In the mid 20th century, Marshall Mcluhan brought philosophy into the spotlight with his claim that the "medium is the message." We discuss the meaningfulness of this, and apply it to our work as engineers and on distributed teams, in today's episode.

The world around us isn't static, but our brain processes as if it is. In this episode we talk about subtle shifts to help break that mold for the most important interactions we have in the world.

In today's episode, we discuss the fact that intuition isn't all that bad to use when estimating... we just shouldn't use it to estimate a number. Taking advantage of things humans are already good at (rather than limiting people to processes that work around those skills) is a powerful shift in thinking.

When we have context, we predict more accurately. When we translate numbers into more meaningful concepts, we create context where previously things were fuzzy. This makes our predictions more meaningful and grounded.

In today's episode we talk about a concept called excessive cohesion - when our brains fill in the gaps when information is missing. This is an important function of our brains, but sometimes it can lead us to wrong conclusions or faulty processes.

Increasing clarity informs perspective. Changing perspective often brings new clarity. When we manage our work through effective process, we are seeking clarity on that work. We refine our to-do list by clearing up ambiguity. We add clarity by getting input from others, breaking work down into simpler pieces. In this episode, I talk about this relationship between clarity and perspective, and how simplification benefits my productivity drastically.

How do you consolidate all of the advice you receive? More importantly, how can you put it into practice day in and day out? We'll talk about two strategies for making this happen in today's episode.

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.