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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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, 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!

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.

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.