One of the express reasons that this show exists, that it goes on after nine years, is to help developers find perspective and purpose. In today's episode, we're going to dig in a little bit to two concepts that you've probably encountered in your professional life. You certainly encountered them, whether you have explicitly encountered them or not is the question. These two concepts are often mixed and they're often thrown around without much definition. And we want to provide some definition. To these concepts in today's episode. Now, these are not universally accepted definitions necessarily, but they are concepts that you can look through as a lens. Wherever your current role is. These apply to any cooperative group of people. All right. So this could be a family unit. It could be a set of roommates. It could be a city. A city inhabitants could be a neighborhood. It could be a company. It could be a team. Any group of cooperative of cooperative people. Now notice we're not saying that they are cooperative in the sense that they are working well together. Just that they have some kind of common interest, some kind of reason that they've been brought together. And that their cooperation is somehow mutually beneficial. To the group. All right. That's that is the application of this mental model that we're going to talk about today. The two concepts at the core of this model are culture and values. Culture and values. You've heard these thrown around. You've probably heard a ton of this in a slide deck from some kind of visionary leader. But today we're going to try to cut through some of that noise. And. Evaluate what these actually mean. What do you. What do you really understand about a culture? What do you really understand about values? In a cooperative group of people. What are those things actually. Translate to in terms of reality. We're going to start with some definitions. I know that's everybody's favorite way to discuss these things. Because there could be multiple definitions, multiple ways of framing these things. This is not the only model as already mentioned. So we need to have some baseline to understand how to evaluate our culture and values through this lens. The baseline for culture. Is how you shape your reality. How. You shape. Your reality. This means the things that you do. The artifacts that you create. The kinds of things that you celebrate. That you promote. That you incentivize. The kinds of things that you punish. That you disincentivize. The behaviors. And the behaviors as they fit within some kind of power structure. For example, the disparity of behaviors between. One group of people and another. How you treat each other in terms of equity. And. Even the history of the individuals that make up the group. All of these things can contribute to culture. And very importantly. It should be noted that culture is not necessarily. Not necessarily. It's not necessarily what you're trying to do. Culture is not about your aspirations. It's not about what you label. What you say that you're about. Your culture is actually what is happening. What is actually being done. By the people in that cooperative group. And we'll see why that's important when we talk about values in just a moment. But the important thing to note here. And the easy way to think about this mental model is. Culture. If you think about. That kind of idea of cultivation. You may easily arrive at that metaphor of a garden. And even though a gardener. May be trying to cultivate one plant. It's possible that that plant doesn't grow at all. And something else entirely grows. And sometimes we're surprised in a good way. We're delighted by what. What actually grows out of that culture or out of that cultivation. And other times. What grows kind of despite. Our intention. Intentional cultivation. It threatens the things that we wanted to cultivate. These are the kind of weeds in this particular metaphor. I don't want to stick on this metaphor for too long. Because there's so much more to culture than just a garden. And a gardener. So the important takeaway there is that. Accidental things. Accidental things can happen in culture. Culture can go out of control. We can have one intention. And it may be fully well intentioned. Well intentioned. And yet our culture. Somehow. Goes in a different direction than we had intended. And to contrast. We can talk about values. Values are the things that we actually believe. Not that we aspire to. This is still not an aspiration. It's in its own category. Okay. It's very important to understand that. Values are not aspirations. They may not necessarily be. The things that you list on the slide deck. Your values may not necessarily be. The things you say. Your values are. A quick heuristic for values. Is to think about your motivations. Think about your motivations. And specifically. Think about the motivations. The list of motivations. That you're willing to make a sacrifice for. What are you willing to say no over? What are you willing to choose. In the face of another incentive. And we have to express this. Very clearly here. That values. Is not necessarily. A list of things that is beyond money. You can absolutely include profit. In the things that you value. It wouldn't necessarily be much of a unique value. But we do. Make decisions about profit. Companies make decisions about profit. And we shouldn't necessarily shy away. From talking about. Profit as a value. Because companies are very clearly. Willing to make sacrifices. In order to profit. Now this show. Is not the one. Where we will put companies on trial. For this as a value. Instead we should just understand. What values really are. What are our priorities. What do we care about. Enough to make decisions over. This is not simply. What are we trying to posture. Ourselves as if we care about. Now to be clear. In case I'm sounding a little bit cynical. It's important to understand. That stated values. Often are derived from real values. For example. Your company. Your group. Your cooperative group. May state. That they value. Innovative thinking. For example. And while the company may. Incentivize innovation. The real value. The real motivation. Is likely. Something dealing with the bottom line. Right. We value innovation. Because we value. Competing in the market. Now this is not that. Again. Not that groundbreaking. Not that. Unique. There are other values. That are more unique. That may actually set you apart. From another company. Or another cooperative group. As a general rule. Values that govern a company. Are all subject to. That overall imperative. Of being viable in some market. That can kind of be substituted. By being considered viable. By an investor. For example. But those investors are using. That market. Market viability. As their heuristic. So. Overall. The values of a given company. They can be expressed. Within that viability. And they may be unique. Within that as well. So in other words. There may be some. Marginal profit. That a company is willing to give up. For their values. But. Most companies. Are not going to. Elect to. Go out of business. Over their values. This is a very rare occasion. And. This might be. A survivorship bias. Actually. Coming into play. Because those that do. They go out of business. And you don't hear about them. But for example. You may have. People in your company. Who have some level of influence. That hold personal values. And they're bringing those personal values. To bear. Within the company. With some kind of. Decision making. For example. A company may have. A minimum wage. That's higher than the mandated. Minimum wage. And. They may have. You know. No incentive. To do that. Other than. Some value. That the company. Holds. But something I just said. Hopefully caught your ear. About. A decision. That is made. And why. Are we talking about decisions. Or things that we're doing. In the context of values. Aren't the things that we do. Shaping the world. Isn't that. Cultivation. We're going to talk a little bit about that. Right. If we talk about today's sponsor. Speaking of values. And culture. If you work. At a company. That has. A culture of helpfulness. That is. Somebody comes to you. With a problem. And. You. Kind of. By nature. Are ready to help them. It's probable. That you've spent. Hours. With other people. Digging through the code base. Digging through slack channels. PRs. Jira tickets. And. Wikis. Looking for answers. About how something works. Or maybe you've done it. For yourself. Maybe you were trying to figure out. How something works. For yourself. Maintaining. A shared understanding. Of the code base. Gets much harder. As your team grows. And as the code base grows. And getting answers. To questions. Becomes more time consuming. When you're onboarding. New team members. Or working on. Refactoring. Existing projects. Things go stale. For example. Unblocked. Solves these time sinks. It provides helpful. And accurate answers. To questions. About your code base. In just seconds. Answers are specific. To your team. And application. Because it complements. Source code. With relevant discussions. From GitHub. Slack. Jira. Notion. Confluence. And more. Like an extended team member. Who never sleeps. Unblocked. Is aware of every decision. Every discussion. For every part. Of your code base. With Unblocked. Teams ship faster. By spending less time. Digging for information. And dealing with interruptions. Check it out. At getunblocked.com. That's. Get. Unblocked. Dot com. How do. These concepts. Of values. And culture. Overlap. We. Noticed. In the last part. Of the first. Half of the episode. Right before we went. To the sponsor break. I discussed the idea. That you might. Pay. Somebody more than. The mandated. Price. Minimum wage. That this might be. A reflection. Of your values. But. The keen listener. Of course. Would understand. That this is also. Something that you do. This is a cultural. Investment. A cultural. Shaping. Cultivation. If you will. And that's exactly right. And it's very important. To understand. That. Cultivation. Or culture. Has a very. Direct. Relationship. With your values. But. It's not. A perfect. One-to-one. Relationship. You might. Raise. That minimum wage. Above the mandated. Minimum. Because. Let's say. You need. More workers. And so. Some kind of market force. Encouraged you. To raise. The minimum wage. Rather than. Some kind of. You know. Value. That goes beyond. Just that kind of. Market force. That value. Stated as a belief. May. Have been. And in the first case. May have been. Something like. Anyone. Who is working. A full-time job. Deserves. A wage. That can support. Their. Their life. In the most basic sense. This is something. That may inform. A wage decision. Right. So. Interestingly. And this is. Kind of the important bit. You can make. The same decisions. For entirely. Different motivations. Your culture. Is going to. Be shaped. By those. By those decisions. But. The underlying. Motivation. The underlying. Values. That are held by. The cooperative. Group. May be very different. Than the next. Group. That does the same. Exact thing. Now. Why is this important? And this is where the rubber. Kind of meets the road. This is where you should. Really be paying attention. To the cooperative. Groups that you're in. And the stated values. Versus what you're seeing. In culture. Culture. Tends to respond. And reflect. Values. As a general rule. There are times. Where your culture. What is actually happening. Deviates from what your values. Would dictate. In other words. Your culture. Is somehow misaligned. Or it's. It's producing some kind of outcomes. It's. It's creating an environment. That is not. Expressly. In line. With the things that you actually care about. So that is a possible situation. To be in. Your culture. Is not aligning. With the values that you care about. And this is where. It's so important. To understand. How culture. Can deviate. How you can end up. With weeds. In your garden. So to speak. But. It's also important. For people to understand. That very often. Culture. Follows values. A general heuristic. Here is. Whatever is happening. Whatever is allowed. Whatever is celebrated. The culture. In your cooperative group. Is based on. Or. Or. Is birthed. Out of. The priorities. Or the incentives. The values. Of those. That are shaping the culture. And this. By the way. Is how. Culture can deviate. From some kind of stated values. Or from some kind of. Motivation. Because. It's possible. For culture. To get shaped. Accidentally. Or to be shaped. By external influences. Or. Any number of reasons. Why culture may not align. With the. The stated values. Or the. The. Stated motivations. And here's why this is important. If you're in a group. That has an explicit set. Of stated values. Right. Remember. Stated values. Are not necessarily real. But if you have an explicit set. Of stated values. And your culture. Is shifting. Perhaps it's shifting rapidly. Maybe it's. Seesawing. Between. You know. One kind of cultural. Backdrop. To another. And it's very possible. And especially. If. If the culture is seesawing. In ways that are totally divergent. From those values. It's not aligning with the values. As you expect. And it's very possible. That the stated values. Are in misalignment. With the actual values. In other words. The culture is changing. Especially if it's being. Changed by design. There's somebody who is cultivating. Who's shaping. The culture. Or on purpose. In ways that deviate. From the stated values. Then it's a very high likelihood. That the stated values. Are misaligned. With real values. In other words. Motivations. Are not clear. In this scenario. It's meaningful to ask. What are the real values? Why is our culture. Swinging in so many directions. When we have. A stated set of values. That should help. Us govern. Where the culture should go. Now it's important to understand. That culture does change. While values should. Largely remain the same. You may pick up new values. You may slightly change. Those values over time. But as a general rule. Values are a little bit more permanent. In their state. While culture can respond. To situations. So you may have. Let's say. You're in a startup environment. The culture may be. You know. Wear many hats. That might be a behavior. Your culture may also support. Something like. Use whatever tool can get the job done. Or perhaps it's. A hyper frugal culture. For a period of time. But then some state. Some outside event perhaps. Changes your company's culture. Without necessarily. Impacting your values. So for example. Maybe you get an investment. Or maybe you become profitable. Maybe you grow to the point. Where your old kind of tool choices. Are untenable. You need to scale in some way. So what was previously culturally acceptable. Is no longer culturally acceptable. And in fact. And this is the very interesting reality. If you were to continue practicing. In the old cultural way. You may now be violating. The same values that you held before. To return to our garden metaphor. Culture. Is not in a vacuum. You have to recognize. What the temperature is. You have to understand your context. What is the season. What's the soil doing. What grew here before. And so culture changes over time. But the yellow flags to watch out for. For your cooperative group. Is. Do you believe that the external environment. Do you believe that the season. And the soil. Is changing fast enough. To cause the culture. To grow whiplash. That you're feeling. Do you think that it is actually. A response to the environment. And your values are holding steady. Or is your culture changing. Because your values are not actually. Well defined. This may signal. That there is a misalignment. Of incentives. That there may be a struggle. Between one incentive and another. And your cooperative group. Has not yet landed on it. Why does this matter. To you as a software engineer. Or as a manager. For one it makes sense. To be sensitive to. Cultural change. Especially for those of you. Who continue to grow in your career. As a leader. As a manager maybe. As someone that other people are looking to for advice. Or looking up to. As a mentor. You can help other people understand. Why are things changing around here. Or. What's the point. Of having. All of these values. If we just do something totally different. That flies in the face of those. Of those values on that slide deck. Your position in understanding these things. With a little bit more nuance. Can help someone. Find their way. And additionally. When it is actually a red flag. When it is actually time to pay attention to. Wait a second. The cultural whiplash here. Is signaling trouble. If you're paying attention to how the culture. How it aligns with the values. Or how it doesn't align with those values. Then you may be able to recognize those signals. Sooner than later. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode of Developer T. Thank you again to Unblocked. Head over to getunblocked.com to get started today. Unblocked provides development teams helpful. And accurate answers to questions about their code base. And it tailors the answers by complementing source code. With relevant discussions. From GitHub, Slack, Jira and more. You can ship faster. By spending less time digging for information. And dealing with interruptions. By going to getunblocked.com That's getunblocked.com If you enjoyed this episode. Please join us on the Developer T Discord community. Head over to developerT.com Slash Discord. It's the fastest I think I've ever said.