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I started Developer Tea in 2015 to help engineers find clarity, perspective, and purpose in regular short bursts of high-value content.

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

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?

Published: 1/18/2022
Length: ~15m
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Julian Gutman, CPO at Patreon, Part Two

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

Published: 1/12/2022
Length: ~26m
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Julian Gutman, CPO at Patreon, Part One

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

Published: 1/10/2022
Length: ~31m
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Purpose Oriented Resolutions, Part Two, and 7 Years of Developer Tea!

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.

Published: 1/5/2022
Length: ~22m
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Developing Purpose Oriented Resolutions

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.

Published: 1/3/2022
Length: ~19m
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Your Only Challenge Is To Focus

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.

Published: 12/30/2021
Length: ~14m
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Taking Back Ownership Over Your Priorities

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.

Published: 12/28/2021
Length: ~17m
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3 Cognitive Pitfalls of Mental Models

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.

Published: 12/23/2021
Length: ~20m
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Using Proactive Decision Tools To Reduce Reactive Decision Error

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.

Published: 12/20/2021
Length: ~20m
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Two Perspective-Sharpening Tools For Your New Year's Resolution Making

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.

Published: 12/17/2021
Length: ~16m
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Two Tools for Improving Your Closest Relationships

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.

Published: 12/15/2021
Length: ~20m
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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One (Fixed Audio)

We had some gremlins in the audio processing of the first part of the interview with Ernie Miller. They've been banished! 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.

Published: 12/14/2021
Length: ~39m
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Input Quadrant - A Tool for Better Retrospectives

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.

Published: 12/13/2021
Length: ~22m
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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part Two

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, and the second time Ernie has been on Developer Tea. 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.

Published: 12/8/2021
Length: ~30m
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Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One

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.

Published: 12/6/2021
Length: ~39m
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The Focus IS the Work

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.

Published: 12/1/2021
Length: ~21m
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Dealing with Inevitable But Unpredictable Events

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.

Published: 11/29/2021
Length: ~21m
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Think in Composition

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.

Published: 11/24/2021
Length: ~10m
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Substitute Better Questions

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.

Published: 11/23/2021
Length: ~16m
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Focusing On Fundamentals Is Not Repetition, It is Refinement

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.

Published: 11/18/2021
Length: ~10m
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Developer Tea was a part of Spec and is hosted by Jonathan Cutrell, engineering manager at Guild Education.