and custom metrics to gain full-stack observability with a unified view of all their systems, apps, and services at cloud-scale.

Datadog is offering listeners a free trial and as an added bonus for signing up and creating a dashboard, they will send you a Datadog t-shirt. Check them out and give it a try at datadog.com/developertea

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A Problem Solving Paradox

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the paradox that happens when we get caught up seeking the perfect code. How do we address this and get past our own assumptions?

##Thanks to today's Sponsor: Reaktor

Check them out and tell them about what work motivates you at https://www.reaktor.com/careers/

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Attentional Bias & Cognitive Expectations aka "It Was Right In Front Of You The Whole Time"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

It's important to understand yourself. Most importantly, it's important to understand how your brain works. What are the things that stick with you and why do those things stick with you?

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No Good Options

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Jul 2018 09:00:00 +0000

We've been talking about choice on the past few episodes of Developer Tea and today we're going to continue down that road in today's episode.

Today we're talking about how we navigate our careers when we feel like there are no good options out there for us, and how to remain optimistic.

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Choice Frameworking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about pros and cons lists based on what we're focusing on, either positive or negative and the weight of our overall goals.

##Thanks to today's Sponsor: Reaktor

Check them out and tell them about what work motivates you at https://www.reaktor.com/careers/

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Three Ways To Avoid Choice Paralysis

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Choices shape our careers, and in today's episode, we're going to talk about decision making and how we can evaluate decisions to move forward instead of letting decisions stop us.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

In 2018, Linode is joining forces with Developer Tea listeners by offering you $20 of credit - that's 4 months of FREE service on the 1GB tier - for free! Head over to https://spec.fm/linode and use the code DEVELOPERTEA2018 at checkout.

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Internal Dialogues and Barriers to Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about changes that we want to make both for ourselves and in our careers.

To help guide this conversation, we'll be looking at a few motivational quotes from Kent Beck. Kent is an author, speaker, and developer who's on a mission to help geeks feel safe in the world, and today we'll be using some of his tactics to steer our internal dialogues so we can make positive changes.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Coding In The Moment

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

The way we develop is impacted by the way we view the world around us. In today's episode, we're talking about the concept of mindfulness and recognizing that the past is out of our reach while the future fluctuates, and this can impact the way we view our work as developers.

This uncertainty can impact the way we view our work as developers, and how we can observe this to manage our mental energy.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

If you're looking for an automatic platform and configuration detection, to build, test & deploy in minutes check out Bitrise. They've got an open source library of 170+ integrations, and the best part there's no scripting needed! Run the same config locally with the open source CLI by downloading the bitrise.yml

If you're looking for a job, they're hiring tooling & dev-Ops engineers at their Budapest office

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We Become What We Get Used To

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about how you get used to something over time. More specifically we talk about how our normalcies are created.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Datadog

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Breaking Out of Incremental Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about breaking the habit of incremental progress. How can we step away from solving the problems that are right in front of us and dig deeper into the core of a problem?

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Reaktor

Check them out and tell them about what work motivates you at https://www.reaktor.com/careers/

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Interview w/ Andrew Ofstad from Airtable (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

On this show, we often talk about breaking a problem down into smaller tasks, and in today's episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Andrew Ofstad, who a co-founder of Airtable.

Airtable is the future of data management, specifically spreadsheet data management, and in part two of this two-part episode, we discuss some of the learnings Andrew has discovered along his journey into Airtable.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Interview w/ Andrew Ofstad from Airtable (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

On this show, we often talk about breaking a problem down into smaller tasks, and in today's episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Andrew Ofstad, who a co-founder of Airtable.

Airtable is the future of data management, specifically spreadsheet data management, and in part one of a two-part episode, we discuss how Andrew got into it and where it's going.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Treating Time Seriously

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Take a moment to think about what time it is. In today's episode, we're going to talk about how time matters to the work you do.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

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What You Get Wrong About Productivity - A Humanist Approach

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

How do you set yourself up for a productive day? That's what we're going to be talking about in today's episode and how we can use our own motivations to get us through some of the harder parts in our day.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: SkySilk

Create simple virtual private servers in seconds at www.SkySilk.com. Choose from over 40 Linux OS Distros and Software Applications for fast, simple cloud hosting. Enter Promo Code TEATIME to redeem 1,000 SkyPoints ($10 Cash Value) for use once the SkySilk Cloud Platform goes live.

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Debugging With Isolation & Modularity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

One of the skills that you'll always need to get better at is debugging. Today, we're getting extremely practical and talking about how debugging is an incredibly complex thing that developers have to do and how we can get better.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: SkySilk

Create simple virtual private servers in seconds at www.SkySilk.com. Choose from over 40 Linux OS Distros and Software Applications for fast, simple cloud hosting.

Enter Promo Code TEATIME to redeem 1,000 SkyPoints ($10 Cash Value) for use once the SkySilk Cloud Platform goes live.

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Future Thinking & Imagination Barriers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Jun 2018 09:00:00 +0000

When was the last time you slowed down your thinking to focus a little further out. Today, we're going to focus on our fears and anxieties about our future selves and use that to help us do our current work well.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

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Interview w/ Jon Yablonski (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Interview w/ Jon Yablonski (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

On this show, you know we talk about psychology quite a bit and today we sat down with Jon Yobonski to talk about Laws of UX.com and other practical phycological principles.

In the first part of this two-part interview with Jon, we talk about LawsofUX.com and how Jon goes from development to design using these principles.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Obligations and the Consequence of Assumptions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 25 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Do you ever get the sense that your day is planned for you? In today's episode, we're talking about how much we believe our days are controlled by us vs. controlled by decisions we've made in the past.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

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Motivation Batching

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Take a moment to take a few breaths. That's what we're talking about in today's episode, taking a moment to appreciate the time you live in and how far you've come as a person and a developer.

Today's episode is sponsored by Stack Overflow for Teams!.

I bet if you've experienced a bug or problem in your job, you've used Stack Overflow as a go-to resource to find an answer to your problem. Now you can do that within your company, team or organization with their new: Stack Overflow for teams

If you've ever fought to keep your documentation up to date or had question and answer sessions that you wish someone was recording check out Stack Overflow for teams at s.tk/developertea and get a 14-day free trial.

####Get in touch
If you have questions about today's episode, want to start a conversation about today's topic or just want to let us know if you found this episode valuable I encourage you to join the conversation or start your own on our community platform Spectrum.chat/specfm/developer-tea

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3 Habits of Learning Developers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Becoming a great developer comes with practice and observation. Today, we're going to talk about developing long-term learning habits of developers and ways that you can evaluate the health of your learning environments.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: SkySilk

Create simple virtual private servers in seconds at www.SkySilk.com. Choose from over 40 Linux OS Distros and Software Applications for fast, simple cloud hosting.

Enter Promo Code TEATIME to redeem 1,000 SkyPoints ($10 Cash Value) for use once the SkySilk Cloud Platform goes live.

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Write the Code You Wish You Had

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

How do you write beautiful code? This is an age-old question for developers and in today's episode, we're going to talk about different techniques to come out of a coding session feeling confident and happy with your work.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

If you're looking for a job, they're hiring tooling & dev-Ops engineers at their Budapest office

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Problem Solving Series #4: Inductive and Deductive Reasoning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Perhaps you've faced the problem where something works perfecting fine on your device but broken for someone else. Today, we're talking about ways to signal yourself when you're in these situations through inductive and deductive reasoning.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Problem Solving Series #3: Perspective Shifts

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Have you ever tried to understand what a 4th dimension would feel like? In today's episode, we're going to be talking about gaining new perspectives and why it's so hard.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Problem Solving Series #2: Reframing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What is your most memorable de-bugging session? Today, we're talking about fixing our losses by reframing the situation.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

If you're looking for a job, they're hiring tooling & dev-Ops engineers at their Budapest office

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Avoiding Dogmatic Protocol

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

If you've ever lived in a dorm room, then you've probably heard of the furniture company: IKEA. Its affordable furniture that comes unassembled and building furniture gives you a feeling of accomplishment or frustration depending on how well the furniture was packaged or instructions written. In today's episode, we'll be drawing comparisons with IKEA furniture assembly and the value of good technical protocols.

Today's episode is sponsored by Stack Overflow for Teams!.

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Problem Solving Series #1: Starting By Making It Worse

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

It's not an easy task to describe what you do as a software developer to a non-technical person. A blanket description is to tell non-technical people that we "solve problems". That's what we're talking about in today's episode and we'll explore different strategies to solve problems we face as developers.

###Today's episode is sponsored by Stackoverflow for Teams.

I bet if you've experienced a bug or problem in your job, you've used Stackoverflow as a go-to resource to find an answer to your problem. Now you can do that within your company, team or organization with their new: Stackoverflow for teams

If you've ever fought to keep your documentation up to date or had question and answer sessions that you wish someone was recording check out Stackoverflow for teams at s.tk/developertea and get a 14-day free trial.

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Secondary Tools

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Take a moment to think about the tools you use to do your development work? What text editor are you using? Which web browser are you defaulting to?

In today's episode, we're talking about tools that you could be using or already are using and intentions we can put in place to make them better.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

If you're looking for a job, they're hiring tooling & dev-Ops engineers at their Budapest office

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Randomizing live w/ Max Hawkins (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 May 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What is your plan for today? Where are you going to go and what people are you going to interact with? A lot of the decisions we make become automatic. That's what we're talking about today with Max Hawkins.

Max was also on NPR's Invisibilia podcast and we reference his episode a few times in this part 2 of our conversation with Max as well as the part 1 episode.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Interview w/ Max Hawkins (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Max was also on NPR's Invisibilia podcast and we reference his episode a few times in this part 1 interview as well as the part 2 of our conversation, coming out on Wednesday.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Subtractive Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What is on your mind? Today we are talking about ways we can inspect our default state of mind.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

If you're looking for a job, they're hiring tooling & dev-Ops engineers at their Budapest office

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Fear, Change & Instincts

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Think about the last 5....20 and 100 days. If you're like most people then most of those days had one thing in common that you can draw a line between and say you repeated. Today, we're talking about the daily things that we have control over, how we cultivate habit and how we can change our habits.

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Zero Dead Ends - Why Complaining Can Hold You Back

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

If you've ever known a small child, then you've probably noticed that when they get hurt, they react by running to an adult for consolation. We'd like to think that we grow out of this as adults, but we need to be taught to manage a situation. Today, we're talking about the concept of being a tattletale and knowing when it's helpful and when it's hurtful.

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2 Reasons Your Habits Aren't Sticking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

The episode wraps up our week of practical applications. In today's episode, we're talking about why we don't pick up a new tool, keep our documentation up to date, and why we're not following New Year's resolutions. More broadly put, we're talking about habits.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

If you're looking for a job, they're hiring tooling & dev-Ops engineers at their Budapest office

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3 Ways to Better Cultivate Coworker Connections

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

This week we're talking about practical things and today we're talking about 3 psychological realities that can help you connect better with your coworkers.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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4 Code Smells (And How to Fix Them)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

This week we're going to get very practical. Today we're talking about identifying code smells (very common ones) and a few ways to fix them.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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4 Principles of Great Learners

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What do great learners have in common? In today's episode we're talking about are the common factors of successful people and what we can learn from their experiences.

Thanks to today's Sponsor: Bitrise

If you're looking for a job, they're hiring tooling & devops engineers at their Budapest office

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Slow Down on Your Quest for Happiness

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Do you know what makes you happy? In today's episode we're talking about what it means to be happy and how to connect to our happiness when it changes from moment to moment

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Fixing Fear: A Heuristic for Maintainable Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What does it mean to write good code? In today's episode we're answering this question with the use of a heuristic:

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

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Creating Consensus, Defeating Bias and Getting Better

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Apr 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Biases are going to change the way you view statistics. In today's episode we're talking about different ways you can work around your biases.

Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open source eCommerce solution, built on WordPress. With WooCommerce you can sell physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions, memberships, services, and tickets - plus offer flexible ways to pay, including Apple Pay and Bitcoin powered by Stripe.

AND NOW, If you are a developer interested in building and selling extensions, a great way to earn extra income or even build out a whole business, they have some good news: the WooCommerce.com marketplace is open submissions! Learn more about how to submit your extension to Woo’s official marketplace at https://woocommerce.com/develop-woocommerce/

Broken Brains Take On Statistics

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today we're talking about ways that we exacerbate ways of seeing things clearly. More specifically we're determining how to uncover truth as it relates to our surroundings, or inspection.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

More Misunderstood Truths About Statistics

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Apr 2018 09:00:00 +0000

We've established that statistics are useful and more relevant in our day-to-day work life, but how do statistics effect our personal selves? In Today's episode we're talking about what statistics mean for our personal selves and how we make our decisions.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Misunderstood Truths About Statistics (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What makes discussions about statistics sound cold? In today's episode we're breaking down the etymology of statistics, how it's evolved over the years and how we can make better decisions based on real statistics.

Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Jon's Cup of Tea -
Don't forget to check out Mad Monk Tea! Remember the code "Developer Tea" will get you 15% off your order.

Why Most People Fail at Fixing Operations

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

How is it that we know the right things to do but often don't do them? In today's episode we'll be discussing internal operations that are so clearly correct but sometimes we fail to do it.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

2 Structured Thinking Methods For Problem Solving

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

No matter what problem you're trying to solve, if you can create a structure to approach the problem you'll be faster at solving it. Today, I'll be sharing with you two strategies to help you structure your problem solving practice.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

3x3: Three Habits for Mental Hygiene

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Most of us grow up learning skills to help us take care of things. Unfortunately we are not often taught how to keep our minds clear. In today's episode we're talking about ways to regularly help reduce our stress and maintain a healthy mindset.

Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Jon's Cup of Tea -
Don't forget to check out Mad Monk Tea! Remember the code "Developer Tea" will get you 15% off your order.

3x3: Three Questions to Help You Uncover Your Short Term Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is all about the "now" that will lead you into the future. You may have grand visions of what happens in 10 years or even 20 years down the road, but what about today? How can you connect your purpose to today?

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

3X3: Three Questions To Get Unstuck On Big Problems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is about big problems. The kind that aren't answered simply or in a few words, but rather with a cascade of actions. How can you get unstuck on big problems?

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Setting Better Problem Solving Parameters

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

What do grocery lists have in common with solving problems? As it turns out, quite a lot. In today's episode, we discuss solving problems by using parameters more effectively.

Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Jon's Cup of Tea -
Don't forget to check out Mad Monk Tea! Remember the code "Developer Tea" will get you 15% off your order.

3 Problems Every Developer Will Face

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Every industry has its problems, and this is also true for developers and the people in that industry. In today's episode we're talking about three problems developers face in this industry

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Learn More Intentionally

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

How would you go about discovering if you actually learned something you wanted to learn? Today's episode is about evaluating whether or not you've learned something and how to shape your learning process.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Better 1-on-1s With This Simple Question

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 9 Mar 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about leadership and having better 1-on-1s with our leaders.

Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Jon's Cup of Tea -
Don't forget to check out Mad Monk Tea! Remember the code "Developer Tea" will get you 15% off your order.

How Our Tools Shape Us

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Mar 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Basically everything you interact with is a tool. How does this shape you? How does it shape your evolution and learning? We'll talk about how you can pick your tools better in this episode.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Delayed Pain

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Mar 2018 10:00:00 +0000

You've probably heard of delayed gratification? In today's episode we're talking about what we're willing to pay for gratifications now vs in the future and how to use the tendency to want immediate gratification to our advantage.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Improvisational Problem Solving Based on Characteristics

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Mar 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll talk about working with what you've got.

Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Jon's Cup of Tea -
Don't forget to check out Mad Monk Tea! Remember the code "Developer Tea" will get you 15% off your order.

Accepting The Unexpected

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about preparing for the unexpected.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Asking "Dumb" Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll discuss how important "dumb" questions can be.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

The Importance of Mental Models

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

How is it that we can make so many decisions in a day? Today we're going to talk about what it means to have a mental model.

Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Jon's Cup of Tea -
Don't forget to check out Mad Monk Tea! Remember the code "Developer Tea" will get you 15% off your order.

Actions As Objects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Take a minute to think about the last big bug you worked on and how you felt....today we're talking about a way to track down bugs and solving long, drawn out debugging sessions.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

What Are You Creating?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the ripple effects of the work you do.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Thinking, Acting & Marshmallows

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss how experimenting can be more beneficial than thinking.

###Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open source eCommerce solution, built on WordPress. With WooCommerce you can sell physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions, memberships, services, and tickets - plus offer flexible ways to pay, including Apple Pay and Bitcoin powered by Stripe.

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Jon's Cup Of Tea

Don't forget to check out Mad Monk Tea! Remember the code "Developer Tea" will get you 15% off your order.

Olympics, Statistics & Raising Your Average Performance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a statistical phenomenon that might change the way you think about comebacks and falling stars.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Project-Oriented Mindset

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a way to avoid feeling like you're just working on an endless list of tasks.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Research Bias (Part 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 9 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss more research biases that can lead you down the road of bad decisions and bad information.

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Research Bias (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

When does bias begin? We know that bias begins way in advance of your research starting and that's what we'll be talking about in today's episode.

We typically start our research with the people nearest to us, and if you're interested in acquiescence bias be sure to check out part 1 of this series. Today we'll dig into identifying our beliefs, opinions and perspectives that can kickstart bias. Listen on:

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode

In 2018, Linode is joining forces with Developer Tea listeners by offering you $20 of credit - that's 4 months of FREE service on the 1GB tier - for free!
Head over to https://spec.fm/linode and use the code DEVELOPERTEA2018 at checkout.

Research Bias (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we start a discussion about the authority and persuasive ability of research and how bias can have major effects without us realizing it.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

The Detriments of Social Comparisons

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Feb 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the potential detriments of over-comparing yourself to others.

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Your Brain Might Betray You

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Your brain is your ally, and your enemy. This contentious relationship can make for some difficult experiences, and it makes sense for you to be aware of that reality. We'll discuss ways your brain might betray you in this episode.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Your Brain is Non-Linear

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Action is non-linear. We'll break that down in today's episode, and explain how not understanding this core reality can lead to FOMO and impostor's syndrome.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

3 Times When More Code Means Better Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Usually, less code is better code. Refactoring usually looks best when lines of code are deleted and replaced with simpler solutions.

However, sometimes more code is actually the best answer. In this episode, we talk about three times when that is true.

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Our Imagined Fictions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Our imagination is a powerful thing that helps us create a story. In this episode, we'll dig into observations in our own daily life and the correlation between our imagination, thought patterns and how we can shift the way we observe our world around us.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Bringing Your Whole Self to Work

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll be discussing the importance of a holistic approach to working.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

How Can We Be Wrong...Without Knowing It?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In what ways are you wrong? In today's episode we'll be continuing our discussion on perception and the ways in which we are wrong is an important question to ask ourselves.

One of the ways to become a better developer is to acknowledge when we are wrong and accept that challenging our perceptions of the world is healthy. Today we dig into the different ways we can be wrong. We'll identify what those different ways are and offer healthy navigation techniques for when you notice your perceptions are being challenged.

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Your Angle of Approach in Problem Solving

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Ever had a brain block? How can you overcome that?

In Today's episode we're talking about angles of approach in problem solving .

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

The Perception Principle

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

What does it mean to be wrong? Specifically what does it mean when our opinions are wrong?

In Today's episode we're talking about differences in perception. We'll dig into a couple of theories behind different perceptions that we have of others and ourselves and how we respond when we're wrong.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Deconstructing The Lies We Tell Ourselves

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode is a principles episode. We're talking about how you can be more truthful with yourself. After this episode you should be able to identify what you believe about yourself, and redirect any lies we tell ourselves.

###Today's Episode is Brought To You By: WooCommerce

They're giving Developer Tea listeners 20% off purchases when you use promo code DEVELOPERTEA at WooCommerce.com/developertea (offer lasts until end March 2018)

Interview w/ Chris Shinkle (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Chris Shinkle, Director of Innovation at SEP. I believe today's episode is one of the most important interviews I've done to date, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode. In 2018, Linode is joining forces with Developer Tea listeners by offering you $20 of credit - that's 4 months of FREE service on the 1GB tier - for free! Head over to https://spec.fm/linode and use the code DEVELOPERTEA2018 at checkout.

Another huge announcement - Developer Tea is officially available on Spotify!

Interview w/ Chris Shinkle (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode.

Another huge announcement - Developer Tea is officially available on Spotify!

Finding Perspective in 2018

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 5 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is a re-air of a discussion we had in 2017 about finding your perspective.

Re-Air: The Anatomy of Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Jan 2018 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about the transtheoretical model of behavioral change. This will help you understand the different stages you go through when making a resolution to shift your behavior.

Setting The Course For 2018

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we will look ahead to 2018 and discuss the future of Developer Tea.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Linode provides superfast SSD based Linux servers in the cloud starting at $5 a month. Linode is offering Developer Tea listeners $20 worth of credit if you use the code DEVELOPERTEA2017 at checkout. Head over to spec.fm/linode to learn more about what Linode has to offer to Developer Tea listeners!

2017 Year End Recap

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we will recap what happened in 2017 on Developer Tea.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Data Science w/ Elena Grewal (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Elena Grewal, head of data science at Airbnb. We cover a wide variety of topics, so make sure you catch the first part of this interview as well!

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

Data Science w/ Elena Grewal (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Elena Grewal, head of data science at Airbnb. We cover a wide variety of topics, so make sure you catch the second episode in this interview as well!

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

3X3: Anti-Resolutions To Kick Off Your 2018

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I give you 3 anti-resolutions to start out your 2018 planning.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

3X3: Questions that Could Change the Way You Think

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

It's 3X3 Week!

All week we'll be covering three practical take aways that you can apply to your day. Today's episode we cover three simple questions you can ask yourself that might change the way you think. Listen on!

3X3: Fallacies to Avoid as a Developer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

It's 3X3 Week! All week we'll be covering three tips to make you a stronger developer. Today's episode we cover three biases that you need to protect yourself from as a developer.

Interview with Joshua Aziz (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Joshua Aziz from TransferWise.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Interview with Joshua Aziz (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Joshua Aziz from TransferWise.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

The Power of A Question

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the power of inquiry and Socratic question oriented thinking.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

Practical Advice for Changing Your Habits

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Dec 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss some practical advice for habit change.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

How A Text Message Can Trigger Behavior Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue talking about behavior change. This time, we're discussing how a simple reminder can make a huge difference.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

Inspiring Stories From Listeners - Basil's Story

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we hear an inspiring story from listener Basil.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Interview Week: First Impressions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue interview week by talking about the importance and psychology of first impressions.

Check out the Beyond Bootcamp Interview Week Prep Guide at https://beyondbootcamp.io now!

Interview Week: Characteristics of Growth Oriented Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we kick off interview week by talking about Heather's question about moving into devops from her current position.

Check out the Beyond Bootcamp Interview Week Prep Guide at https://beyondbootcamp.io now!

Interview Week: Heather Asks a Question About Dev Ops

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we kick off interview week by talking about Heather's question about moving into devops from her current position.

Check out the Beyond Bootcamp Interview Week Prep Guide at https://beyondbootcamp.io now!

"Mindful Distractions" - Focus Week Listener Question

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue Focus Week by answering a listener question about participating in mindful distractions.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Focus Week: 3 Focus Factors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue Focus Week by discussing factors that contribute to focus.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Focus Week: Deconstructing Distractions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we kick off Focus Week by talking about ways you can better attack your distractions through destructuring.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

3x3: Morning Routine Tasks Every Developer Should Do

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we conclude the first 3x3 week with a list of 3 morning routine tasks every developer can benefit from.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

3x3: 3 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Resumé In Just 10 Minutes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue the first 3x3 week with a list of 3 things you can do to improve your resumé, quickly.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

3x3: The 3 Things you Shouldn't Be Doing As A Developer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Nov 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we kick off the first 3x3 week with a list of 3 things you shouldn't be doing.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

The Future (and Past) of Legal for Developers w/Gary Nissenbaum (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Nov 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we wrap up our discussion about the legal implications of the new digital age with my guest, Gary D. Nissembaum. You can see Gary's firm and check out the services they provide at gdnlaw.com - thanks to Gary for joining me on the show!

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

The Future (and Past) of Legal for Developers w/Gary Nissenbaum (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Nov 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we start a discussion about the legal implications of the new digital age with my guest, Gary D. Nissenbaum. You can see Gary's firm and check out the services they provide at gdnlaw.com - thanks to Gary for joining me on the show!

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

Interviewer's Wishes with Jason Vasquez (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is all about the environments we work in and the skills that contribute beyond the code. Jason Vasquez, CTO at Developertown, joins me as a guest.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

Working Environment and Secondary Skills w/ Jason Vasquez (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is all about the environments we work in and the skills that contribute beyond the code. Jason Vasquez, CTO at Developertown, joins me as a guest.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Your Interview is Tomorrow? Here's Some Last Minute Advice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we discuss a few pieces of advice for your upcoming interview.

How To Navigate Communication Problems - Listener Question from Enrico

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, Enrico asks about how to navigate situations where other people don't seem to understand him.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

Interview w/ Kristen Gallagher (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Kristen Gallagher about HR. This isn't the boring stuff you think when you first hear the term human resources; we talk about how HR can help teams work better together.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Interview w/ Kristen Gallagher (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

The Most Important Part of My Day (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a habit that I believe anyone listening to this can benefit from: a morning/evening journal session.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec! Spec is here to help you level up as a developer, designer, or other digital creative producer. Check out the other shows and community by heading to spec.fm, and join the spec community at Spectrum.chat!

The Most Important Part of My Day (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a habit that I believe anyone listening to this can benefit from: a morning/evening journal session.

Interview with Mark Engelberg (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Mark Engelberg. Mark creates puzzle games, and most recently created the "CODE" series of games in collaboration with ThinkFun. Mark's insights into learning and teaching are fantastic. I hope you enjoy this episode!

Today's episode is brought to you by Swiftype.

Swiftype is an AI-powered search platform that delivers fast, relevant and customizable search results for websites, applications and businesses. Swiftype's suite of products have revolutionized the way people find information across their organization and on public facing websites. Integrate easily with tools like GitHub, JIRA, Confluence, Dropbox, and more for even better searching power. To learn more about Swiftype Search or for a free trial, visit swiftype.com/developertea today!

Puzzle Games with Mark Engelberg (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

The 3 Steps in the Cycle of Technological Abstraction

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Oct 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the cycle of abstraction, and how you can use abstraction to create new and unique value.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

DCR: Traits of Being A Great Developer (Recap)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we conclude the DCR Traits of a Great Developer series with a review of all of the traits we've discussed.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

DCR - Bravery

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Oct 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue the DCR traits of a great developer. Today's trait is bravery.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

DCR: Ownership Level Responsibility

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is the next of a series of episodes extending our previous discussions from the Developer Career Roadmap. The first episode from that series can be found here: https://spec.fm/podcasts/developer-tea/49656

Today's episode focuses on having an ownership level of responsibility.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

DCR: Open Minded Curiosity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode focuses on cultivating your curiosity.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

DCR: Growth Mindset

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we're talking about having a Growth Mindset. You can find Carol Dweck's book, Mindset, here.

Today's episode is sponsored by Rollbar. With Rollbar, you get the context, insights and control you need to find and fix bugs faster. Rollbar is offering Developer Tea listeners the Bootstrap Plan, free for 90 days (300,000 errors tracked for free)! Head over to rollbar.com/developertea now for the free 90 day offer!

DCR: Traits of a Great Developer - Communications Model (Deep Dive)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

DCR: Traits of a Great Developer - Communications Expert

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode focuses on becoming a communications expert.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

DCR: Traits of a Great Developer - Expanding Perspective

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is the next in the lineup of episodes extending our previous discussions from the Developer Career Roadmap. The first episode from that series can be found here: https://spec.fm/podcasts/developer-tea/49656

Today's episode focuses on the ability to expand your perspective.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

DCR: Traits of a Great Developer - Grit of a Scientist

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue the DCR traits of a great developer. Today's trait is having the grit of a scientist.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

New Promo Code: “dt” will give you listeners 70% off for 12 months. 70%!!! The code must be redeemed by December 31st 2017.

DCR: Traits of A Great Developer - Humility

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is the first of a series of episodes extending our previous discussions from the Developer Career Roadmap. The first episode from that series can be found here: https://spec.fm/podcasts/developer-tea/49656

Today's episode focuses on the trait of humility.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Introspection - Part 2 - Why & Why Not

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is our second introspection episode - we'll be using values to ask ourselves two key questions about our decisions.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Introspection - Part 1 - Finding What You're Best At

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about finding what you are best at. In this episode, you'll explore this idea by asking some self-interrogation questions.

Today's episode is sponsored by Dolby. One of the most important things you can do for your users is ensure that the quality of your audio is strong. You already know Dolby and sound quality go hand-in-hand. Check out how Dolby can help you make your web applications better at spec.fm/dolbyios.

Interview w/ Rachel Nabors (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk with Rachel Nabors about her new book, course, and how to respond to rejection.

Interview w/ Rachel Nabors (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk with Rachel Nabors about her new book, course, and how to respond to rejection.

Mystery Voices

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Sep 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about different kinds of "mystery voices" and how to avoid them.

Planning Series: Scaling and Detailing of Features

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is about scaling and detailing features, and is the first in a series of episodes about planning.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Learning Environment

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss what it takes to create a learning environment that can get your gears turning immediately.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Tips For Students (Re-Air)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I outline a few tips for students who are starting back to school.

Listener Question: Michael Asks About Dev Bootcamps

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener Michael's question regarding dev bootcamps.

No More Launches

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about why "launch dates" can be detrimental to progress.

Today's episode is sponsored by Flywheel Local.

Stop debugging local environments and spend more time designing, developing, and launching WordPress sites with Local by Flywheel. Head over to local.getflywheel.com to download Local for free today!

Thinking in Intervals (Re-Air)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about thinking in intervals.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Minimum Viable Prioritization (Re-Air)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about minimum viable prioritization.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Plato's Cave and Defeating Biases

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about what you can see - and what you cannot.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode.

Interview with Kevin Kelly (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with one of the most influential voices in technology in the last 20 years - Kevin Kelly. Kevin is the author of "What Technology Wants" and "The Inevitable", co-founded Wired magazine, and is now leading the charge of optimism as it relates to the future.

kk.org, Kevin's personal site
The Inevitable on Amazon (no affiliate)
What Technology Wants on Amazon (no affiliate)
Wired Magazine - and, an early article from Kevin in 1993

Interview with Kevin Kelly (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

kk.org, Kevin's personal site
The Inevitable on Amazon (no affiliate)
What Technology Wants on Amazon (no affiliate)
Wired Magazine - and, an early article from Kevin in 1993

Interview with Chris Ferdinandi (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Chris Ferdinandi! Check out his stuff at gomakethings.com

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode. Linode Provides superfast SSD based Linux servers in the cloud starting at $5 a month. Linode is offering Developer Tea listeners $20 worth of credit if you use the code DEVELOPERTEA2017 at checkout. Head over to spec.fm/linode to learn more about what Linode has to offer to Developer Tea listeners !

Interview with Chris Ferdinandi (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 Aug 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Chris Ferdinandi! Check out his stuff at gomakethings.com

3 Lessons of Productivity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Aug 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Idea Portfolio

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about building and managing an idea portfolio in your organization.

Today's episode is sponsored by Flywheel Local.

Stop debugging local environments and spend more time designing, developing, and launching WordPress sites with Local by Flywheel. Head over to local.getflywheel.com to download Local for free today!

Listener Question: Simon Asks About Over-Positivity

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 28 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is sponsored by Flywheel Local.

Stop debugging local environments and spend more time designing, developing, and launchingWordPress sites with Local by Flywheel. Head over to local.getflywheel.com to download Local for free today!

Iterative Learning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the importance of applying iteration to learning.

Today's episode is sponsored by Codeship! Get started today with Codeship and get 100 free builds. P.S. - Codeship is 100% free for open source projects! Head to spec.fm/codeship to get started today!

Do you have a question you'd like answered on the show?

Email me: developertea@gmail.com

Strong Opinions Weakly Held

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a simple concept of being willing to let go of your opinions, while not watering them down.

Aesthetic Aha

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about why kids love to watch the same movies over and over, and how you can learn from this behavior to improve your career (seriously!).

Listener Question: Daw Chih asks About Over Execution

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener question from Daw Chih about over-execution.

The Value of The Third Option

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about how important a third option can be in decisionmaking processes.

Do you have a question you'd like answered on the show?

Email me: developertea@gmail.com

Turbulence (Re-Airing)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss once again the concept of turbulence and fortitude.

Don't Throw It Over the Wall

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a specific type of collaboration, and a pitfall most development and design teams end up falling into.

Do you have a question you'd like answered on the show?

Email me: developertea@gmail.com

Interview with David Hoffeld (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

I'm joined by author David Hoffeld in today's episode to talk about the topic of science and how it affects the sales process.

Interview with David Hoffeld (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 7 Jul 2017 11:23:00 +0000

I'm joined by author David Hoffeld in today's episode to talk about the topic of science and how it affects the sales process.

Listener Question: Andy Asks About His Degree in Mechatronics

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Is a degree in mechatronics worth it? (Also, what is mechatronics?) We'll talk about this listener question in today's episode.

Do you have a question you'd like answered on the show?

Email me: developertea@gmail.com

The Messaging Paradigm (re-air)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Jul 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Baby Announcement

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Atomic Words

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk aboit disambiguation and using clear words during feedback sessions.

Spiral Learning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about "Spiral Learning."

Do you have a question you'd like answered on the show?

Email me: developertea@gmail.com

Listener Question: Joel Asks About Remote Work As A Junior Developer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we answer a listener question from Joel who writes in: What do you do when there are no jobs in your area and you're a developer with a family?

Today's episode is sponsored by Rollbar

Rollbar is offering Developer Tea listeners the Bootstrap Plan, free for 90 days (300,000 errors tracked for free)! Head over to rollbar.com/developertea now for the free 90 day offer!

Do you have a question you'd like answered on the show?

Email me: developertea@gmail.com

Interview with Tom Eich (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had the opportunity to speak with Tom Eich, CTO at IDEO.

Tom shares valuable insights in both parts of this interview, so be sure to subscribe in your podcasting application of choice!

Interview with Tom Eich (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 13:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had the opportunity to speak with Tom Eich, CTO at IDEO.

Tom shares valuable insights in both parts of this interview, so be sure to subscribe in your podcasting application of choice!

Creating New Understanding Through Synonyms

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Jun 2017 14:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about creating useful substitutions through a process of forcing synonyms.

Failure Rates, Machine Learning, and You

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Jun 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a truth of machine learning, and learning in general. I hope you walk away feeling more confident and less afraid of failure.

Anonymous Listener Question: Cowboy Coders

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Jun 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about cowboy coding, and how to deal with a legacy project primarily managed by cowboy coders.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Law Of Conservation of Uncertainty (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a principle of project planning that you can use to help deal with uncertainty.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Law Of Conservation of Uncertainty (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 May 2017 13:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a principle of project planning that you can use to help deal with uncertainty.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Squares Conference (feat. Marcus Morrison)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 26 May 2017 13:45:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Marcus Morrison about his journey to becoming a CTO of a monthly subscription startup called Datebox.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Squares Conference (Will Riley)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Will Riley from Flywheel about design systems, local development, teaching a workshop, and API design.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Squares Conference (feat. Noah Labhart)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Noah Labhart, owner of Touchtap, a mobile development firm in Dallas, Texas.

Noah and I discuss the value of learning a programming language you never plan to use, and much much more in this interview!

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Squares Conference (feat. Anne Grundhoefer)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Anne Grundhoefer. Anne spoke at Squares about design systems and the work she does at Projekt202, and was kind enough to spend some time talking with me about that work as well.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Squares Conference (feat. Alex Zub) Part 2

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 May 2017 09:00:00 +0000

Today we continue the interview with Alex Zub, founder of Handsome.

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Squares Conference (feat. Alex Zub) Part 1

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 May 2017 12:20:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Alex Zub about starting a company, learning to speak english through video games, and lots more.

Check out Alex's company, Handsome!

Today's episode is sponsored by Dolby. One of the most important things you can do for your application is ensure that the quality of your audio is strong. You already know Dolby and sound quality go hand-in-hand. Check out how Dolby can help you make your iOS applications better at spec.fm/dolby.

Squares Conference (feat. Aaron Irizarry)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Aaron Irizarry about what to do when your design and dev team starts to fall apart.

Squares Conference (feat. Aaron D. Campbell)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview WordPress security lead Aaron Campbell.

Job Descriptions vs. Job Realities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 May 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about some differences between a typical job description versus realities you may actually experience.

Listener Question: David asks About How to Answer Tooling Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 5 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener David's question about how to answer questions from peers about tooling.

Today's episode is brought to you by Linode. Linode Provides superfast SSD based Linux servers in the cloud starting at $10 a month. Linode is offering Developer Tea listeners $20 worth of credit if you use the code DEVELOPERTEA2017 at checkout. Head over to spec.fm/linode to learn more about what Linode has to offer to Developer Tea listeners .

Feedback Loops - The Smallest Unit of Learning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 May 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the importance of feedback loops.

Interview with Chris Albon (Part 3 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 May 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Chris Albon, co-host of Partially Derivative, a fantastic casual discussion podcast about all things data science. Chris is joined by Vidya Spandana and Jonathon Morgan on the show. We discuss the exciting prospects of machine learning and data science in this three part interview!

Interview with Chris Albon (Part 2 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Interview with Chris Albon (Part 1 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is sponsored by Fuse! Build native iOS and Android apps with less code and better collaboration. Head over to spec.fm/fuse to learn more today!

Building Your Intuition

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we talk about intuition as the shared fluency for experts.

You Can't Control Random

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll discuss the illusion of control, and why you can't control random.

Interview with Ben Halpern (@ThePracticalDev, Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Ben Halpern. You may know him from his tweets as @ThePracticalDev. Ben also is the founder of dev.to, a site for developers to share knowledge and culture with one another.

Check out dev.to to learn a bit more about what Ben has created!

Interview with Ben Halpern (@ThePracticalDev, Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 12:06:00 +0000

Check out dev.to to learn a bit more about what Ben has created!

A Simple Shift for Your Email Inbox Strategy

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll be talking about a very simple shift for your emailing strategy.

Listener Question: How Do I stand Out as a Job Applicant?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss Supui's question regarding how to stand out as an applicant. We reinforce some of the things we've discussed previously, and introduce some new ideas as well. Thanks to Supui for the question!

Listener Question: Jonathan Bocarra Asks About Content Generation and Baby Preparation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 13:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener Jonathan's question about getting ready for a baby, and simultaneously planning content.

How to Hire Well, Even When Limited by Company Policies

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 7 Apr 2017 13:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about hiring in a constrained scenario.

Ep. 365 - Practical Ways to Jumpstart Brainstorming

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Apr 2017 14:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss some practical ways to get brainstorming jumpstarted.

Listener Question: Kan Asks About Creating Reliable Behavioral Systems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Apr 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a listener question about behavioral patterns.

This Mistake Could Be Killing Your Resumé

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll talk about a mistake you may be making with your resumé (and how to avoid it).

Why You Should Evaluate How You're Spending Your Mental Energy

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll be talking about a simple reality of mental awareness. The first step into mental awareness can change your behavior - that's exactly what we'll talk about in today's episode.

SoftSkillsWeekly.com

One Super Simple Tactic to Regain Your Time

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I discuss a simple way of regaining time in your day that has worked very well for me.

Using Substitute Questions to Gain a Better Perspective

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 14:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about using substitute questions to gain new and unique perspectives.

Today's episode is sponsored by Pusher. Build awesome realtime features faster with Pusher. Focus on the application, not the infrastructure! Get started today at spec.fm/pusher

Interview with Brad Frost (@brad_frost, part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Brad Frost, known for coining the term "Atomic Design." Brad literally wrote the book on this subject, and now consults with companies on how to express their brand from language all the way down to the smallest piece of their UI.

Today's episode is sponsored by Pusher. Build awesome realtime features faster with Pusher. Focus on the application, not the infrastructure! Get started today at spec.fm/pusher

Interview with Brad Frost (@brad_frost, part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

Listener Question: Can I Lead Remotely? (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a listener question about whether or not it's possible to lead a team from a remote office. We go pretty in depth on this topic, and this is the second of two parts.

Listener Question: Can I Lead Remotely? (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a listener question about whether or not it's possible to lead a team from a remote office. We go pretty in depth on this topic, and it will run over to a second part.

Interview with Dain Miller (@dainmiller, part 3 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I finish my interview Dain Miller, creator of Start Here FM. Make sure you subscribe if you don't want to miss future interviews and content from Developer Tea!

Today's episode is sponsored by Pusher. Build awesome realtime features faster with Pusher. Focus on the application, not the infrastructure! Get started today at spec.fm/pusher

Interview with Dain Miller (@dainmiller, part 2 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Dain Miller, creator of Start Here FM. This interview is completely packed, so make sure you subscribe if you don't want to miss the final part of the interview!

Today's episode is sponsored by Pusher. Build awesome realtime features faster with Pusher. Focus on the application, not the infrastructure! Get started today at spec.fm/pusher

Interview with Dain Miller (@dainmiller, part 1 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Mar 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Dain Miller, creator of Start Here FM. This interview is completely packed, so make sure you subscribe if you don't want to miss the next part!

Today's episode is sponsored by Pusher. Build awesome realtime features faster with Pusher. Focus on the application, not the infrastructure! Get started today at spec.fm/pusher

Don't Trust Your Friends

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Mar 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll discuss why your friends, coworkers, and others you spend a lot of time around may not always give you the greatest advice.

Not So Trivial: Things That Can Kill Your Focus

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Mar 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about how even seemingly trivial things can be incredibly important for your focus.

How the First Guideline Changes Your Behavior Drastically

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Mar 2017 13:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about how even the first guideline can make a MASSIVE difference in your behavior.

Folklore In Your Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a characteristic of code that should throw a warning flag: when you tell a story to describe your code.

System Vs. Will Power

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the importance of systems over will-power, and how you can run on autopilot without experiencing the side effects of laziness.

Interview with Laurence Bradford (@learncodewithme), Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Laurence Bradford and I finish up our conversation about the job market, knowing what you want to do, publishing, and many other topics relevant to the modern developer.

Today's episode is sponsored by Headspace. Headspace offers you guided meditation that you can take with you, and does so in a beautifully made native app experience. Headspace is also hiring! Head over to https://Headspace.com/join-us to learn more about the openings.

Interview with Laurence Bradford (@learncodewithme), Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Laurence Bradford. Laurence is the creator of Learn Code With Me. For the majority of this interview, we discuss the ambiguity and difficulty of the job market, and finding your way.

What it Means to Rush

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about what it means to rush, and what you can do to avoid it.

Listener Question: Harshitha Asks About Startups Vs. Personal Projects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about creating effective communication protocols.

Create an Effective Communication Protocol With these Rules

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about creating effective communication protocols.

Today's episode is sponsored by Dolby. One of the most important things you can do for your application is ensure that the quality of your audio is strong. Check out how Dolby can help you at spec.fm/dolby.

Three Insights About Heuristics That Can Supercharge Your Decisionmaking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about how you can use heuristics to make better, faster decisions.

Today's episode is brought to you by Flatiron School. Flatiron School is the premier coding bootcamp for launching developers. Proven job outcomes, career-ready curriculum, and a focus on building community through code. Check out their free bootcamp prep course at flatironbootcampprep.com and get $500 off your first month's tutition!

Code Review Excuses

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I outline excuses people often use for not doing code reviews.

Interview with Lauren Cutrell (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I finish my interview Lauren Cutrell. Lauren is the Director of Interactive at Whiteboard, and she also happens to be my wife! We talk about agile, scrum, and how to make those things simple for developers and clients.

Interview with Lauren Cutrell (part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Feb 2017 14:13:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Lauren Cutrell. Lauren is the Director of Interactive at Whiteboard, and she also happens to be my wife! We talk about agile, scrum, and how to make those things simple for developers and clients.

The Einstellung Effect

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Feb 2017 13:42:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about a phenomenon called the Einstellung Effect.

Interview with Kalid Azad (part 3 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I finish my interview with Kalid Azad!

Interview with Kalid Azad (part 2 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview a returning guest, Kalid Azad! Kalid is the creator of BetterExplained.

Kalid's first interview
@BetterExplained on Twitter

Interview with Kalid Azad (part 1 of 3)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview a returning guest, Kalid Azad! Kalid is the creator of BetterExplained.

Kalid's first interview
@BetterExplained on Twitter

Listener Question: Johannes Asks About Getting Hired in the United States

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 14:42:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer Johannes question about his dream of working in a small agency in the states after graduating.

Today's episode is sponsored by Headspace. Headspace offers you guided meditation that you can take with you, and does so in a beautifully made native app experience. Headspace is also hiring! Head over to https://headspace.com/join-us to learn more about the openings.

3 Questions Your Should Be Asking Before Starting A Project

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we ask 3 questions you should always ask before any project.

Interview w/ Wes Bos (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview the creator of JavaScript30 and talented JavaScript developer Wes Bos.

Interview w/ Wes Bos (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview the creator of JavaScript30 and talented JavaScript developer Wes Bos.

Prototyping A Pilot Project

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about prototypes, processes, and the intersection between the two. Sometimes to get something big done, you have to think small.

Finding Your Perspective

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about gaining perspective by recognizing your own fallibility.

Today's episode is sponsored by WooCommerce. WooCommerce is customizable eCommerce built on WordPress. Powering over a third of all online e-commerce stores, with WooCommerce you own all of your data, forever. Use the code "developertea" for 25% off on WooCommerce.com. Head to https://spec.fm/woocommerce for more info.

Understand Your Environment

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode ,we discuss the importance of understanding various components of your environment.

Today's episode is sponsored by WooCommerce, the open source eCommerce solution! Get 25% off by goofing to http://spec.fm/woocommerce and use the code developertea.

Async Code & Promises

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

Today we talk about JavaScript's asynchronous abilities.

2 Years of Tea

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Jan 2017 14:45:00 +0000

Today, we celebrate two incredible years of Developer Tea! We're celebrating this year by launching a contest on CodePen. Listen for more details!

The Anatomy of Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Interview with Josh Muccio (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk with Josh Muccio for part two of our interview about The Pitch. Make sure you catch part one!

Interview with Josh Muccio (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Josh Muccio, the creator of The Pitch.

How Time Affects Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the different ways that time can affect our perception of our own knowledge, especially with relation to trusting that knowledge.

Today's episode is sponsored by imgix! Billions of images are served through imgix every day. With a simple URL-based API, you can resize, filter, crop, and even detect faces in your photos with incredible ease. Check out what imgix has to offer to you today at https://spec.fm/imgix!

Avoiding, "I Told You So"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about avoiding the passive aggressive "I Told You So" conversations.

Listener Question: Alex Asks About Getting Back Into The Game

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:15:00 +0000

In today's episode, Alex asks about getting back into development after a long hiatus. We discuss age discrimination and whether or not to put old experience on a brand new resumé.

Lessons From The Lab

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss lessons we can learn from the lab.

Listener Question: John Wood Asks About Looking for Development Jobs

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 9 Dec 2016 14:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener John Wood's question about sharing his future plans with potential employers.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Head over to Linode.com/developertea or use the code DeveloperTea20 at checkout for a $20 credit towards your cloud hosting account! Thanks again to Linode for your support of Developer Tea.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Two Anti-Patterns To Avoid

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Dec 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll be talking about two anti-patterns you should be avoiding in your code.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

3 Commitments for 2017

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Dec 2016 13:16:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll be talking about three commitments you can make as you prepare for 2017.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Cody Asks About Developer Speed

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Dec 2016 14:20:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener Cody's question about speed, quality, and what to do when your manager asks you to cut corners.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Josh Asks About Getting A Raise

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about Josh's question regarding negotiating a raise.

Patrick Asks About What to Do When You Live in a Tech-Company Wasteland

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, Patrick asks about what to do when you have no tech companies near you to apply at. We talk a bit about the Developer Career Roadmap, and I give advice for working remotely.

Empathy + Celebrating 5 Million Listens

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 16:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we celebrate 5 million listens, and then we talk about empathy.

DCR Step 9: Replace Yourself

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we cover the final step in the Developer Career Roadmap: Replace Yourself.

In today's episode, we discuss a lot of topics that we've covered in the past. Make sure you go and search for these topics at https://spec.fm/podcasts/developer-tea, and thank again again for continuing to listen to this podcast!

DCR Step 8: Do Your Job Better Than Anyone Else

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we cover the next step in the Developer Career Roadmap.

DCR: Step 7 - Interviewing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 16:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the incredibly important process of interviewing. More specifically, where you should interview, and for what position.

Today's episode is sponsored by Hired.com! If you are looking for a job as a developer or a designer and don't know where to start, head over to Hired now! If you get a job through this special link, you'll receive a $2,000 bonus - that's twice the normal bonus provided by Hired. Thanks again to Hired for sponsoring the show!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Donovan Asks About Analysis Paralysis

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about Donovan's question regarding his analysis paralysis.

Poison Series - Indecision

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get your own Linux server in the cloud with full control in just minutes. You can also get $20 of Linode credit if you use the code developertea at checkout, or go straight to spec.fm/linode.

DCR: Step 6 - Going Public

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about Developer Career Roadmap step 6, going public.

Listener Question: Charissa Asks About Handling a Stressful Situation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 Nov 2016 12:50:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a question from listener Charissa about her stressful work situation as a brand new developer.

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show and share with another developer you think will enjoy this episode! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Developer Career Roadmap Step 5: Cross Train (part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Nov 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the 5th step in the Developer Career Roadmap - cross training.

Relevant to today's episode:

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show and share with another developer you think will enjoy this episode! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Developer Career Roadmap, Step 5: Cross Train

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 12:50:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the 5th step in the Developer Career Roadmap - cross training.

Relevant to today's episode:

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show and share with another developer you think will enjoy this episode! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

DCR: Step 4 - Internships

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we cover the fourth step in the Developer Career Roadmap: Getting an internship or an entry level position in the industry.

We announced the Developer Career Roadmap earlier this month with the goal of helping early career stage developers create a solid plan with actionable steps to advance their career. Subscribe if you don't want to miss out on future episodes of Developer Tea!

Interview with David Rael (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Dave Rael, host of Developer On Fire.

Today's episode mentions quite a few of the episodes on Dave's show, so make sure you go and check it out! All of the mentioned episodes can be found at the following link.

List of Developer on Fire Episodes

Today's sponsor is Chartio. All of your data in one place. Simply powerful. Start your free trial today at Spec.fm/chartio

Interview with Dave Rael (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Dave Rael, host of Developer On Fire.

Today's episode mentions quite a few of the episodes on Dave's show, so make sure you go and check it out! All of the mentioned episodes can be found at the following link.

List of Developer on Fire Episodes

Today's sponsor is Chartio. All of your data in one place. Simply powerful. Start your free trial today at Spec.fm/chartio

DCR-Step 3: Skill Set Development (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss step three in the Developer Career Roadmap, the never ending learning cycle.

Today's sponsor is Chartio. All of your data in one place. Simply powerful. Start your free trial today at Spec.fm/chartio

DCR - Step 3: Learning About Companies (Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 13:40:00 +0000

In today's episode, we start step 3 of the Developer Career Roadmap.

DCR Step Two: Picking a Base Language

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 12:40:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about step two in the Developer Career Roadmap: Picking your base programming language.

The Developer Career Roadmap is intended to provide guidelines for someone at any point in their career who wants to become a full-time software developer.

Today's episode is sponsored by Whiteboard. At Whiteboard, we leverage technology daily to accomplish great vision. Come work with us - send us your resumé and your thoughts at work@whiteboard.is, and learn more at spec.fm/whiteboard.

Dev Career Roadmap, Step One: Create a Time Budget

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about step one in the Developer Career Roadmap: budgeting your time.

The Developer Career Roadmap is intended to provide guidelines for someone at any point in their career who wants to become a full-time software developer.

Announcing Developer Career Roadmap

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I am very excited to announce the Developer Career Roadmap!

The Developer Career Roadmap is intended to provide guidelines for someone at any point in their career who wants to become a full-time software developer.

Getting Over Language Barriers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about language barriers, and how to get over them. We're not talking about native versus non-native languages - instead, we're talking about learning how to name new concepts. I'll give you three specific tips for better handling these kinds of language barriers!

Mentioned on today's episode:

Click here to leave a review of Developer Tea on iTunes!

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get root access on super-fast linux cloud servers in just a few minutes! Use the code DeveloperTea20 to get $20 of credit when you sign up.

Anti-Advice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 7 Oct 2016 09:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, what you hear on this podcast is bad advice. In general, we try to provide guide rails for your career, but to get the most out of a general rule, you have to apply it specifically. That's what we talk about in today's episode.

Click here to leave a review of Developer Tea on iTunes!

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get root access on super-fast linux cloud servers in just a few minutes! Use the code DeveloperTea20 to get $20 of credit when you sign up.

Listener Question: Kevin asks About College

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Oct 2016 14:00:00 +0000

In today's episode listener Kevin asks about whether he should return to college or not.

Click here to leave a review of Developer Tea on iTunes!

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get root access on super-fast linux cloud servers in just a few minutes! Use the code DeveloperTea20 to get $20 of credit when you sign up.

Listener Question: Matt asks, What To Do About Job Boredom?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Oct 2016 12:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, Matt asks about what to do when he gets bored at his job. Hint: quitting is not always the answer!

Click here to leave a review of Developer Tea on iTunes!

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get root access on super-fast linux cloud servers in just a few minutes! Use the code DeveloperTea20 to get $20 of credit when you sign up.

Listener Question: Amanda asks about Building Resumés and Cover Letters

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the do's and don't's of resumés and cover letters thanks to a question from listener Amanda.

Today's episode is sponsored by Zendesk! With Zendesk, you can get feedback from your customers without making them leave your application, leading to faster resolution times and happier users! Check it out at Zendesk.com/developertea today!

Listener Question: Abigail asks about Interview Attire

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 12:48:00 +0000

In today's question, Abigail asks about appropriate interview attire! Ask your question at developertea@gmail.com.

Thinking About Logic Paths

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 12:50:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss how logic paths can help you understand how to construct clearer code.

Lighter Objects for Better REST Apps

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 12:30:00 +0000

Today's question is about creating better REST applications by making lighter objects.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec! Go and learn more about the fantastic resources we're creating for you daily at
Spec.fm.

Today's episode is also sponsored by Heap! If you're still using a basic analytics package for your site or application, you're probably missing out. Go to spec.fm/heap to be redirected to Heap’s special landing page where you can see a full feature breakdown.

Listener Question: Naren Asks About Realistic Working Hours

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a listener question from Naren who wants to know how many hours are realistic for a developer to produce work in a given day.

Business Insider article about working over 60 hours per week

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec! Go and learn more about the fantastic resources we're creating for you daily at
Spec.fm.

Listener Question: Lars Asks About How To Work With Difficult Developers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I discuss how to deal with a difficult team member, addressing a question from listener Lars. Thanks for the question, Lars!

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec! Go and learn more about the fantastic resources we're creating for you daily at
Spec.fm.

The O-Word

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 04:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about talking. Specifically, we talk about using the word "obviously", as well as a few other "L-Y" words.

Why are words so important? How can word choice affect our thinking and relationships?

Thanks to listener Joey for sending in this question!

Re-Air: Listener Question: Mujthaba Asks About What To Do When You Don't Know

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 09:00:00 +0000

Note: Today's episode is a re-airing of an episode that came out last week. Tune in Friday for a brand new episode of Developer Tea!

In today's episode, we talk about how to handle questions that you don't have good answers to.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

The Truth About Old Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about old code. Even though it may seem easier to rip out the old code and replace it entirely, slow down and listen to this episode first!

Don't forget to subscribe in whatever podcasting app you use!

Picking the Right Side Project

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 9 Sep 2016 13:26:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the aspects that make for a great side project to increase your employability.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Mujthaba Asks About What To Do When You Don't Know

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Sep 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about how to handle questions that you don't have good answers to.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

3 Refactoring Techniques You Can Employ In Under 5 Minutes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Sep 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about three refactoring techniques, each you can employ in under 5 minutes.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Deliberate Practice: Part 2

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Sep 2016 12:47:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking specifically about deliberate practice.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Deliberate Practice: Part 1

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 13:27:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking specifically about deliberate practice.

Today's episode is sponsored by RefactorU, the 10-week JavaScript training bootcamp focused on developers dedicated to reinventing themselves. You can get 20% off of tuition by mentioning Developer Tea today! Head over to spec.fm/refactor to get started!

Tips for Students

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk to those of you who are students starting school this semester.

Discussion about the value of school for designers

One more thing...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show and share with a student you think will enjoy this episode! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

3 Things Aspiring Developers Should Be Doing Today

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is for all aspiring developers, and you can start today. It won't be easy, but it will work.

Media Consumption Diet

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Digging Up Your Job Description

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about digging up your job description - your real job description, not just that list of languages you put on your resumé.

3 Concrete Ways to Be a Better Co-worker

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about 3 simple, concrete ways you can be a better coworker, starting today.

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Poison Series: #02 - Indecision

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the importance of overcoming indecision.

Poison series, #01: Cynicism

Poison Series: #01 - Cynicism

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 13:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, we begin a mini-series on developer poisons. Our first poisonous nemesis is cynicism. We'll talk about ways to effectively combat cynicism.

My Top Productivity Practice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about my top productivity practice. I'll give you a hint: there's no hacks or tricks in this episode. Just hard work.

Pomodoro Technique

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Getting Fast First

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the importance of performance (especially as it relates to UI) and how getting fast first can ultimately lead to a cheaper project cost in the end.

Be sure to share this episode with someone you think needs to hear it!

Finding Invisible Levers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the concept of "invisible levers", and how you can use the concept to help relieve tension in your projects.

Listener Question: Daman asks about Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Aug 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, listener Daman asks about what to do next in his career.

Thinking Small

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Sahar's Second Question On the Show! Sahar asks, "Is it ok to ask for a trial period as a candidate?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 5 Aug 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer Sahar's question about whether or not it's okay to ask for a trial period as the interviewee.

Crafting a Better Interview Process

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Simple Machines

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Aug 2016 14:06:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the redirection of misplaced energy through the lens of 7th grade science.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Putting Process in its Place

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Aug 2016 14:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll talk about putting process in it's correct place, and problems we can face when we use process incorrectly in our business.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Effective Simulations

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I discuss the importance of effective simulations for developers.

Listener Question: Michael Asks About Qualifications for Career Changes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I answer listener Michael's question about being qualified to jump career tracks.

Developer Tea episode about making smaller things

The Business of Good Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about some of the characteristics of good code, and why it's so important for businesses to invest in good code.

Developer Tea episode on Single Responsibility Principle

Listener Question: Brett Asks About How to Identify When You're Being Set Up For Failure

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, listener Brett asks about what you should do when someone sets you up for failure.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm, where designers and developers gather to level up in their careers. If you're interested in sharing your message with thousands of talented designers, developers, and entrepreneurs at the top of their field, head over to spec.fm/sponsors today!

Working on Saturdays

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer yet another question from Reddit about working overtime.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec! If you are interested in having your message in front of thousands of developers and designers, head over to spec.fm/sponsors to learn more today!

Reddit CS Career Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 12:45:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'm answering a few random questions from Reddit's r/cscareerquestions subreddit.

Questions from Reddit:

Today's episode is sponsored by Rigor! Head over to http://spec.fm/rigor to get a kickoff call scheduled today.

Listener Question: Am I Too Old for a Career in Tech?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer Utsha and Kim's questions about whether or not they are too old for a career in the tech industry.

Mentioned: FourBarrelCoffee.com

Today's episode is sponsored by WooCommerce! WooCommerce is customizable eCommerce built on WordPress, and is powering 30% of all online stores. Use the code "developertea" to get 25% off at WooCommerce.com now!

Two Common Questions from Early Career Developers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll talk about two common questions from early-career developers.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Three Habits of Great Learners

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about three habits of great learners that you can adopt into your own habit system today.

Listener Question: Marc Asks About Testing Private Methods

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a few questions from listener Marc about testing.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part 2: Interview with Rita Rovira

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 7 Jul 2016 15:30:00 +0000

In today's episode I talk with Rita Rovira, who has been in the business of hiring developers for most of her career.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part 1: Interview with Rita Rovira

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 5 Jul 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I talk with Rita Rovira, who has been in the business of hiring developers for most of her career.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Jack Asks About Applying New Knowledge

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Jul 2016 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener Jack's questions about applying information he is learning through reading and other resources.

Jack contacted me via Slack, and you can too! Head over to http://spec.fm/slack to join us, and thousands of other developers and designers, today!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Question: How Do You Job Hunt During Internships?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a question from Reddit about job hunting during an internship.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Brad Asks About Leadership

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll talk about a question sent in by listener Brad about becoming a leader.

Relevant to today's episode:

One more thing...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

The Tone of Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the "tone of code."

Relevant to today's episode:

One more thing...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Air, Fuel & Ignition

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I share with you a metaphor you can use that may help the next time you get stuck troubleshooting a bug.

Listener Question: Jona Asks About Designer Developers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener and designer Jona's question about coming into a development career.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Picturing the Perfect Client

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we're talking about picturing the perfect client. The challenge to you is to think about your goals and your dream clients.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm. Go find more amazing podcasts specifically created for you, the developer!

Reddit User Question: Parag0n asks about Architecting Projects

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, Parag0n asks a question about architecting a large software system for the first time.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

The Great Developer Mindset: Getting Acquainted with Failure

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about getting acquainted with failure.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec. If you're interested in sharing your message with tens of thousands of developers and designers, head over to Spec.fm/sponsors and reach out to our team!

Leading People to Meeting Victories

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 14:12:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about leading people to victory in meetings.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec. If you're interested in sharing your message with tens of thousands of developers and designers, head over to Spec.fm/sponsors and reach out to our team!

Answering Listener Questions: Jean Michel asks about avoiding bike shedding

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener Jean Michel's question about bikeshedding.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

Spec Slack community
Dev Tea episodes on Focus:
- Focus
- Three tips for practicing focus

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Great Developer Mindset: Redefining Complete

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Jun 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about redefining "Complete". This episode is the second in the "Great Developer Mindset" series.

Today's discussion talks about when to consider your code complete, and the dangers of skipping the details.

Answering Listener Questions: Ajay asks about learning project ideas

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Jun 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer listener Ajay's question about how to determine what type of project he should choose to learn JavaScript.

Mentioned or Relevant:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Defeating The Interview Lull

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Jun 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about defeating the interview lull.

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get a 20 dollar credit today by going to linode.com/developertea20 and get your first server up in minutes!

The Work / Life Equation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 May 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode , we're talking about the Work/Life Equation.

Today's episode is sponsored by FreshBooks! Get paid faster, and get control of your business cash flow. Head over to FreshBooks.com/DeveloperTea today to get started with a free month. Don't forget to enter “Developer Tea” in the “how Did you Hear About Us?” Section when you sign up. Thanks again to FreshBooks for sponsoring the show!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

The Great Developer Mindset - Demystifying Code

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 May 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'll be doing the first in a series of episodes about the Great Developer Mindset. In this part, we will talk about demystifying code.

Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes! Also, please take a moment to review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Interview with Tony Hillerson (Part 2)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I talk to Tony Hillerson, author of "Seven Mobile Apps in Seven Days." This a longer interview, split into two separate parts - be certain to subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Interview with Tony Hillerson (@thillerson, Part 1)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I talk to Tony Hillerson, author of "Seven Mobile Apps in Seven Days." This a longer interview, split into two separate parts - be certain to subscribe so you don't miss out on part two!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

The Assumption of Impossible

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's short inspiration episode, we discuss the "assumption of impossibility."

Flexible Decision Terms

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the "shutdown", yes-ifs, and flexible decision terms.

Relevant to today's episode

Live with Ismael Burciaga (@burciaga) at @SquaresConference

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Ismael Burciaga, creator of Squares, about conferences and taking a first step into unfamiliar territory.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Live @SquaresConference with Andi Graham (@andigrahambsd)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Andi Graham, CMO and managing partner at Big Sea Design.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

Live @SquaresConference Interview w/ @KimBost: Part 2

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had a chance to speak with Kim Bost, product designer at Dropbox!

Mentioned on today's show:

Disclaimer: Design Details, a show on the Spec Network, is supported by Dropbox, but Developer Tea (including this specific episode) is not.

Live @SquaresConference Interview w/ Kim Bost: Part 1

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had a chance to speak with Kim Bost, product designer at Dropbox!

Mentioned or relevant:

Kim Bost's personal website
Squares Conference
Dropbox
Logo programming language
Editorial note - I said "Apple II" during the episode, but almost certainly meant the original Macintosh.
Some of Kim's work
Pencil Factory Flats and Shops (in Atlanta)

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Key Moments in Client Relationships

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we discuss how to recognize 4 key moments that can make or break your relationship with a client.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: John asks "How Do I Transition from Mid to Senior Level Development?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk to Developer Tea listener John about his transition period between jobs.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Improving Views

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 May 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we discuss 3 ways to improve your views.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Maintaining Realationships with Your Colleagues

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'll talk with you about maintaining relationships with your colleagues!

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

If you're interested in sponsoring Developer Tea, head over to spec.fm/sponsors today!

Part 2: Performance Budget for Optimization

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode (and the next episode of Developer Tea), we discuss avoiding over-optimization by creating a "performance budget".

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

Part 1: Performance Budget for Optimization

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode (and the next episode of Developer Tea), we discuss avoiding over-optimization by creating a "performance budget".

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

Proactive Client Communication

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 09:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is all about proactive client communication!

A HUGE thanks to today's sponsor, FreshBooks! FreshBooks is ridiculously easy to use, and will help you get your books straight and get paid faster. To claim your free month, go to FreshBooks.com/DeveloperTea and enter “Developer Tea” in the “how Did you Hear About Us?” Section when you sign up.

Refactoring Based on Code Responsibility

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I give you some tips for refactoring based on the responsibility of your code.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

Single Responsibility Principle
Developer Tea Episode on SRP
Sorting algorithms (note the single-letter variable names)
"Anti-pattern: The God Object"
And the long awaited announcement: Developer Tea is available on Google Play!

Abstract Mental Models

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about four different types of abstract mental models.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Squares Conference! Go to SquaresConference.com and use the code SPECFM25 at checkout to get 25% off your ticket to Squares. I'll see you there!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Chris Castiglione (@castig)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Castiglione (@castig), one of the cofounders of One Month (onemonth.com).

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Chris Castiglione (@castig)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Castiglione (@castig), one of the cofounders of One Month (onemonth.com).

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Two Incredibly Important Mindsets for Becoming a Great Debugger

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Debugging is a part of every developer's career. In fact, a large portion of what developers do is fix code. In today's episode, I'm going to share with you two important mindsets to have to become a great debugger.

Mentioned or Relevant to Today's Episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Interval Thinking

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we'll discuss a perspective, "interval thinking", that could help return your estimation efforts to a more sane place.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Minimum Viable Prioritization

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Apr 2016 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I want to give you a mindset for prioritization that I believe can stick with you for the rest of your career.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Foolishly Generous

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Apr 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea, I issue a challenge to you, the listener, to be foolishly generous.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Matt Gale Asks About Onboarding New Team Memebers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about bringing new team members up to speed (this is a question from listener Matt Gale).

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

🎉 3 Million Listens! 🎉

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'm celebrating an amazing 3 million listens (thank you!) by going back to the core fundamentals of Developer Tea: Focus.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Experienced Developers and Impostor Syndrome

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 25 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about impostor syndrome, specifically as it relates to the experienced developer.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Interview with Sam Lambert (@isamlambert)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Sam Lambert, Director of Systems at GitHub.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Interview with Sam Lambert (@isamlambert)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Sam Lambert, Director of Systems at GitHub.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Simon Asks About Assimilating into A New Company Culture

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a question from listener Simon about assimilating into a new culture.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Interview with Kalid Azad @betterexplained

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Kalid Azad, writer and teacher, and creator of BetterExplained.com.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Interview with Kalid Azad (@betterexplained)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 07:00:00 +0000

Mentioned on today's episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Crafting The Interview Process

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Crafting a Better Interview Process

We surprisingly have no relevant non-sponsor links today, but take some time instead to think about and refine your interviewing process. You'll be surprised how much you will learn!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Interview with Rachel Smith

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Mar 2016 08:10:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Rachel Smith, a JavaScript developer currently working at CodePen!

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Interview with Rachel Smith

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Mar 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Rachel Smith, a JavaScript developer currently working at CodePen!

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Interview With Kenneth Reitz (@kennethreitz)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 Mar 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Kenneth Reitz, Python product owner at Heroku!

Mentioned or Relevant:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Interview With Kenneth Reitz (@kennethreitz)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Kenneth Reitz, Python product owner at Heroku!

Mentioned or Relevant:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Episode 200!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is the 200th episode of Developer Tea! In this episode, I skip the stats, and instead share with you some of the things I've learned along the way of building this podcast since last January.

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Thinking Hats

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Developer Tea is proudly supported by Dev Bootcamp, the original immersive coding program that transforms beginners into full-stack web developers. Head over to devbootcamp.com/developertea to learn more.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Interview w/ Jason Snell

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I have the pleasure of being joined by Jason Snell!

Productivity discussion:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Interview w/ Jason Snell

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I have the pleasure of being joined by Jason Snell!

Jason Snell

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Client Relationships: Meeting Preparation Tips

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're going to discuss a few tips for preparing for a client meeting.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

Previous episode about client relationships

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Interview with David Hemphill

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview designer and developer David Hemphill.

Mentioned in Today's Episode

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Interview with David Hemphill

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview designer and developer David Hemphill.

Mentioned in Today's Episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Building and Maintaining Client Relationships: Active Listening

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about a fundamental skill for building client relationships: active listening.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

User stories

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Simon St. Laurent

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'll be talking with Simon St. Laurent, senior editor at O'Reilly and veteran web developer.

Mentioned on or relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Simon St. Laurent

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'll be talking with Simon St. Laurent, senior editor at O'Reilly and veteran web developer.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Turbulence

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 5 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about turbulence, and a new approach to responding to difficulties you encounter.

Mentioned or relevant to today's episode

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part 2: Una Kravets (@Una)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 3 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Una Kravets, developer at IBM and prolific open source advocate.

Mentioned or Relevant on Today's Episode

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part 1: Una Kravets (@Una)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Feb 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Una Kravets, developer at IBM and prolific open source advocate.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Crucial Steps for Interview Preparation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we will discuss the sunk cost fallacy and 3 traps that lead to the sunk cost fallacy that you should avoid.

Mentioned Or Relevant To Today's Episode

Hired.com (Disclaimer: Hired is a sponsor of this show, but did not sponsor this episode.)
Culture and Connecting to Our Work with Pamela Vickers

Part 2 - Rachel Nabors (@rachelnabors)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, I interview Rachel Nabors, front-end developer, animator, speaker, and writer.

Today's episode is sponsored by Hired.com! If you are looking for a job as a developer or a designer and don't know where to start, head over to http://www.hired.com/developertea now! If you get a job through this special link, you'll receive a $2,000 bonus - that's twice the normal bonus provided by Hired. Thanks again to Hired for sponsoring the show!

Rachel Nabors Online:
- http://rachelnabors.com
- https://twitter.com/RachelNabors
- http://codepen.io/rachelnabors/
- https://dribbble.com/rachelthegreat
- Web Animation Weekly
Part One of this interview (Developer Tea Episode)
Web Animation API (on GitHub)
SMIL Animation for SVG
jQuery
Timmy Willison (jQuery Core Team Member)
Whiteboard
10 Year Anniversary of jQuery
Greensock
You Might Not Need jQuery
Greensock Ease Visualizer
border-radius
John Lasseter (Pixar) quote
Ray tracing
Ray tracing Disney video
Motionographer
"Looking Ahead and Behind" - Rachel's Blog
Chris Coyier on Developer Tea

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part 1 - Rachel Nabors (@rachelnabors)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, I interview Rachel Nabors, front-end developer, animator, speaker, and writer.

Rachel Nabors Online:
- http://rachelnabors.com
- https://twitter.com/RachelNabors
- http://codepen.io/rachelnabors/
- https://dribbble.com/rachelthegreat
Opinions: Ally or Enemy? (Developer Tea episode)
Nerdist discussion about eye framerate
HFES (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Explanation on 23.976fps vs 24fps
https://addyosmani.com/
- Addy’s Blog
Google Developer Channel on YouTube
Mozilla’s Introduction to the CSS Box Model
CSS-Tricks article about the Box Model
Adobe’s After Effects
Adobe Flash (Animate CC)
Features You Don’t Need (At Least For Now) - Developer Tea
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
CSS Animation (CSS-Tricks)
http://www.rachelthegreat.com/
Mozilla Web Animation API
My Codepen Portfolio (jcutrell)

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Sunk Cost Fallacy and 3 Traps to Avoid

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we will discuss the sunk cost fallacy and 3 traps that lead to the sunk cost fallacy that you should avoid.

Mentioned Or Relevant To Today's Episode

Learning On The Job

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I discuss four tips for learning on the job.

Mentioned on or relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Comparison Conundrums

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the problems we may encounter when we employ one of our brain's superpowers, comparison.

Mentioned on or relevant to today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Features You Don't Need (At Least For Now)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode of Developer Tea, I talk about features your application doesn't need (at least for now). This episode is focused mostly towards early application development, but we discuss a few things that are completely relevant to later stage applications as well.

Mentioned Or Relevant To Today's Episode

Developer Tea Gear: From My Room to Your Ears

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Today's episode talks all about gear! We're discussing the gear I use to record this show.

Mentioned on or relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Cognitive Biases That Can Kill Your Product

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss two cognitive biases that could kill your work, whether you are creating a startup product or working for a well established business.

Mentioned on or relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Hired.com! If you are looking for a job as a developer or a designer and don't know where to start, head over to Hired now! If you get a job through this special link, you'll receive a $4,000 bonus - that's twice the normal bonus provided by Hired. Thanks again to Hired for sponsoring the show!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Felix Asks, "How do I gain the experience needed for the job I want?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I respond to a question from listener Felix about getting past the "no experience" problem.

Mentioned on or relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code DeveloperTea at checkout to get one month of a 1GB droplet, completely free!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Celebrating One Year of Developer Tea

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I celebrate the one-year anniversary of Developer Tea! Thank you for making this year great. I look forward to many more!

Mentioned in today's episode:

Spec.fm
DeveloperTea.com
developertea@gmail.com

Thank you so much for listening to Developer Tea over the last year! Be sure to check out the other shows and content on Spec.fm!

Three Tips For Practicing Focus

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, we talk about focus, once again! Focus is a topic that can’t be covered enough.

Today's episode is sponsored by Hired! Go to Hired.com/developertea to start your job path today!

Mentioned on or relevant to today’s episode:

Unroll.me
Pushover
Vim
Basic Linux Shortcuts
Mac OS X Shortcuts
Alfred App
“Why mess causes stress” - Psychology Today article

Today's episode is sponsored by https://hired.com/developertea! If you are a developer or a designer looking for a job, Hired is a fantastic place to begin your journey! The special link for a doubled bonus (from $2,000 to $4,000) is https://hired.com/developertea.

And lastly…

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Making Your Resolutions Stick

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year! In today's episode, I talk about resolutions. It's 2016, and you're probably making resolutions for the New Year. Listen to this episode if you want to make them stick.

Mentioned in or relevant to today's episode

Today's episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com! Go to onemonth.com/developertea to get 25% your first month today!

Part Two: Interview with Marcelo Somers & John Gully

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I continue my interview with Marcelo Somers and John Gully.

Mentioned on today's episode

Thank you for listening to Developer Tea today, and this year. I look forward to doing this podcast with you in 2016!

Part One: Interview with Marcelo Somers (@marcelosomers) & John Gully (@johngully)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Marcelo Somers and John Gully.

Mentioned Or Relevant To Today's Episode

Today's episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com! One Month is the first ever online school specifically for tech entrepreneurs. Enroll now at onemonth.com/developertea for 25% off your first month.

Bonus Episode: Season's Greetings

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 25 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Happy Holidays! Today, I simply want to thank you, and challenge you to start thinking about the upcoming year, and reflect on the past year.

Developer Tea happens because of you, so thank you!

Mentioned on today's episode

When Documentation Is A Bad Thing

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about when documentation can be a bad thing.

Relevant to today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Hired.com! If you are a developer or a designer looking for a job, Hired is a fantastic place to begin your journey! The special link for a doubled bonus is https://hired.com/developertea.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: Interview with Christopher Schmitt (@teleject)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I finish the interview with Christopher Schmitt, author of the CSS Cookbook and part owner of Environments for Humans. Click here to listen to part one of the interview.

Mentioned in today's episode:

Today's episode doesn't have a specific sponsor. Instead, head over to spec.fm and check out the other shows on the network!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Interview With Christopher Schmitt (@teleject)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Christopher Schmitt, author of CSS Cookbook and part owner of Environments for Humans.

Mentioned in today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code DEVELOPER TEA at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Opinions: Ally or Enemy

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, we discuss when opinions can be helpful, and when they can be harmful.

Mentioned in today's episode

When opinions are a good thing:
- When the evidence for a given topic is inaccessible or doesn't exist
- When the person with the opinion has significant experiential knowledge
- When the subject of the work is primarily representative of a person's opinion or expression
When are opinions a bad thing?
- When an opinion is positioned as an objective truth.
- When the opinion of an individual devalues any other individual's perspective without objective reasoning
- When opinion is used as a substitute for research.

Today's episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com! One Month is the first ever online school specifically for tech entrepreneurs. Enroll now at onemonth.com/developertea for 25% off your first month.

Talking about User Experience and Education w/ Jessica Ivins (@jessicaivins) - Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I continue my interview with Jessica Ivins. Jessica is a User Experience educator at Center Centre.

Mentioned on today's episode

Jessica Ivins Online:
- @JessicaIvins
- jessicaivins.net
- http://centercentre.com/about/jessica-ivins
- Center Centre
Never Eat Alone (book)
MySpeed (video speed tool)
Media Consumption Diet (Developer Tea episode)
Sponsors of Spec
Whiteboard
The User Experience Team of One (book)

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Talking about User Experience and Education with Jessica Ivins (@jessicaivins) - Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had a chance to interview Jessica Ivins. Jessica is a User Experience educator at Center Centre.

Mentioned on today's episode

Jessica Ivins Online:
- @JessicaIvins
- jessicaivins.net
- http://centercentre.com/about/jessica-ivins
Center Centre
What Center Centre looks for in a student applicant:
- Lifelong learner
- Empathy
Around 7:30 or so, we start talking about context and audience
Around 9:30 we talk about the complexity of feeling and accessibility as it relates to user experience
AP Style Book
Lynda.com
Make it Stick
Designing for Touch

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Listener Question: Matt Hirsch asks, "Does it make more sense to spend a lot of money on extensive resources or spend less on short courses to learn code?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a question from listener Matt Hirsch.

Mentioned on today's episode

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code DEVELOPER TEA at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Follow @DeveloperTea on Twitter | Leave a rating and review for Developer Tea on iTunes | Join Spec's Slack community for free

Making The Most Of Your Off Time

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss how to make the most of your off time.

Mentioned in today's episode

Today's episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com! One Month is the first ever online school specifically for tech entrepreneurs. Enroll now at onemonth.com/developertea for 25% off your first month.

The Voice Inside Your Head

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we discuss the concept of vocalizing the things you are thinking about as you work through a problem - the "voice inside your head."

Mentioned on today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

7 Networking Tips for Developers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Dec 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I share some tips to help you start networking as a developer. We'll discuss 7 tips that you can start using today to cultivate a well rounded networking strategy.

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part Two: The Great Framework Debate

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we continue our discussion from last week about frameworks.

Mentioned on today's episode

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code DEVELOPER TEA at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Follow @DeveloperTea on Twitter | Leave a rating and review for Developer Tea on iTunes | Join Spec's Slack community for free

Part One: The Great Framework Debate

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is sponsored by Delighted! Delighted is the easiest way to gather feedback from your customers. Sign up for a paid account at https://delighted.com/tea and receive a $100 credit today!

Mentioned on today's episode

Don't forget to subscribe in your podcasting app, and leave a review in iTunes!

Today's episode is sponsored by Delighted! Delighted is the easiest way to gather feedback from your customers, and view the data in a real-time dashboard. Sign up for a paid account at http://delighted.com/tea and receive a $100 credit today!

Delighted is also hiring Front-End engineers! Head over to http://delighted.com/jobs to find out more.

Turkey & Tea

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for listening to Developer Tea. In today's short special episode, I issue a challenge for you!

Listener Question: Jean-Michel Asks, "How Do You Know When It's Time To Lead A Team That Has No Leader?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I respond to Jean-Michel's question about when it's time to step up and lead a team that currently has no leader.

Mentioned on today's episode (or otherwise relevant)

Today's episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com! One Month is the first ever online school specifically for tech entrepreneurs. Enroll now at onemonth.com/developertea for 25% off your first month.

Listener Question: Mark asks, "What's Happening to the Ruby Developer Community?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

What's happening to the Ruby community? Is it flailing, or doing just fine? Some evidence and simple logic says both are possible. Let's explore it a bit further in today's episode!

Mentioned in today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to review Developer Tea in iTunes.

Makers Versus Menders with Andrea Goulet (@andreagoulet)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Today I talk with Andrea Goulet about software "makers and menders." Andrea is the CEO of CorgiBytes. Listen in if you are interested in refactoring and green field projects, and the difference between the two!

Mentioned on today's show:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code DEVELOPER TEA at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Follow @DeveloperTea on Twitter | Leave a rating and review for Developer Tea on iTunes | Join Spec's Slack community for free

Thinking Small

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about solving small problems. I'll give you a few tips for scoping your problems down to be smaller.

Mentioned on today's show

Click here to leave a review of Developer Tea on iTunes!

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get root access on super-fast linux cloud servers in just a few minutes! Use the code DeveloperTea10 to get $10 off on your new account.

Focus, Fear, and Missing Out: Picking Tools Without Anxiety

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about FoMO (the fear of missing out) as it relates to deciding what tools to use.

Mentioned on today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get root access on super-fast linux cloud servers in just a few minutes! Use the code DeveloperTea10 to get $10 off on your new account.

The Frontend at Whiteboard

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 10:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I talk about some of the front-end tools we use at Whiteboard.

Join Spec on Slack: http://spec.fm/slack

Mentioned on today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to open Developer Tea in iTunes.

How To Make Small Things A Big Deal, Plus: Celebrating 2 Million Listens!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Thank you for helping Developer Tea make it to 2 million listens! This is a major milestone for the show.

Not many external resources were mentioned on today's episode, but I'd love to invite you to leave a review on iTunes!

Leave a review for Developer Tea on iTunes now.

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code DEVELOPER TEA at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Follow @DeveloperTea on Twitter | Leave a rating and review for Developer Tea on iTunes | Join Spec's Slack community for free

Getting The Most Out Of A Conference

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Today, we talk about participating in conferences, both as a speaker and as an attendee.

Mentioned on or relevant to today's episode:

2015 CSS Dev Conf
Speaking.io (speaking resources for beginners)
SassConf
SassSummit - Use the discount code "CUTRELL" to get 20% off! Attend online from anywhere in the world.
Leave a review for Developer Tea on iTunes!
Join the Spec Slack community today

Today's episode is sponsored by Linode! Get root access on super-fast linux cloud servers in just a few minutes! Use the code DeveloperTea10 to get $10 off on your new account.

Code Without Fear

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Code without fear! Happy late Halloween, everyone. :)

Mentioned on the show or otherwise relevant:

Today's sponsor is Linode! Linode is focused on making their servers ultra-fast. Run containers or your own Git server, with full root access. Linode offers hourly billing with a monthly cap on all plans and add-on services.

Head over to http://linode.com/developertea and use the code DeveloperTea10 to get a $10 credit today!

Listener Question: Sean asks, "Where Can I Find Well Written Code?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Sean asked me where to find well written code in Slack. (You can join us by going to http://spec.fm/slack)

Lastly: Be sure to rate and review Developer Tea on iTunes!

How do I manage a project that feels too big for one person to handle?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Today I talk about managing projects that seem relatively large for one person (or a small team) to manage.

Mentioned on today's show:

Spec Slack channel
Sean Washington (from Does Not Compute)
Agile
Kanban
GTD
GitHub Issues
Trello
Simplenote
Imgix - disclaimer: Imgix has sponsored the show before, but this episode was not sponsored.

Not mentioned, but relevant:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code DEVELOPER TEA at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Follow @DeveloperTea on Twitter | Leave a rating and review for Developer Tea on iTunes | Join Spec's Slack community for free

Leave It Better Than The Way You Found It

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today I give you a short homily: Leave code (and anything, really) better than you find it!

In this episode, I'll share 5 simple ways that you can make code better every time you touch it.

Mentioned in today's show:

Todays episode is brought to you by Spec.fm! Level up your design or development career today with free, rich content about the industry, craft, and tools you use every day. Visit Spec today!

Listener Question: Jake Schwartz (@jakehschwartz_) asks, "How do I suggest improvements to someone else's codebase without offending them?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today, I discuss a question Jake Schwartz asked me in the Spec.fm Slack community. You can join our Slack community by going to spec.fm/slack.

Mentioned on today's episode:

Note - there was a little hiccup in the editing process. We said 70ms is equivalent to "point-zero" seconds - of course, that would be impossible. It is equivalent to 0.07 seconds.

Subscribe to Developer Tea today on iTunes and leave a review! Go to bit.ly/DevTeaOniTunes.

Thanks to today's sponsor: imgix

imgix is real-time image resizing as a service. It’s backed by a CDN with global presence, with response times for images averaging 70ms. Image sizing as a service! It’s FREE to sign up and easy to get started. Go to imgix.com and let them handle your images, today!

Part Two: Paul Straw & Sean Washington (@paulstraw & @seanwashington)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 09:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk to Paul Straw and Sean Washington from Does Not Compute, the newest member of the Spec family.

Mentioned in today's episode:

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and review the show! Click here to open Developer Tea in iTunes.

Part One: Paul Straw & Sean Washington (@paulstraw & @seanwashington) talk about focus, JavaScript frameworks, and rites of passage

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk to Paul Straw and Sean Washington from Does Not Compute, the newest member of the Spec family.

Mentioned in today's episode:

Note: We had a little hiccup in our editing process. Paul mentions the "modulus operator" during our sponsorship spot - this has nothing to do with DigitalOcean, but he's totally right... the modulus operator is overlooked, but it is really useful when you really need it. (So go learn about it here.)

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean! Use the code "Developer Tea" at checkout to get $10 credit on your account.

Not to Do List: How Warren Buffett Keeps His Priorities Straight

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I discuss creating a "not to-do list", inspired by Warren Buffett's "two list strategy."

If you enjoy today's episode, click here to leave a review for Developer Tea on iTunes. This is the easiest and best way for you to help the show.

Mentioned on today's episode:

Today's episode is presented by Spec! Be sure to subscribe to Developer Tea on iTunes, and leave a review if you are enjoying the show!

Solving The X/Y Problem

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 09:00:00 +0000

Today, we discuss the X/Y problem. Don't know what the X/Y problem is? You definitely should. Be sure to listen in!

Other discussions about the X/Y problem:

http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=542341
http://xyproblem.info/

Today's episode is brought to you by OneMonth!

Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just...one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

9 Questions You Should Always Ask During An Interview

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 09:00:00 +0000

Today I talk to you about questions you should always ask a potential employer.

Mentioned on the show:

A quick note:

I'm aware that I didn't discuss money in this episode. This was partially intentional, as the subject is massive on its own. I will be discussing finances for developers in the future!

And lastly...

Please take a moment and subscribe and rate the show! Click here to open Developer Tea in iTunes.

Developing Soft Skills & Cultivating Relationships

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today, we'll discuss how to cultivate relationships as a developer.

Mentioned on today's episode:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code DEVELOPER TEA at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Leave a review for Developer Tea on iTunes: bit.ly/DevTeaOniTunes

Feature Runways

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about "Feature Runways."

Join the Spec Slack community by going to spec.fm/slack

The takeaway:

We'll talk about how to consider the likely direction of future development, and make things flexible from the start in that direction. This works as a kind of "insurance policy."

Thanks to Spec.fm! Don't forget to leave a review for Developer Tea in iTunes!

Managing Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 9 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today we talk about saving time by managing questions.

Set expectations
Take questions seriously
Provide opportunity for questioner to find the answer themselves
Delay your answer
Learning is an investment! Don't answer questions as a shortcut every time.

Listener Question: Crispin asks, "What's the threshold from executing to mastering?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 7 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a question from listener Crispin Bennet!

Crispin wrote in and asked me about the balance between learning something ("deep-dive" style) and doing just enough to be productive today.

Today's episode is sponsored by Hired.com! If you are a developer or a designer looking for a job, Hired is a fantastic place to begin your journey!

Mentioned on the show (or relevant):

"Mastery" (book, Robert Greene)

Where is the code being executed from?
What is being passed to the code in the form of state or arguments?
What is the intention of the code? What should be true? What is the desired final state?
Where does the code return to?

Don't forget to leave a review of Developer Tea on iTunes!

Constant State of Alert

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 5 Oct 2015 07:56:00 +0000

Today we talk about avoiding a state of constant yellow alert.

Signs you may be in a constant state of alert:

Audit your texts, emails, etc for constant "urgent" language. How often are you on alert?
Check your diet, relationships, etc - is your work putting these things in a stressed state?
If you feel like you must always be connected to some kind of messaging system (email, Slack, texts, etc), this may point to a problem

Mentioned on the show:

Today's episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean!
Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting.

Use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!
Also, check out this article on Digital Ocean about using Docker with their platform: Using Docker with Digital Ocean

Part Two: Gregg Pollack & Carlos Souza

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 2 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today I talk with Gregg Pollack and Carlos Souza from Codeschool!

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec!

Part One: Gregg Pollack & Carlos Souza (@caike and @greggpollack)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today I talk with Gregg Pollack and Carlos Souza from Codeschool!

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec!

Destigmatizing Failure

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I underline the importance of failure to the learning process, and then we discuss why failure should be destigmatized and looked at more in depth.

Many thanks to today's sponsor, Hired.com! Head over to Hired.com/developertea and you could receive 5 or more job offers in a given week!

Many thanks to today's sponsor, Hired.com

Visit hired.com/developertea today and you could receive 5 or more job offers each week!

Fixing the Broken Hiring Process: It's All About Context

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we talk about the flawed process we use in the development industry for hiring.

Mentioned:

Code Complete

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Part Two: Cap Watkins (@cap)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In this second part of my interview with Cap Watkins, we discuss the coexistence of specialization and generalization.

If you enjoy Developer Tea, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on iTunes! Click here to leave a review now!

Links:

Make sure you listen to the first part of the interview on Spec.fm!
"Why Designers Really Should Learn to Code" (on Cap's blog)
"Should Engineers Design?" (also on Cap's blog)
"The Lie I Tell New Hires" (Cap's blog. No kidding.)
Sass vs SCSS
BassCSS
How Obesity Spreads Among Friends
Email Cap at cwatkins@gmail.com

Cap's advice: forget ownership. If you're great at what you do, advocate for what you do, and educate others in what you do.

This episode is brought to you by Spec.fm! Check out Spec for a ton of content made specifically for developers and designers!

Part One: Cap Watkins (@cap)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I had a chance to talk with Cap Watkins, the VP of Design at Buzzfeed, about quite a few things - most importantly, collaboration.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm! Head over to Spec.fm for tons of amazing content, created specifically for developers and designers looking to take their career to the next level.

Don't forget to subscribe, and leave a review in iTunes!

False Dichotomies

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we're talking about ways to avoid false dichotomies.

Many thanks to today's sponsor, Hired.com

Visit hired.com/developertea today and you could receive 5 or more job offers each week!

Automation: Creating Higher Order Functionality and Building an Automatic Schedule

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is a short discussion on automation. We'll explore some helpful ways to look at automation that help make it more than simply scripting repeatable steps.

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

If you enjoyed this episode and want to know when the latest episode has gone live, subscribe to the podcast, and be sure to check out other podcasts and content on the network that makes this podcast possible: Spec.fm.
Until next time,

Enjoy your tea

Interview with Eric Elliott: On JavaScript, Writing, and Creating High Velocity Development Teams

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I interview Eric Elliott. Eric is a JavaScript developer and author with a lot of knowledge to share! Be sure to check out JavaScript Scene to read Eric's writing.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm! Check out Spec for a constant stream of valuable content for developers and designers!

Subjective vs. Concrete Decisions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today, I talk about a particular framework for making decisions. The framework presents a specific dichotomy between concreteness and subjectivity.

Types of decisions:

Essential decisions
Concrete input with subjective output
Subjective input with concrete output
Subjective input with subjective output
"Trivial" decisions

The paradox we have to deal with is that a lot of non-trivial outcomes come from decisions that fall on the subjective end of the scale. It is necessary for us to move these trivial and subjective decisions towards concrete if possible to funnel more energy into our decision making energy for subjective decisions.

Today's episode is sponsored by Spec.fm! Visit Spec.fm for more information about Developer Tea and podcasts and content for developers and designers.

Listener Pubudu Asks How to Avoid Procrastination and Boredom, and Find Renewed Energy for Work

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 9 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today, I discuss listener Pubudu's questions about how to find energy and enjoyment in his work, and how to stop procrastinating.

Mentioned on the show:

Many thanks to today's sponsor, Hired.com

Visit hired.com/developertea today and you could receive 5 or more job offers each week!

Listener Question: Sahar asks, "How do I get more out of my day?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 7 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I answer a question from listener Sahar.

In this episode, I cover the concept of "The Minimum Viable Day" as well!

Today's Sponsor is: Digital Ocean

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Until next time,

Enjoy your tea

The Messaging Paradigm: Building Programs Around the Concept of Messengers and Receivers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 4 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we talk about a message passing paradigm for programming.

We'll discuss the concept of message passing as a lens for understanding everything we do in programming.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm - podcasts and content for designers and developers!

Closures, Private & Methods

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 2 Sep 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today, we talk about closures and private object methods.

Today's episode is brought to you by Spec.fm - brand new podcasts and content for developers and designers!

The Best Tool vs. The Right Tool: Don't Forsake Personality When Picking Frameworks or Languages

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'll talk about choosing the best tool vs. choosing the right tool for a job. Stopping assumptions about faster being better or using a specific language for a specific project isn't easy.

We'll identify the difference between objective measures and subjective measures of a given language, and give you two challenges to help you evaluate your toolset.

If you have a particular question you'd like me to answer or you'd like to get more involved in the developer community check out our Slack channel: spec.fm/slack.

If you enjoyed this episode make sure you check out our network Spec.fm and if you're an iOS developer, be sure to check out our latest addition to the network: Little Bites of Cocoa and subscribe to keep up with Developer Tea and the rest of the spec.fm community.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of Developer Tea and until next time,

Enjoy your tea

Decorator vs. Facade Patterns & Knowing When To Use Them

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I review decorator and facade patterns. I'll go over strengths, weaknesses, similarities and difference between decorator and facade patterns and give tips on determining when to use one or the other.

Today's Sponsor is: Digital Ocean

Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Until next time,

Enjoy your tea

Listener Question: Simon asks, "How do I switch mindset from personal project to day job?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today's listener question is about working on side projects in the same space as your day job. Simon, who wrote into Developer Tea via email asks, "How do I transition from working on my side project in the morning, to working at my day job, in the same space?"

This episode, I review three red flag scenarios, and routines to help segment your day so you balance side project and day job effectively.

Useful Default Concepts

Thanks to today's sponsor: Harvest

Harvest is a time tracking tool built for understanding where your time is going. And for developers, it takes the pain out of time tracking. You can start a timer right from issues in JIRA or GitHub without searching for your timesheet.

Try it Free for 30 days, and if you love it use the code TEATIME at the end of your trial and get 50% off your first paid month.

Rejecting the DRY Principle

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode is about repeating yourself, and knowing when to repeat yourself and when not to.

This episode was inspired by Sandy Metz. One of Sandy's teachings is to repeat yourself until you understand your code. It is much better to have repeated code than to have complex code. As a developer, it is your responsibility to decide if your code is better suited to be duplicated or complex.

This episode goes against the grain of the DRY methodology, but I challenge you to question everything. Investigate everything you hear and challenge your learning.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Code School

If you're interested in learning anything development related from language basics to regular expressions, try R, Google Drive API and Chrome Dev Tools check out Code School. Start learning for free at codeschool.com/developertea

I would love to hear any questions you have about coding and life. If you have a question you'd like me to explore email me at developertea@gmail.com, or write to me on twitter @developertea. Developer Tea is a Spec Network production. Check out the Spec community and join the conversation.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and until next time,

Enjoy your tea

Time vs. Value: Billing for Features

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today I'm going to be sharing the simple perspective shift that helped me understand how valuable programming is. In this episode, I'll go over how to shift your thinking from time in relation to money to value in relation to money. I'll go over problem solving improvements, and proposal writing language to help you make that shift in mindset from time to value pricing.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean

Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started on cloud hosting. Use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

I hope you enjoyed this episode. Until next time,

Enjoy your Tea

The Twelve-Factor App, Part 2: Dependencies & Config

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode we to continue or discussion on The Twelve-Factor App. Specifically reviewing the importance of dependencies and config. In this episode we'll go over manifest files, node modules, gitignore, and keeping your code in the safest state.

Special thanks to today's sponsor: Harvest

Harvest is your time tracking tool built for understanding where your time is going. You can start a timer right from issues in JIRA or GitHub without searching for your timesheet, and turn that right around into a sharable invoice.

Try it out free for 30 days at getharvest.com. After your trial, enter code TEATIME at checkout to save 50% off your first month.

Don't forget to leave Developer Tea a review on iTunes. It helps us get up in the charts so other developers can discover the show.

I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Thanks for listening, and until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

The Twelve-Factor App, Part 1: Codebase

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

This week, I'm going to go dig into a few of Heroku's Twelve-Factor Application Model. Today's episode will be focused around codebase also known as a repository. We'll talk about understanding codebase, implementing techniques and deploying.

I'd like to note that you can implement this model on any deployment platform, not just Heroku. There's even a way to create a Heroku like docker on Digital Ocean. It's called Dokku.

Today's Show is brought to you by: Hired

Hired is a free, no obligation resource for job searching. Just answer a couple of questions, sit back and let job offers come to you. If you or someone you know is looking for a job in design or development check out hired.com/developertea to get a $4,000 signing bonus when you accept a job.

Geting in Touch:
If you'd like to automatically receive updates to the show you can subscribe to Developer Tea in any platform you choose. You can also follow me on twitter @developertea or the spec.fm network @specfm to get instant updates on this show along all the other shows in spec.fm.

I hope you enjoyed this episode, and until next time,

Enjoy your tea!

Mutable States, Refactory Tips & Reasonable Code Techniques

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I'll dig into mutable states and go over two things you can do to get away from relying on external states so you can read and test methods. Be sure to check out Sandy Metz's 2015 Railconf talk "nothing is something" on why conditional statements make code more difficult to reason.

Special thanks to Today's sponsor: Code School

Code School is an online learning destination for existing and aspiring developers that teaches through entertaining content. Visit www.CodeSchool.com/developertea for more information and start playing courses now.

Thanks for listening and until next time,

Enjoy your Tea

Reading the Manual

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about the importance of stopping assumptions in their tracks by reading manuals. I'll go over documentation, and tips to get you started on the fundamentals of manual reading.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean

Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started, and use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

I hope you enjoyed this episode. Until next time,

Enjoy your Tea

Intentional Problem Solving: How To Work It Out, Without Google

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about intentional problem solving and challenge listeners to stop reaching for the quickest answer and instead experience the problem.

During today's episode I provide some tips to help build your experimentation techniques so you can find a solution without automatically defaulting to Google or Stack Overflow first.

If you participated in this challenge. I would love to hear about your experience. To share your story, email me at developertea@gmail.com, write to me through my contact form or reach me on Twitter @developertea.

Big thanks to today's sponsor: Hired

Hired is your free, no obligation resource for job searching. If you or someone you know is out there searching for a design or development
job or contract work be sure to check out Hired.

If you apply and interview using this link: http://www.Hired.com/developertea Hired will double their traditional "thank you" bonus of $2,000 to $4,000 if you accept a job offer. Know someone who's job hunting? If you refer them using the same link and they accept the job you will also get a referral bonus of $1337.

Thanks for listening to today's episode and until next time,

Enjoy your Tea

Listener Question: Dhruv Asks, "What should a beginner like me work on?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 7 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I respond to a listener question that came in from Dhruv, who asks, "What should a beginner like me work on?" Aside from being a better coder, where should you expand your knowledge?

If you have a question that you'd like me to explore you can write to me via Twitter @developertea or through the Developer Tea contact form. Don't forget to leave a review on iTunes. If you love the show let me know and if you think there's an area we need to improve tell me that too.

Shout out to our new network, Spec.FM and affiliate podcast, Design Details. If you what to learn more about the design and development community, definitely check that out.

Additional Resources Mentioned

Ted Talk, Start with Why by Simon Sinek and his book
How to win friends and influence people: book
Khan Academy
John Sonmez Interview

Special thanks to today's sponsor: Harvest

Try it out free for 30 days at getharvest.com. After your trial, enter code TEATIME at checkout to save 50% off your first month.

Thanks for listening, and until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

The Power of the Minute & Engineering Memorable Experiences

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

On Today's episode, I talk about making a good first impression. How can we engineer memorable moments that will create a positive impact on how people will remember your product or service?

We don't have to be experts, but as developers we do need to be mindful of what it means to create a good user experience. As an example, I refer in this episode to Image Magic and their lack of good user experience.

Special thanks to today's sponsor: Hired

Hired is your free, no obligation resource for job searching. If you or someone you know is out there searching for a design or development job be sure to check out Hired.

If you apply and interview using this link: http://www.Hired.com/developertea Hired will double their traditional "thank you" bonus of $2,000 to $4,000 if you accept a job offer. Know someone who's job hunting? If you refer them using the same link and they accept the job you will also get a referral bonus of $1337.

If you or someone you know is searching for a development or design gig, check out Hired.

Thanks for listening to today's episode and until next time,

Enjoy your Tea

Single Responsibility Principle: A Class Should Have One, and Only One Reason to Change

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 3 Aug 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I review why focus is so important to coding by diving into the Solid Principles developed by Robert C. Martin also known as "Uncle Bob" and the importance of the Single Responsibility Principle: A class should have one, and only one, reason to change.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean

I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Listener Question: Janus asks, As a Designer, when should I let someone else do the code heavy lifting?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Today's episode, I answer a listener question from Janus, who focuses primarily on User Experience and Design. Janus asks, How much code should I know before handing it to a developer?

Programming isn't easy. Hard work ethic pays off. To answer this question, I turn to the experts, and a 9 step framework for checking your code.

Thank you, Janus for your question. If you have a question that you'd like to have discussed on the show write me through my contact form or via twitter: @developertea.

Special thanks to today's sponsor: Hired

Hired is your free, no obligation resource for job searching. If you or someone you know is out there searching for a design or development job be sure to check out Hired.

Here's the best part about Hired sponsoring the show, if you apply and interview using this link: http://www.Hired.com/developertea Hired will double their traditional "thank you" bonus of $2,000 to $4,000 if you accept a job offer. Know someone who's job hunting? If you refer them using the same link and they accept the job you will also get a referral bonus of $1337.

If you or someone you know is searching for a development or design gig, check out Hired.

Thanks for listening to today's episode and until next time,

Enjoy your Tea

How to Play to Your Strengths

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Strengths and skills are two different things, but when should you learn a new skill or improve a current skill? During today's episode, I'll talk about what strengths can help you recognize which skills to become a master at, how your current resources can help, and the importance of investing time in relationships.

Additional Reading Mentioned:
Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham

If you'd like to leave a review of Developer Tea, visit our iTunes page. I appreciate your feedback. Of course you can also contact me directly via a mail form, or twitter: @developertea.

Special thanks to Today's sponsor: Code School

Thanks for listening and until next time,

Enjoy your Tea

The Disposability of Computing Resources & Fixing Future Bug Anxiety

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Have you ever felt like you've had to plan everything before beginning to write your code? In today's episode, I talk about the disposability of our computing resources, code testing tips, and how to intermingle coding with planning.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean

I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Anchoring Your Estimations: How to Keep Clients Happy

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 07:00:00 +0000

Clients are never happy when hearing that you've underestimated how long a project will take in reality. In today's episode, I talk about how to anchor your estimations and keep your clients happy, and share a quick tip to get you there.

Related Resources from this episode

Estimating sandwiches: https://developertea.com/episodes/9981
Anchor Bias: http://coglode.com/gems/anchoring-bias

How do you keep clients happy? If you've got a creative or noteworthy way of keeping clients happy I'd love to hear about it. You can write me via email: developertea@gmail.com or through the Developer Tea email form.

Special thanks to today's sponsor: Harvest

Try it out free for 30 days at getharvest.com. After your trial, enter code TEATIME at checkout to save 50% off your first month.

Thanks for listening, and until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Why You Should Refactor Your Software

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 07:00:00 +0000

In today's episode I'll talk about the importance of refactoring your software, identifying when you should refactor your code and tips and techniques for optimal refactoring to keep your code easier to maintain and easier for future extension. Martin Fowler, who wrote the Agile Manifesto and a great resource has a great stance on this when he says, "You don't decide to refactor, you refactor as a part of development process."

Resource Links:

Refactoring, a book by Martin Fowler
Refactoring, Ruby Edition by Martin Fowler

Special thanks to today's sponsor: Hired

Hired is your free, no obligation resource for job searching. If you or someone you know is out there searching for a design or development job be sure to check out Hired. Here's the best part about Hired sponsoring the show, if you apply and interview using this link: http://www.Hired.com/developertea Hired will double their traditional "thank you" bonus of $2,000 to $4,000 if you accept a job offer. Know someone who's job hunting? If you refer them using the same link and they accept the job you will also get a referral bonus of $1337.

If you or someone you know is searching for a development or design gig, check out Hired.

Listener Question: What's The Difference Between a Junior and Senior Developer?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 08:00:00 +0000

What is the difference between a Junior and Senior Developer?

In today's episode, I talk about what it takes to get from Junior level programmer to a Senior level programmer. We'll go over some basic characteristics of the two levels, and tips to get further in your programing career.

Special thanks to Today's sponsor: Code School

Patrick Hill: Hobby Life vs. Work Life

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 08:10:00 +0000

in today's episode, I get to talk with fellow developer and podcaster Patrick Hill about how to balance hobbies and work life. We talk about goals, motivation, time management and learning to focus on how to progress from one week to the next.

You can follow Patrick not on Twitter but you can find him on Instagram or Letterboxd. Make sure you check out Patrick's podcast: Master of 1 and if you're a fan of Walking Dead, check out Episode 43, in which Patrick and I debate the show.

Special thanks to today's sponsor: Hired

Hired is your free, no obligation resource for job searching. If you land a job through Hired using this link: http://www.Hired.com/developertea Hired will double their traditional "thank you" bonus of $2,000. That's a $4,000 bonus when you accept a job. If you refer someone and they accept the job you will also get a referral bonus of $1337. Hired is a free, no obligation resource, so if you or someone you know is searching for a development or design gig, check out Hired.

Grant Ingersoll: The Numbers Don't Lie

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 07:00:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of talking with Grant Ingersoll. Grant is a search and NLP engineer, author of Taming Text and CTO at Lucidworks.

In today's episode, Grant and I discuss his book, Taming Text, how he got into Natural Language Processing (NLP), and discover what he thinks is the next big problem to be solved in text and language analysis.

If you're interested in working on text problems follow Grant @gsingers

Additional Reading / Learnings Suggested by Grant:

Thanks to today's sponsor: Code School

Code School has recently launched a second course on SQL, The Sequel to SQL. In this course you'll learn the most important parts of the SQL language so you can create tables with constraints, use relationships, and write powerful join queries. Learn more at codeschool.com/developertea.

Thanks for listening, and until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Episode 100!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today marks our 100th episode!

Special thanks to you, the listener for tuning in, submitting your many listener questions, sending feedback, and for nominating Developer Tea as podcast of the year in this year's Net Awards.

We've accomplished a lot in our first 100 episodes, experimenting and improving along the way.

In today's episode, I'll talk about the importance of improvement as a developer and as a person and give four tips for continuous improvement.

in some exciting news: Developer Tea and Design Details have joined to form the network SpecFM.

You can still reach me via email at developertea@gmail.com but you can also reach me at jonathan@spec.fm.

Check out Design Details and Spec.fm, and I look forward to you joining me for the next 100 episodes.

Today's episode is brought to you by: OneMonth

Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just...one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

Thanks for joining and until next time.

Enjoy your tea.

Daily routines and controlling impulsive behaviors

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today I talk about the pros and cons to the restraint bias or impulsive behaviors. Tools like a daily routine help to refocus your impulses. I'll go over routines and other helpful tools to help steer those impulsive behaviors.

If you have not voted for Developer Tea in the year's Net Awards head on over to bit.ly/votetea and support the show for this year's podcast of the year.

Thanks to today's sponsor: Code School

Code School has recently launched a second course on SQL, The Sequel to SQL. In this course you'll learn the most important parts of the SQL language so you can create tables with constraints, use relationships, and write powerful join queries. Learn more at codeschool.com/developertea

I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Your Brain: On IKEA as a cognitive bias

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Jul 2015 07:30:00 +0000

How many times have you seen someone create a framework, realize it has bugs, and instead of adopting a bigger framework, would rather spend the extra time fixing their bugs, all for the sake of using something they'd built?

This is also known as The IKEA effect. When one places more value on something they'd had a part in building, regardless of quality or function.

Today, I look at the things that help us make good decisions, things that hinder our ability to make those good decisions and tips to recognize your biases so you can continue to make good decisions on a regular basis.

The best way to make sure you don't miss out on any Developer Tea shows, is to go ahead and subscribe to the show. You can do that through iTunes, Stitcher, our RSS feed or any other platform you use.

There's only a few days left to vote for Developer Tea as podcast of the year in this year's 16th Annual Net Awards, so if you haven't yet go to bit.ly/votetea

Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean

Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started, and use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Useful Laziness

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Jul 2015 07:30:00 +0000

In today's episode I talk about the positive and negative effects of laziness, and the overlap between simplicity and complexity, especially in your code.

Don't forget to vote for Developer Tea for podcast of the year in the 16th annual Net Awards - Voting ends July 13th!

Today's episode is brought to you by: OneMonth

Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just...one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

Until next time,

Enjoy your tea!

Estimation and shifting focus from absolute to relative

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Jul 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Estimation is so hard to do. Today, I talk about overcoming estimation obstacles, and some tactics to help you along the way.

It's difficult to know what we're capable of, especially if we haven't nailed down a routine. Even if you do have a routine down, you can't predict the future. How do we get around this when scoping a project?

I'll dig into this and many other questions about estimation and how we can make estimations work in our favor.

Don't forget to vote for Developer Tea as podcast of the year in the 16th Annual Net Awards!

Thanks to today's sponsor: Digital Ocean

Today's episode is presented by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started, and use the promo code "DEVELOPER TEA" at the checkout after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Russ Taylor, Part Two: Bulletproof Vest

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Jul 2015 07:30:00 +0000

During today's second half of our two-part interview, Russ Taylor and I talk about the importance of testing. We dive into methods for testing like Happy Path Testing, and how to stay productive using techniques like Kanban.

If you missed the first half of my interview with Russ, and listen to more episodes, you can head over to Developer Tea.com and hit Subscribe through our RSS feed, Stitcher, on iTunes or another podcasting platform that you prefer.

Don't forget to vote for Developer Tea as podcast of the year in the 16th Annual Net Awards!

Thanks to today's sponsor: imgix

imgix is real-time image resizing as a service. It’s backed by a CDN with global presence, with response times for images averaging 70ms.sizing as a service. It’s FREE to sign up and easy to get started. Go to imgix.com and let them handle your images, today.

As always, thanks for listening. Until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Russ Taylor, Part One: Continuous Integration

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

During today's first half of a two-part interview, I have the pleasure of talking with Russ Taylor. Russ works on the continuous integration team at Etsy.

We had a chance to talk about test driven development, all of the processes that Russ is involved with at Etsy, and how big applications like Etsy come together.

If you don't want to miss out on the second half of my interview with Russ, you can head on over to Developer Tea.com and hit Subscribe through our RSS feed, Stitcher, on iTunes or another podcasting platform that you prefer.

This episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com. Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

I hope you enjoy the show, and until next time,

Enjoy your tea.

Don't Delay, Say No

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Don't Delay
In today's episode, I talk about the fatal flaw of putting things off 'til tomorrow, and the simple, yet difficult, solution to the imbalance of the demand we experience versus our capacity to accomplish those demands.

Mentioned in this episode:

Avdi Grimm's new language roadmap

Today's sponsor is Codeship, a hosted continuous integration platform. Get started today at Codeship.com, and use the code DEVELOPERTEA for 20% off any plan when you choose the premium plan!

Mackenzie Child, Part Two: Design Background, Developer Skill

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

In the second half of this episode, Mackenzie Child and I talk about his 12 in 12 challenge, and what it was like to make the switch from designer to developer.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode. Starting with Mackenzie's first job as a designer, getting the backstory on why he decided to learn code, what encouraged him to make the switch, and how designers can get coding, today through Unicasts.

You can follow Mackenzie on twitter @mackenziechild and make sure you check out his work at Unicasts.com.

Part one with Mackenzie: Making Concrete Goals, can be found at DeveloperTea.com

If you enjoyed this episode, head on over to iTunes and give this podcast a rating, it really does help!

Have a question that you'd like to explore? Send an email to developertea@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter @DeveloperTea.

Don't forget to vote for Developer Tea in the 16th Annual Net Awards! Go to http://bit.ly/votetea to vote for Developer Tea now!

This episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com. Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

Thanks for listening, until next time.

Enjoy your tea

Mackenzie Child, Part One: Concrete Goals

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

I caught up with Mackenzie Child to talk about his 12 in 12 challenge. In which he challenges himself to learn Ruby on Rails by building 12 web apps in 12 weeks.

During this first episode, we talk about why he decided to challenge himself, the overlap in skill set between design and development, and learning to recognize when you're overcommitted.

If you want to learn how to build Ruby on Rails web apps from design to code , especially as a designer, be sure to check out Unicasts.com.

Be sure to tune in on Wednesday, for part two of this series, when Mackenzie shares how he learned Ruby.

if you've enjoyed this episode be sure to subscribe. If you have any feedback for the show, have an idea to an episode or just want to say hello, you can reach me on twitter: @DeveloperTea or via email: developertea@gmail.com

Today's episode is brought to you by Raygun.io. Raygun automatically detects and diagnoses errors and crashes in your software applications and notifies you of issues that are affecting your end users. Raygun supports all major web and mobile programming languages, you can get started FREE today.

Enjoy your tea.

Benefits of Knowledge: Teaching to Learn

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today, I talk about teaching in order to learn. This isn't reserved to just those in or going through school, but anyone who has learned a skill.

There aren't many excuses for you not teaching what you know. This is especially important for developers, where languages, functions, and working knowledge changes on a dime.

During this episode I'll talk about when to start teaching, how to start teaching, and three benefits of teaching.

If you have any questions, feedback or topics you'd like me to discuss, you can reach me via email at: developertea@gmail.com or on twitter @DeveloperTea.

Thank you so much for listening,

Enjoy your tea.

Listener Question: How to Separate Your Social Media Identities

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

This is a question that I think needs to come up more often. That is, how do we integrate our professional lives with our personal lives?

in today's episode, I give a very difficult answer to Matthew's very difficult question: "How do you separate your social media identities?"

If you have questions for me like Matthew did, you can contact me via email: developertea@gmail.com or on twitter: @DeveloperTea.

This episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com. Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

Thanks for listening, and enjoy your Tea.

Internship Tips

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

If you're serious about becoming a developer, you should consider getting an internship. Today I'll give you three tips on choosing an internship. Along with three tips on getting the most out of that internship, and discuss the importance of code reviews.

Thank you for listening. You can always reach out to to me via email: developertea@gmail.com or twitter: @DeveloperTea

Today's episode is sponsored by Raygun.io. Raygun automatically detects and diagnoses errors and crashes in your software applications and notifies you of issues that are affecting your end users. Raygun supports all major web and mobile programming languages, you can get started FREE today.

1 Million

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today is a very special inspiration episode. Thanks to each and every one of you, our listeners, Developer Tea has reached over 1,000,000 unique downloads.

To celebrate, I want to talk to you a little bit about hard work, determination and where to find the motivation to get on the ground and start doing.

Thank you to all of our listeners. I couldn't do this without you. I am, also excited to announce that Developer Tea now has an official t-shirt, available on Cotton Bureau. Get your official Developer Tea t-shirt, today. The last possible second to buy this design is Jun 18, 2015 at 8:00 PM EDT.

Don't forget to vote for Developer Tea in the 16th Annual Net Awards! Go to http://bit.ly/votetea to vote for Developer Tea, today.

Of course, if you have any feedback for the show, a question you'd like to explore, or suggestions you can email me at developertea@gmail.com or write to me on
twitter: @DeveloperTea

Answering Front-End Interview Questions: Call vs. Apply and Integrating Multiple Stylesheets

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

On today's episode, I discuss the importance of forming an informed opinion by disecting two questions in github's Front-End Developer Interview Questions repository.

Employers want to know how you approach situations and your opinion on topics in the industry. To illustrate that, I answer two questions from github's Front-End Developer Interview Questions repository:

What's the difference between call and apply?
If you have five separate style sheets, how would you add them into your site?

Front-End Development is ever changing, and my answers are subject to change, as you'll find with most topics in the field. An informed opinion will keep potential employers engaged, and help both of you understand an eachothers stance on a subject or problem that needs solving.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to our show and don't forget to rate us on iTunes. It really does help!

If you have questions for the industry or me submit your question on the developer tea website, email me at developertea@gmail.com or write to me on twitter @DeveloperTea

This episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com. Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

Beyond The Skillset

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today's episode was inspired by a listener question on job hunting and what makes you employable.

In this episode I cover the minimum requirements of employment and what that means from an employer's perspective, review frustrations of job hunting and how to overcome them, and cover the three key areas to keep in mind when job hunting. By the end of this episode you will be set you up with a job hunting action plan.

If you have a question that you'd like to explore, send an email to developertea@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter @DeveloperTea. You can subscribe to this podcast on our website, or any other service to get updates on the latest episodes and topics.

Don't forget to vote for Developer Tea in the 16th Annual Net Awards! Go to http://bit.ly/votetea to vote for Developer Tea now!

This episode is sponsored by Intuit. Check out the developer sandbox and API explorer at http://intuit.me/DevTea to get started building apps for millions of small business today!

Part Two: Brianna and Andrew Norcross Talk About Entrepreneurship, Learning a Language, and Defending Wordpress

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Brianna and Andrew Norcross are a powerhouse of a couple. They started Reaktiv Studios, a WordPress-focused agency based in Florida. I spoke with Brianna and Andrew about how they have learned to work together as a married couple. If you missed it, make sure you check out Part 1 of this series.

Follow Reaktiv, Andrew, and Brianna on Twitter:

Brianna: @sarcasmically
Andrew: @norcross
The Studio: @reaktivstudios

Make sure you tell them @DeveloperTea sent you.

If you're wondering what kind of WordPress work these two are involved in, check out Nextdraft Newsletter, developed by ReaktivStudio's and mentioned in today's episode. It might help to know that they are an official service partner for WordPress VIP. So, yeah, they're legit.

Check out ReaktivStudios.com to learn more about what Brianna and Andrew do every day!

Vote for Developer Tea in the 16th Annual Net Awards! Go to http://bit.ly/votetea to vote for Developer Tea now!

Part One: Brianna and Andrew Norcross Talk About Working Together, Living Together, Balance, and Rebellion

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 8 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Brianna and Andrew Norcross are a powerhouse of a couple. They started Reaktiv Studios, a WordPress-focused agency based in Florida. I spoke with Brianna and Andrew about how they have learned to work together as a married couple. Be sure to subscribe if you don't want to miss part two!

If you're wondering what kind of WordPress work these two are involved in, it might help to know that they are an official service partner for WordPress VIP. So, yeah, they're legit.

Check out ReaktivStudios.com to learn more about what Brianna and Andrew do every day!

Follow Reaktiv, Andrew, and Brianna on Twitter:

Make sure you tell them @DeveloperTea sent you.

Check out ReaktivStudios.com to learn more about what Brianna and Andrew do every day!

Vote for Developer Tea in the 16th Annual Net Awards! Go to http://bit.ly/votetea to vote for Developer Tea now!

Today's sponsor is Codeship, a hosted continuous integration platform. Get started today at Codeship.com, and use the code developertea for 20% off any plan when you choose the premium plan!

Inspiration Episode: Kent Beck Day!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 5 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Today, I celebrate a hero of mine, Kent Beck. Full of quite a few pieces of wisdom, Kent is an incredible thinker and writer. Today, I share two quotes from Kent, and discuss their implications.

Make sure you vote for Developer Tea for the Net Awards! To vote, simply go to http://bit.ly/votetea and follow the instructions on the page!

Media Consumption Diet

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 2 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today's episode is all about media consumption, and the importance of slowing down and being more intentional about what we consume.

This episode is sponsored by Intuit. Check out the developer sandbox and API explorer at http://intuit.me/DevTea to get started building apps for millions of small business today!

Discovering Formalization: The Proper Place for Theory

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 1 Jun 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today, we discuss the place of formalization and theory, and how we should be starting from the position of discovery rather than trying to fit every problem to a pre-existing theoretical formula.

Today's sponsor is Codeship, a hosted continuous integration platform. Get started today at Codeship.com, and use the code developertea for 20% off any plan when you choose the premium plan!

Listener Question: How Do I Start Mentoring? 2 Tips To Make A Mentorship Effective for the Mentor AND the Mentee

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 29 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today, I answer a question from listener Emalee about how to become a beginner mentor. From the outside looking in, this is very difficult! Going from "student" to "teacher" is a hard transition. I outline a few thoughts, and give you two tips from my experience.

Links:

Today's sponsor is Codeship, a hosted continuous integration platform. Get started today at Codeship.com, and use the code developertea for 20% off any plan when you choose the premium plan!

Inspiration Episode: Creating Effective Metaphors + Developer Tea Gets Nominated for "Best Podcast of the Year" in the Net Awards!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 27 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Metaphors are a powerful way of exploring a given subject. In this episode, I'll share with you why metaphors are so powerful, and how you can create effective metaphors yourself!

To vote for Developer Tea in the 16th annual Net Awards, go to http://bit.ly/votetea !

This episode is sponsored by Intuit. Check out the developer sandbox and API explorer at http://intuit.me/DevTea to get started building apps for millions of small business today!

4 Tips for Creating a Great Developer Resume

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 25 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

In this episode, I give 4 tips for creating a great resume. The reality is, resumes are still an important part of the hiring process. Your resume can make or break you. So, what are employees looking for in a developer? I can only speak from my personal experience, and I believe these 4 tips will help you create a better resume for the job you want!

Today's sponsor is Codeship, a hosted continuous integration platform. Get started today at Codeship.com, and use the code developertea for 20% off any plan when you choose the premium plan!

Travis Neilson, Part Two: Engaging Your Audience, Creating Conversations, Becoming a Publisher, and Viciously Yucky Comments on YouTube

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 22 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today, I'm joined by the talented and intelligent Travis Neilson.

Travis is the creator of DevTips, an instructional YouTube channel that has generated over 1 million views and about 35,000 subscribers! Travis invited me on his show recently, and I had such a good time that I decided to invite him to Developer Tea. We talk about quite a few things related to different platforms and media types, and being a publisher on each of these media types.

You can find the YouTube channel for DevTips here: https://www.youtube.com/user/DevTipsForDesigners

Make sure you also follow Travis on Twitter at https://twitter.com/travisneilson

Links:

Today's episode is sponsored by CodeSchool. Get enrolled to start playing through one of CodeSchool's exciting courses today!

Travis Neilson, Part One: Evergreen Content and the Pluses and Minuses of YouTube vs Podcasting

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 21 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

Today, I'm joined by the talented and intelligent Travis Neilson.

You can find the YouTube channel for DevTips here: https://www.youtube.com/user/DevTipsForDesigners

Make sure you also follow Travis on Twitter at https://twitter.com/travisneilson

Links:

Today's episode is sponsored by CodeSchool. Check out the brand new Unmasking HTML Email course and other exciting courses today!

Healthy Difficulty: Dealing With Frustration and Confusion

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 20 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

In this episode, I discuss the origin of difficulty and confusion, and how we can better deal with these things on a day to day basis. It turns out, frustration and confusion are some of the most important experiences in our lives.

Today's episode is sponsored by Developer Tea! Go to OneMonth.com/developertea to get 25% off now!

Three Methods to Improve Your Memorization and Learning Ability, Starting Today

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 18 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, I discuss three different methods that will help create long lasting, usable memory more effectively.

Today's sponsor is Codeship, a hosted continuous integration platform. Get started today at Codeship.com, and use the code developertea for 20% off any plan when you choose the premium plan!

My Thoughts (and Stolen Quotes) About Originality, Creating from Nothing, and the Authenticity of Synthesis

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 15 May 2015 07:30:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk about the importance of synthesis to the process of creating novel things. I also discuss our obsession with originality and "creating from nothing."

Today's episode is sponsored by DigitalOcean. Go to https://digitalocean.com to get started, and use the promo code "DeveloperTea" on the billing page after you create your account to get a $10 credit!

Interview with Daniel Rapp, Creator of the Doppler JavaScript Library

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 14 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Today, I interview Daniel Rapp, creator of the Doppler.js library. Daniel is a computer science student in Sweden who is constantly investigating the intersection of math and creativity using code. Doppler became popular on GitHub, despite the fact that it isn't practically useful for most developers; this interested me, so I decided to reach out to Daniel.

Links:

Advice from Daniel:

"Main thing was a lot of experiments.... I published everything I created... Experiment and keep learning."

"Play around with mathematics to learn development while you're learning at school."

"Create a lot of small projects. Don't create anything too big before you're ready."

"As soon as you start doing something for money, it's not as much fun. I do this because it's fun."

@danielrapp
rappdaniel.com

https://www.codeschool.com/?utm_source=Developer_Tea&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=May!

Listener Question from Summit: How To Hunt for a Different Job While Already Employed Without Exhausting Yourself or Burning Bridges

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 13 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, listener Summit asks about how to search for a new job while being employed, and how to keep from getting to exhausted.

This episode is sponsored by Intuit. Check out the developer sandbox and API explorer at http://intuit.me/DevTea to get started building apps for millions of small business today!

Creating Obvious Systems: Why Mental Models Justify Simplicity, and When to Utilize Surprise and Delight

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 11 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I discuss the importance of relying on obviousness when designing software and user interfaces, and when you should be utilizing surprise.

Answering Listener Questions: Matt asks about the feasibility of finding remote work, online education, and the order of learning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 8 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Matt is a beginner developer who is making a shift to support his new life situation, in which he is unable to work a normal 9-to-5 job in an office. Matt sent me an email asking a few questions about this shift, and how he should begin to learn.

Important Links:

This episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com. Head over to OneMonth.com/developertea to get started learning Ruby on Rails in just one month, and receive a limited-time 25% discount!

Inspiration Episode: Brian Eno Teaches Us To Limit Our Options

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 7 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In this week's inspiration episode starts with a quote from Brian Eno, a highly influential musician and audio engineer, about limiting options in order to better take advantage of our efforts.

Scott Belsky, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 6 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Scott Belsky (@ScottBelsky) is the VP Products & Community at Adobe and cofounder of Behance. Scott is also a successful investor in major tech companies such as Periscope and Uber.

Scott and I talk about the fundamental nature of creativity, why he created Behance, staying focused, the value of formal education, and what he wishes more people would ask him. Finally, at the end of the second part of the interview, Scott shares specific advice for developers who are wanting to work better with visionaries. Enjoy the interview!

Links:

This episode is sponsored by Intuit. Check out the developer sandbox and API explorer at http://intuit.me/DevTea to get started building apps for millions of small business today!

Scott Belsky, Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 4 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Scott Belsky is the VP Products & Community at Adobe and cofounder of Behance. Scott is also a successful investor in major tech companies such as Periscope and Uber.

Links:

Answering Front-end Developer Interview Questions: Explaining the Importance of Standards for the Web

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 1 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we discuss the importance of standards and standards bodies for web technologies, specifically for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript specs.

Links:

Answering Listener Questions: Devin, a Non-Developer, Asks About Grasping Things That Go Over His Head, and Finding Starting Points

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In this episode, long-time listener Devin asks about how to grasp things that go over his head. You're not alone, Devin! In this episode, I give you (and others just like you) encouragement in the midst of your confusion, as well as some more practical advice for learning something new.

Today's sponsor is OneMonth.com - go to OneMonth.com/developertea and enroll today to get 25% off your first month!

Hampton Catlin, Part Two: Speedy Sass with libsass, Wordset.org and Open-Sourcing Our Words

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I talk with Hampton Catlin about fast Sass compilation with libsass, and then we discuss his latest project, Wordset, and why we need a truly open source dictionary.

Links for the whole interview:

@hcatlin (tell him thanks for being on @developertea!)
@DeveloperTea
Ancient City Ruby
Hampton's Survey (Askr)
http://haml.info/
Heroku officially supports Puma
Chris Coyier (on preferring Sass)
@chriseppstein
@nex3, Natalie Weizenbaum
Rarebit
http://wordset.org
http://github.com/wordset

This episode is sponsored by Intuit. Check out the developer sandbox and API explorer at http://intuit.me/DevTea

Hampton Catlin, Part One: Sass, the W3C, and (not) Being Data-Driven

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

@hcatlin (tell him thanks for being on @developertea!)
@DeveloperTea
Ancient City Ruby
Hampton's Survey (Askr)
http://haml.info/
Heroku officially supports Puma
Chris Coyier (on preferring Sass)
@chriseppstein
@nex3, Natalie Weizenbaum
Rarebit
http://wordset.org
http://github.com/wordset

Weekly Inspiration - Happiness and Doing Our Best Work: 3 Practical Steps to Getting The Right Things Done and Finding Focus State Faster

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's inspiration episode, I discuss the importance of removing barriers between you and your most important work, and why that is such an important thing to do. I then discuss 3 practical steps you can try that have helped me get to my focus state, and get more meaningful work done every day.

Part Two: Culture and Connecting to Our Work with Pamela Vickers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Pamela Vickers and I sat down at Ancient City Ruby to talk about culture, conferences, and ping pong. And it was awesome.

Part One: Culture and Connecting to Our Work with Pamela Vickers

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Pamela Vickers and I sat down at Ancient City Ruby to talk about culture, conferences, and ping pong. And it was awesome.

Answering Listener Questions - Clyde Asks About Learning to Code while on the Road

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, Clyde asks about learning to code while on the road. If you've ever tried to focus in a new environment, or if you are learning to code while changing locations, this episode is for you!

Today's episode is sponsored by Intuit. Check out http://intuit.me/DevTea to get started developing for millions of businesses, for free, today!

Part 2: Ben Lesh on Reactive Programming at Netflix, Massive Data, and the Threadsafe Future

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Ben Lesh is a senior UI engineer at Netflix, where he works on projects that use reactive programming in JavaScript to manage massive amounts of data. Ben talks with me about a variety of topics, focusing on reactive programming and data stream processing. Ben also gives his advice to you, whether you are a young developer or well into your career. Make sure you Tweet at Ben at https://twitter.com/benlesh and thank him for coming on the show!

Links:

Part 1: Ben Lesh on Reactive Programming at Netflix, Massive Data, and the Threadsafe Future

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Links:

How We Spend Our Days, How We Spend Our Lives, and One Way To Get a Better Grasp On Time

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. But how can we get a better grasp on time? In this episode, I share a simple tip that exploits our brain's natural tendency to take shortcuts to help you better experience time and avoid the feeling of "time flying by" faster than you'd like.

Today's episode is sponsored by OneMonth.com - go to http://onemonth.com/developertea to get 25% off your first month!

Taking Best Practices and Advice with a Grain of Salt

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we talk about "best practices" and advice, and what you should do with those things in your day to day life.

Today's episode sponsored by Intuit! Head over to http://intuit.me/DevTea to get started!

Ernie Miller and Human Development, Part Two (at Ancient City Ruby)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of attending Ancient City Ruby and interviewing a few folks while I was there. Ernie Miller was a speaker at ACR, and also sat down with me to talk about agile, humane development, and the implications of technically oriented people making a track switch to management. Thanks, Ernie! Don't forget to follow @erniemiller on Twitter and let him know you enjoyed hearing him on @DeveloperTea!

Links:

Today's episode is sponsored by Intuit Developer. Get started developing applications for millions of business already using Quickbooks at intuit.me/DevTea today!

You can also give back to Developer Tea by going to https://developertea.com/donate!

Estimating Sandwiches: Why the Gut Doesn't Work, and How Small Is Better

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 9 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

This episode is all about estimation, and how important it is to focus on estimating small things, and understand the implications of scale on your estimations.

This episode is sponsored by Digital Ocean, cloud SSD hosting that you can deploy in just 55 seconds. Use the code "DeveloperTea" to get $10 off today at http://digitalocean.com - plans start at just $5/month!

Ernie Miller and Human Development, Part One (at Ancient City Ruby)

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 8 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Links:

Give back to Developer Tea by going to https://developertea.com/donate!

Inspiration Episode #6: 4 Tips for Starting from Ground Zero, and Celebrating 500k listens!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 6 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, I'm ecstatic to announce 500k unique listens! That's half of a million, if you didn't already pick up on that.

I'm looking forward to the 1 million mark with all of you!

I also discuss a few tips for starting from ground zero. Thank you for your support!

If you'd like to give back to Developer Tea, head over to http://developertea.com/donate - every donation is a huge help to making this show a reality 4 days a week!

32: Rebecca Murphey on Scoutfiles, Hardware Hacking, and Chickens

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 3 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Today I interview Rebecca Murphey, one of the JavaScript community's most memorable voices and a genuine, kind person. Rebecca has been doing JavaScript for quite a few years, and you might know her from yayQuery and other jQuery-related things, her work at Bocoup, or her writing on rmurphey.com. Rebecca now works at BazaarVoice. In this interview, we discuss a myriad of things, including the difficulties of writing third-party JavaScript, working with hardware, and her open source efforts on Scoutfile.

Thank you for listening! Remember, you can support the show by going to https://developertea.com/donate

Mentioned on the show:

BazaarVoice.com has some career opportunities
Alex Sexton - @slexaxton
Deploying JavaScript Applications
yayQuery
Paul Irish
Dojo Toolkit
socket.io
Scoutfile
Discussion about 14kb first round trip request
NodeJS
Johnny5
Bocoup
bo-coop
Arduino

32: Rebecca Murphey on Third-party JavaScript Distribution at BazaarVoice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 2 Apr 2015 11:40:00 +0000

Thank you for listening! Remember, you can support the show by going to https://developertea.com/donate

Mentioned on the show:

BazaarVoice.com has some career opportunities
Alex Sexton - @slexaxton
Deploying JavaScript Applications
yayQuery
Paul Irish
Dojo Toolkit
socket.io
Scoutfile
Discussion about 14kb first round trip request
NodeJS
Johnny5
Bocoup
bo-coop
Arduino

Special News Episode: Spartan, ES8, and Apple Watch Retro

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 1 Apr 2015 04:01:00 +0000

In today's episode, I share some (insider) news with you that I think you'll find to be exciting.

31: Listener Question from Jessica - "What exactly is a full-stack developer anyway?"

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, listener Jessica asks what a full stack developer is.

30: Dan Denney, Part Two: Sending 1,000,000 HTML Emails for Code School and Memories from Front-End Design Conference

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Dont forget, you can support the show by donating at https://developertea.com/donate

Dan Denney is a wealth of knowledge, and in today's episode, he's joined me to share some of that knowledge with you. Dan is an HTML email craftsman at Code School. On today's episode, we talk all about HTML email and Dan's experience with Front End Design Conference. Make sure you follow Dan on Twitter: @dandenney. Full show notes can be found at https://developertea.com

Inspiration Episode #5: Software Is Not a Printing Press

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In today's inspiration episode, I talk about the non-permanence of our work, and how that empowers us to make faster decisions.

30: Dan Denney, Part One: Sending 1,000,000 HTML Emails for Code School and Memories from Front-End Design Conference

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Dont forget, you can support the show by donating at https://developertea.com/donate

Dan Denney is a wealth of knowledge, and in today's episode, he's joined me to share some of that knowledge with you. Dan is an HTML email craftsman at Code School. On today's episode, we talk all about HTML email. Make sure you follow Dan on Twitter: @dandenney. Full show notes can be found at https://developertea.com

29: Listener Questions - Eric Asks How to Keep Up with Dev News, and When (and Why) Should I Get a Masters Degree

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In this episode, I answer listener Eric's questions about how to keep up with the news, and when to get a masters degree.

Thank you to our sponsor, Codeship: http://codeship.com - 20% off using code "DeveloperTea"

28: Richard Schneeman, Part Two - How to Start Contributing to Open Source, and Testing Refrigerators

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Richard Schneeman, Ruby developer at Heroku and awesome guy, joins me for the longest episode to date. Follow Richard on Twitter, @schneems!

28: Richard Schneeman, Part One - How to Start Contributing to Open Source, and Testing Refrigerators

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Richard Schneeman, Ruby developer at Heroku and awesome guy, joins me for the longest episode to date. Follow Richard on Twitter, @schneems!

Inspiration Episode #4: Learning Like Children through Play

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Children learn at an incredible rate. They also play significantly more than the average adult. Many studies have shown the importance of play for children in the learning process - so the question is, why don't we practice "play" as adults?

Episode 4: Learning About Learning
Support Developer Tea: https://developertea.com/donate

27: Ensuring Professionalism - Rules I Practice

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In this episode, I discuss some of my personal rules for maintaining a reputation of professionalism.

Support Developer Tea: https://developertea.com/donate

26: To Generalize, or to Specialize, that is the Question... Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Should you be a generalized programmer or a specialized programmer? Generalized programmers learn a wide range of languages and/or frameworks, while a specialized programmer becomes an expert in something very specific. There are pros and cons to both, and in this episode, we'll discuss both.

Inspiration Episode #3: The Day the Beatles Were Rejected

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Unless you're extraordinarily lucky, you'll be rejected multiple times in your life. Whether in your personal or professional life, rejection is a normal part of life, even for the best of the best (like the Beatles). In this episode, I encourage you to move past your rejection.

26: To Generalize, or to Specialize, that is the Question... Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

25: "What Should I Build?" - 5 Tips for Better Idea Generation

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

In this episode, I answer a question I've received from many listeners: How do I come up with an idea for something to build?

This question is somewhat complex, but we'll cover 5 basic tips for idea generation.

24: Scott Jehl on Responsible Responsive Design and Progressive Enhancement, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Mar 2015 12:15:00 +0000

Scott Jehl is a designer and developer working at Filament Group. Scott is also an author and speaks regularly at conferences like An Event Apart. In this interview, Scott and I discuss progressive enhancement and his book, Responsible Responsive Design.

Mentioned at some point in the interview:

Inspiration Episode #2: Coding for Humans

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Thu, 5 Mar 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Today, I talk about coding for humans in this special Inspiration episode. Remember, computers are only what you tell them to be!

24: Scott Jehl on Responsible Responsive Design and Progressive Enhancement, Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Mar 2015 12:15:00 +0000

Mentioned at some point in the interview:

23: When to Adopt New Technology: A Simple Value-based Rubric

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Mar 2015 12:15:00 +0000

In today's episode, at the request of a listener I discuss the tradeoffs of choosing to adopt a new technology versus using what you already know, even when what you already know might not be the best tool for the job.

22: Why Should Developers Build Their Own "Brand"?

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 12:15:00 +0000

In today's episode, I discuss even further why it's important to create a brand for yourself. Make sure you check out my interview with John Sonmez to hear more about why a developer might want to build their own brand!

Bonus Weekly Inspiration #1: Functionality Versus Elegance

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:15:00 +0000

Today's bonus episode is the first weekly inspiration mini-episode! Today's quote comes from Steve McConnell, author of Code Complete.

Thank you for supporting Developer Tea with your listens! We just reached the 200k unique listens mark, and that's thanks to you!

20: Thoughts on Unicorns: Answering a Listener Question

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 12:45:00 +0000

In this episode, I answer a listener question about what route he should take in his technical education. Spoiler: I actually do have an opinion and recommendation to this question.

For a significant part of this episode, I discuss the concept of the famed "unicorn" developer, and why they're in such high demand.

Note: I accidentally called the listener a "guest" - probably because I consider everyone who listens to the show my personal guests 3 times a week. :)

19: Ben Orenstein from Thoughtbot, Part Two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 12:50:00 +0000

I'm excited to be interviewing Ben Orenstein from Thoughtbot. Ben is a brilliant craftsman of a developer, and in this episode we discuss what it takes to be a craftsman. This is the second part of the interview, so be sure to check out the previous episode for the first part!

Ben's personal site and writings can be found here: http://benorenstein.com

19: Ben Orenstein from Thoughtbot, Part One

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 12:50:00 +0000

I'm excited to be interviewing Ben Orenstein from Thoughtbot. Ben is a brilliant craftsman of a developer, and in this episode we discuss what it takes to be a craftsman. This interview is split into two parts, so be sure to check out the next episode for the second part!

Ben's personal site and writings can be found here

Ben on Twitter, @r00k: https://twitter.com/r00k and on GitHub, @r00k: https://github.com/r00k

18: Listener Questions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 12:50:00 +0000

Around 1:00, Brett asks how to become an “advanced developer.”

Programming Paradigms Stanford Course: https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/programming-paradigms/id495054064
Paul Graham’s essays on Lisp
Python
Django
Wordpress
Whiteboard

Around 8:10, Daniel asks how to make writing tests less boring and more joyful.

Justin's article about adding tests to a non-TDD app

17: Volt and Isomorphism with Ryan Stout, part two

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Today I'm joined once again by Ryan Stout, the developer behind the powerful new Ruby web framework Volt. Ryan and I continue discussing why he created Volt, and some of the motivations for developers to move towards "isomorphic development".

Check out Volt: VoltFramework.com

17: Volt and Isomorphism with Ryan Stout, part one

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 12:50:00 +0000

Today I'm joined by Ryan Stout, the developer behind the powerful new Ruby web framework Volt. Ryan and I discuss why he created Volt, the motivations for developers to move towards "isomorphic development", and how Volt addresses some of those motivations.

Ryan Stout on Twitter: @ryanstout (note: not to be confused with @stoutryan, the comedian.)

Check out Volt: VoltFramework.com

Support Developer Tea: http://www.developertea.com/buy-me-tea

16: Stigmas, Stereotypes, and Pizza

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 9 Feb 2015 13:15:00 +0000

In this episode, we talk about stigmas and stereotypes.

As developers, and as humans, we have a responsibility to treat each other fairly. We also have a responsibility to our craft.

In this episode, I discuss the one thing that developers should be measured by.

Bonus Episode: Thank you for a GREAT first month!

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Sat, 7 Feb 2015 04:10:00 +0000

The first month of Developer Tea was officially marked yesterday, and in this episode, I'd like to thank you. I also challenge you towards the end of the episode. Thank you so much for listening to the show!

15: Code Kata - A Practice Arena for Becoming a Better Programmer

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 6 Feb 2015 13:20:00 +0000

What was the last time you practiced writing code? Any expertise arguably requires an intentional, focused effort on practicing a set of exercises. Kata acts as the practice exercises for programming.

In this episode, I talk about code kata, and I also talk about the danger of being addicted to problems, and making sure we keep our kata efforts separate from our real problem-solving efforts.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

14: Daniel Kao - Self Control: Cutting Sugar for a Year, and Starting a Career in Something You Have No Experience in, On Purpose

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 4 Feb 2015 13:15:00 +0000

In this episode, I interview front-end developer Daniel Kao. Daniel has been running his site, Diplateevo.com, since his freshman year in high school.

Mentioned:

13: Flexibility

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 2 Feb 2015 13:15:00 +0000

In this episode, I discuss flexibility. Why is flexibility important, and what can you do to make your code and your workflow more flexible? I'll share something I did recently that made creating this podcast a bit easier to accomplish.

@developertea

If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea?

12: Chris Coyier, Part Two - Getting Good At Pretty Much Anything

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:15:00 +0000

On this episode, I continue the interview Chris Coyier. Chris is the creator of CSS-Tricks.com, Codepen.io, and hosts Shoptalk Show with Dave Rupert. In this second part of a two-part interview, Chris and I talk about getting good at being a musician (or at cutting hair), why we rewrite code we've already written, and lots of other necessary things.

Mentioned:

Don't forget to subscribe, rate/review on iTunes, and get in touch!

Twitter: @developertea
Email: developertea@gmail.com

If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea?

12: Chris Coyier, Part One - The Lifecycle of the Web and the Non-Evil of Doing Business

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 13:15:00 +0000

On this episode, I interview Chris Coyier. Chris is the creator of CSS-Tricks.com, Codepen.io, and hosts Shoptalk Show with Dave Rupert. In this first part of a two-part interview, Chris and I talk about how he got started with CSS Tricks. We also talk about what it's like to make such a massive amount of freely available resources.

Mentioned:

Don't forget to subscribe, rate/review on iTunes, and get in touch!

Twitter: @developertea
Email: developertea@gmail.com

If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea?

11: Justin Weiss - choosing Rails, guest hosting on Ruby Tapas, and enjoying Ruby

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Ruby developer and author Justin Weiss joins me to talk about his experience working with Avdi Grimm on a guest episode for Ruby Tapas, why he chose Rails, and his book. Then, Justin gives you his 30-second suggestion to help you become a better developer.

Mentioned:

Justin's book, Practicing Rails https://www.justinweiss.com/book/
Justin's Blog: http://www.justinweiss.com/
Sign up for Justin's awesome weekly newsletter: http://www.justinweiss.com/list/

If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea?

10: Approaching Programmatic Problems

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 13:15:00 +0000

In this episode, I talk about how I approach programmatic problems, and I give all developers my opinionated understanding of the most important factor of problem solving: imparting knowledge into your problem solving mechanisms.

Note: there was a bit of an audio issue with the compression on this episode; we'll be fixing it in future episodes. Sorry about that!

If you are enjoying the show, would you consider buying me some tea?

9: Stuff I'm using these days, edition one

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:30:00 +0000

In this episode, I share some of the stuff I've been using. None of these folks are sponsoring the show.

Mentioned:

Ruby - https://www.ruby-lang.org
Rails - http://rubyonrails.org
Grape - https://github.com/intridea/grape
Sinatra - http://www.sinatrarb.com
Focus at Will - https://www.focusatwill.com
vim - http://vim.org
Sublime Text 2 - http://www.sublimetext.com/2
Thoughtbot's thoughts on vim: http://robots.thoughtbot.com/tags/vim
Upcase - https://upcase.com
Simplenote - http://simplenote.com
Drafts - http://agiletortoise.com/drafts
Quiver - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quiver-programmers-notebook/id866773894
http://developertea.com, http://twitter.com/developertea, developertea@gmail.com

Also, here's Yehuda Katz's positive thoughts on vim from back in 2010, despite the title:
Everyone who tried to convince me to use vim was wrong

And reasons why you might consider emacs: Should I learn to use emacs? (Stackoverflow)

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

8: The Hardest Parts of Computer Science

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:20:00 +0000

In this episode, we cover (only 2 of) the hardest parts of computer science. Spoiler alert: this short podcast will not solve all of your complex coding conundrums, but it will provide you with some alliterative show notes.

Martin Fowler's quotation of Phil Karlton here: http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TwoHardThings.html

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

7: Part two - The $150,000 Question About Design School

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 13:15:00 +0000

On today's episode, I talk with Nick Morrison and Kody Dahl, both students about to graduate from the design BFA program at Georgia State University, for the second part of our interview.

Kody and Nick are both incredibly hard-working folks who happen to also work at Whiteboard.

In part two, we have a discussion about their professors, design software, life skills, and we (try) to answer the $150,000 question.

A big thanks to Nick and Kody! Follow them:
@Nickm717

@kodieodie

7: Part one - An Underground Cohort of Design Professors, with Kody Dahl and Nick Morrison

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:15:00 +0000

On today's episode, I talk with Nick Morrison and Kody Dahl, both students about to graduate from the design BFA program at Georgia State University.

Kody and Nick are both incredibly hard-working folks who happen to also work at Whiteboard.

In part one, we start a discussion on formal design education.

The interview went quite a bit longer than we expected it to go, so I've decided to split the interview into two parts, which will both be released this week.

A big thanks to Nick and Kody! Follow them.

@Nickm717

@kodieodie

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

6: Feelback vs. Feedback

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Spec) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 04:10:00 +0000

How do you code a feeling?

Today, we're going to be talking about how to deal with ambiguous feedback. The answer is kind of ambiguous, unfortunately, but we live in a subjective world, so let's all learn how to value subjective things, shall we?

We've managed to hit LESS than 5 minutes on this one! Hope you enjoy it. Up next in the queue is our first interview episode double-release, which is a bit longer, so be on the look out!

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

5: Addictions

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Fri, 9 Jan 2015 17:00:00 +0000

In today's episode, we will not be talking about drugs. For long. Instead, we're going to talk about some kind-of amazingly weird trends in how we use technology, and how we might could be more intentional in the time we spend with screens.

We (again) went over the 10 minute mark, but hopefully the discussion is worth the extra half minute to you!

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

4: Learning about Learning

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Thu, 8 Jan 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Learning is one of the most important skills for developers to cultivate. In this episode, I'll talk about why that's the case, and a method for learning you might not have tried before.
Today's episode goes just a tad over 10 minutes - I'm doing my best to cut out the cruft, though.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

3: Prototypes

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Tue, 6 Jan 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Prototyping is a process that bridges the gap between production and static design. In this episode, I talk a bit about what that means, and about what is required for all good prototypes. If you aren't prototyping now, you need to catch up.

Edit: I accidentally called the Facebook prototyping tool, Origami, "Paper". Of course, this was a mistake. Sorry about that folks.

2: Focus

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 5 Jan 2015 17:30:00 +0000

In this episode, I talk about focus, and why it's so important for developers to cultivate focus. We'll discuss some pretty amazing statistics about how we use technology, and I challenge you to not listen to this podcast.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider buying me some tea.

1: Introductions, formalities, etc

jonathan.cutrell@gmail.com (Jonathan Cutrell) — Mon, 5 Jan 2015 17:00:00 +0000

This is the proverbial "hello" episode, where I tell you what Developer Tea is all about. Developer Tea is born out of my own desire to have shorter podcasts that come out more often. I very rarely have the time to listen to so many of the podcasts I'd like to listen to, because they are just simply too long. Developer Tea is engineered to fit inside your tea (or coffee, or kombucha) break.