It helps to, on a regular basis, revisit fundamental principles of work. And not just of work, of any endeavor that you put your mind to. And in today's episode, we are going to revisit two fundamental principles. These are my personal principles that I hold. And you're welcome to take these and use them for yourself however you want to. You can publish them. I hold no copyright over these by any means. Principles are, by their nature, a truth that you could test and evaluate for yourself. Now, it should be clarified that these are theories. Not necessarily. Not necessarily proofs. So they are not necessarily scientific truths in the formal sense. But they are principles of operation for me that have worked well in my career so far. So the two principles we're going to cover. We're going to start with the first one. And I'll tell you up front, this one is not a very marketable principle. Because it doesn't really roll off the tongue very well. But the principle goes something like this. Almost all imaginable ideas are possible. And so most of our discussions are not about possibility. But rather about strategy. Let me say this a different way. Pretty much anything you can come up with is possible to accomplish. Now, it may not be possible with some constraint that you have. You may not be able to do it with that amount of money or in that certain amount of time. But the vast majority of the implications. Or states. If you want to think about it that way. The vast majority of these future product states. Or future software states. Are possible. So when we get in a room with our team. Or when we get in a room with an investor. Or we get in a room with a product person. With a stakeholder. With a customer. The discussion is not about whether or not it's possible to do the thing that's being asked. Asked about. In almost every case. Instead. The discussion is. About the how. And how is related to strategy. In almost every case as well. So why does this matter? Well, this is actually a. Kind of a version. Of the principle. Everything depends on context. This is something that we say very often as software engineers. Especially managers. We like to. Kind of lean on the idea of context. As the determining factor of whether. For example. A particular. You know. Code base is of a high enough quality. Or if we've tested it well enough. Or if it's ready for production. We always lean on this. It's almost quippy. To say. Well it depends. Everything depends. Well what does it depend on? Exactly. The truth is. Most. Presented ideas. Most. Conceptual ideas. Are possible. With the. It depends. Clause. Why is this principle important to us. On a day to day basis. Really what this. Does. Is it underscores the importance. Of choice. The importance of choice. You as an engineer. And you as a manager. You as a product manager. Whatever your role is. In your. In your job. The most critical. Underlying. Common. Action. That we all take. Is. We make choices. And those choices. Are what make up. What we make possible. I want to clarify. What I mean when I say that. Anything that we can conceive of. Virtually is possible. This is a. Assertion about. The world. And about. Kind of scientific reality. We almost always bring. Assumptions to the table. And this. This principle. Is. A reminder. A reminder. That. We tend to view the world. Through the lens. Of some set. Of assumptions. In. Additionally that our assumptions. May hold us back. From agency or firm. Various choices. Once we can. Peel back. The assumptions that we're making. Once we. Take off that default lens. And we give ourselves more freedom. In our strategy. We can then. Make more intentional decisions. To constrain our actions. More intentionally. So. Instead of starting with a limited set. Of options. We start with many more options. Maybe not all of the options. But as many as we can. And this may impact our choices. For example. One of these simple assumptions that we make. Is that. Some implementation. For example. Let's say a piece of software. Some company outcome. Maybe. These are things that we must accomplish. By the time that we. Are done engaging with the project. We rarely think about our engagement ending. But the project continuing. And there's many ways. That our engagement. Could end. Most people can imagine. Strategizing for a project. That continues on. After they leave a company. But what about a project. That continues on. After you die. These are the kinds of. Relatively uncomfortable. Assumptions. That. We can question. We can peel back. And approach from a different angle. Perhaps for the first time. We're going to take a quick sponsor break. And then we're going to come back. And talk about the second. Back to basics principle. For today's episode. This episode is sponsored by. Neo4j. Is your code getting dragged down by joins. And long query times. The problem might be. Your choice of database. You could simplify it potentially. By using a graph. Database. Which allows you to model data. The way it might actually look in the real world. Instead of forcing it into rows and columns. You can stop asking. Or forcing relational databases. To do more than they were made for. Graphs work well for use cases. With lots of data connections. Like supply chains. Fraud detection. Real time analytics. And generative AI. With Neo4j. You can code in your favorite programming language. And against any driver. Plus it's easy to integrate. With your existing tech stack. People are solving some of the world's biggest problems. With graphs. Now it's your turn. Visit neo4j.com. Slash developer. To get started. That's N-E-O. The number four. J. Dot com. Slash developer. N-E-O-4-J. Dot com. Slash developer. Thanks again to Neo4j. For sponsoring today's episode of. Developer Tea. The last principle was. A little bit heavy. I'll say at the very end there. And we're going to lighten it up a little bit. Well this is definitely. One of everybody's favorite principles. And we're going to. Kind of dig back into this one. Because it is so important. And it's so often forgotten. So often missed. The importance of focus. The importance of focus. What is it. That we're talking about. When we say. Focus. Well it starts. With clarity. It starts with clarity. You cannot have focus. If you do not have. Clarity. And we can use the metaphor. That's kind of implied here. Of a lens. If a lens is blurry. If it's smudged. If the clarity of the lens. Is poor. For whatever reason. Maybe the lens itself is hazy. Then the lens will not be able to focus. Or if it does. It's going to focus on. Some artifact. Rather than the thing itself. Similarly. It is absolutely possible. To have clarity. But then it becomes. Pretty. Clear. It becomes obvious. That you're lacking focus. So start. This is the important thing. To pull out from this principle. Start. With clarity. In order to gain. Focus. Think about this for a second. Okay. Start with clarity. In order to gain focus. What does that actually mean? Well focusing. Without gaining clarity. Is going to be a fool's errand. And this isn't just true for lenses. It's true in your software engineering. Or any other kind of. Intense knowledge work. That you're going to be doing. Any kind of writing for example. Reading. Most. Most activities. Honestly. That humans undertake. If you do not have clarity. Then attempting to focus. Is going to be a fool's errand. Why is that? Why is this? Why is this? What are we talking about? When we say clarity. For the sake of this. For the sake of this principle. We want to use clarity. As an explanation. Of the broader picture. An explanation. Of the broader picture. What does this actually. Translate to in our work. Clarity might translate to. Understanding the list of things. That you might prioritize. And that's. Understanding. Okay. I have. You know. Project A. Project B. Project C. Here are the benefits. Of doing each of these things. Maybe. Here's the risk. Here's the cost. Here's the trade-offs. That we're considering. Here are the reasons. Why this project. Is even on the board. In the first place. Project D. Has been left out. And here's the reason. That project D. Has been left out. Right. So. What we're. What we're talking about here. Is gaining. A picture. Of the broader. Circumstance. Or the broader. Kind of landscape. If you want to call it that. We're going to include. Something in clarity. That goes beyond. Just seeing clearly. We're going to include. Thinking clearly. About. Your goals. Or about your. Your motivations. So it. Might be. A good start. To get a clear picture. Of what's in front of you. But in order to. Determine a focus. Right. In order to determine. A focus. You need to be clear. About your motivation. You need to have. Absolute clarity. About what you're trying. To end up with. Your. What your outcomes are. What you care about doing. Or. Affecting. In the world. So if you have. Clarity on. Once again. Project A. B. And C. And you have clarity. On what you expect. Their. You know. Impact to be. Maybe you have. Some idea. Of the risks. Involved. You have some idea. Of the. You know. Investment. Etc. Whatever your. Many different things. That you know. About this picture are. But. You may not necessarily know. Okay. Which one of those. Actually takes me. Towards what I want. Which one of them. Actually. Accomplishes. My motivations. That is a part. Of the picture. Of clarity. That is needed. It's possible. For example. That you don't yet. Know. Which of the projects. Is going to take you. Towards your motivations. Because you're not really sure. What your motivations are. In this case. You're going to create. Clarity. You're going to find. Clarity. You're going to make it happen. You're going to consciously. Choose. With the understanding. That you're going to find. Your motivations. Through this choice. That's one possible way. To create clarity. You may say. You know what? We're going to choose. Based on. Some other heuristic. Some other. Method. Of making the choice. Of what we're going to focus on. We're going to choose. Project B. Because. The people. That we've talked to. Are most excited about it. And. Our. Our kind of local. Motivation. Maybe not our global. You know. Forever motivation. But our. Our motivation for this choice. Is to engage in a project. That the people doing the project. Are excited about. Now you'll notice that. We're not doing any kind of. MBA analysis here. On which project. Which of these is a good strategy. Or bad strategy. That's not the goal. Of this episode. Instead. Having. Clarity. Is the first step. To having focus. If you do not have this clarity. Your focus. Will be useless. Now. What the clarity has created. Is an unquestionable. An unquestionable. Priority. I want you to read. What I'm saying here. Very carefully. I'm not saying that you should not. Question the priority. But. Instead. What I'm saying is. It is absolutely clear. What the priority is. This is the outcome. Of clarity. The outcome of clarity. Is to understand. In the business context. Right. We're not saying that clarity. You know. At a macro level. The only outcome from clarity. Is to. To organize your priorities. That's not what we're saying. But in the business context. In your role. At your. Job. Or. In your career. Gaining clarity. Clarity. Is about understanding. From an active perspective. Right. Clarity. If it's not active. If it's not. Informing your actions. Then. Clarity. Is. Only marginally useful. But if you're using. The things that you're getting. Clarity about. To inform your actions. And. Your actions are informed. By. Providing you with. Absolute. Clarity. On priorities. Okay. So hopefully that makes sense. So now that you have. Your. Clarity. Of priority. Now you can engage. In focus. Now you can engage. In. Actively. Pushing out. Distraction. Because you know. You know. What you're supposed to focus on. You know because. The. Priorities are incredibly clear. These two. Things go hand in hand. Clarity. Is a critical. First step. To focus. If you do not have clarity. Then you will not. Have any meaningful focus. Why is this a principle? Why does it work out this way? Well. If you. If you have. An organizational structure. Where clarity. Is not provided. Let's say for example. That. Every day. Your priorities are shifting. In unpredictable ways. Well now. It's very hard. For any teammate. To. To. Tune their focus. To. The new priority of the day. So what tends to happen. Is people will. Tune on something else. They'll tune on. Let's say. The things that they think are important. Or they might tune on. What they think is going to get them a promotion. They may tune on. They may. You know. Tune their focus on what they. Believe their boss wants. On any given day. Or maybe they tune into. Their. The things that are most. Technically interesting. Or. Or that provide them. The most kind of. Personal fulfillment. All of these. Are likely. Not. What they would tune to. If there was clarity. So this is. This is why this is a principle. Start with clarity. Move to focus. You cannot have focus. Without clarity. And. As kind of an addendum. Having clarity. Is not the same thing. As having focus. It is a precursor. But just because priorities are clear. Does not mean. You have developed the ability. To focus. This is not. Something that people are born with. Is not something that teams just intuitively. Pick up on their own. You have to practice and develop focus. Over time. And usually. Focus is enabled. By revisiting. Clarity. Over and over and over. There are many more principles. That it will likely dive into. As we move forward with developer T. We can never get enough of these principles. They are so critical. To my work. And I believe that. If you apply them. In your work. You will likely see a positive. Return on this. On these models of thinking. These principles of thinking. Thanks so much for listening. Of course a huge thank you to Neo4j. If your code is getting dragged down. By a ton of joins. Long query times. Try simplifying the complexity. With graphs. With Neo4j. You can code. In your favorite programming language. And it gets to any driver. See what graphs can do for you. At Neo4j.com slash developer. That's N E O 4 J. Dot com slash developer. If you enjoyed this episode. Come and join us. In the developer T discord community. Head over to developer T.com slash discord. To join totally free today. We'd love to discuss your principles. More in depth. And talk about ways that. You have tested your principles. Ways that you might test these ones. That we talked about on the show today. That's developer T.com slash discord. Of course. Another way you can show. That you appreciate this show. Is by leaving a review. On Apple podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. And until next time. Enjoy your tea.