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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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Dimensional Reframing - Think Along a New Axis

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.

Published: 3/26/2025
Length: ~13m
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Chesterton's Fence - Why You Should Think Twice Before Rewriting That Project

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

Published: 3/21/2025
Length: ~9m
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Reframing Areas of Growth to Your Manager

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.

Published: 3/12/2025
Length: ~12m
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Owning and Requesting Forward-Framed Feedback

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.

Published: 3/5/2025
Length: ~9m
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Work Modes Using Autonomy and Definition Clarity Quadrant - Manager Frameworks and Tools Series

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.

Published: 2/27/2025
Length: ~16m
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Manager Frameworks and Models - Product Lifecycle Governance

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.

Published: 2/24/2025
Length: ~14m
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Philosophical Frameworks that Inform Your Decisions (Without You Even Knowing It)

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.

Published: 2/17/2025
Length: ~25m
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How Can You Prepare for High-Impact Unknown Events?

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.

Published: 2/8/2025
Length: ~25m
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Misconceptions about Exceptions and Cultural Shifts - Invisible Inertia

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.

Published: 1/29/2025
Length: ~24m
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Action Orientation and Making Faster Decisions

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!

Published: 1/22/2025
Length: ~26m
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Match your Action to Intention - Pairing Five Whats with Five Whys

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

Published: 1/15/2025
Length: ~23m
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Upgrade Your Resolutions

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.

Published: 1/11/2025
Length: ~18m
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Ten Years of Developer Tea

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!

Published: 1/5/2025
Length: ~9m
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Better Low-Information Estimates - Putting the "Scientific" in SWAG

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.

Published: 12/17/2024
Length: ~27m
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Agency - How The On Over In Model Can Help You Grow Your Career

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.

Published: 12/11/2024
Length: ~13m
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Using ChatGPT for Career Experience Simulations - LLMs and Direct Simulations for Faster Career Experience Gains

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.

Published: 12/3/2024
Length: ~31m
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Coaching Yourself: Career Coaching Personas for Everyday Engineers, Part Three - Shoulder Socrates

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

Published: 11/19/2024
Length: ~16m
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Coaching Yourself: Career Coaching Personas for Everyday Engineers, Part Two - The Overoptimizer

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

Published: 11/12/2024
Length: ~22m
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Coaching Yourself: Career Coaching Personas for Everyday Engineers, Part One - The Available Manager

In today's episode we discuss the concept of adopting self-coaching personas, and discuss a critical first persona to start with.

Published: 11/4/2024
Length: ~20m
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The Highest Leverage Work You Do - Footing the Ladder

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

Published: 10/18/2024
Length: ~15m
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Developer Tea was a part of Spec and is hosted by Jonathan Cutrell, engineering manager at Guild Education.