
600 episodes

Developer Tea Jonathan Cutrell
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- Technology
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4.8 • 391 Ratings
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Developer Tea exists to help driven developers connect to their ultimate purpose and excel at their work so that they can positively impact the people they influence.
With over 13 million downloads to date, Developer Tea is a short podcast hosted by Jonathan Cutrell (@jcutrell), co-founder of Spec and Director of Engineering at PBS. We hope you'll take the topics from this podcast and continue the conversation, either online or in person with your peers. Twitter: @developertea :: Email: developertea@gmail.com
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Backlog Psychology - Hyperbolic Discounting, Tech Debt, and Hacking Your Habits
In this episode we continue the mini-series "Backlog psychology."
Would you rather have $5 now or $50 next week? The answer to this question, though it seems logically obvious which is better, does not always produce the same response. The required incentive to convince someone to wait tends to follow an exponential curve upward.
This is not just true with money, but for any benefit and incentive: monetary, social, emotional, physical, etc.
What does this mean for our backlogs? What about our daily habits? -
Backlog Psychology - The Ziegarnik Effect - Why Limiting Work In Progress Protects Your Cognitive Load
In this episode we kick off a little mini-series called "Backlog psychology."
You've heard you should "limit your work in progress" - why? What makes more work in progress more difficult to handle?
Cognitive load isn't just about multi-tasking in the moment - it's also about limiting your open tasks. -
Two Tips for Better Retros - Add Specificity, Respect Uncertainty
Your retros may feel like deadends where complaints go to die. If you're running retros and treating it only as an avenue for emotional support rather than continuous improvement, today's episode is for you.
Retros are for improving iteratively over time. That can only happen if your outcomes are aligned to that iterative mindset. Two simple adjustments can help drive that improvement. -
One Big Step Versus A Small Random Step
Count the cost of learning. When you choose a path towards a goal, it's absolutely critical to optimize for the cost of learning. Often, with software, it is easier to learn by a series of smaller steps, even if they start out as random, rather than take on the major risk of a large step possibly going the wrong direction. This isn't always true; sometimes, the cost of learning is *greater* with small steps. Determining which is true in your situation can make or break your plans.
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Interrogate Your Decision Making Rules
Decisions are made in many ways, but one important type of decisionmaking tool is the "rule." This is something you follow without any cognitive processing.
But, we eventually develop rules as a part of habit-building. These are "implicit" rules - they aren't necessarily something you have set as a rule, but they are followed as if they were.
These are worth interrogating, and perhaps replacing with more explicit rules. -
Schedule Carving
Are you stuck trying to prioritize your long list of things you need to do? Maybe you're trying to establish a habitual routine or areas of investment in your schedule, budget, or decisionmaking.
Figure out what you need to avoid first. This creates the opportunities you need to say yes.
Customer Reviews
Grab a Cup!
This podcast is just what I was looking to consume in nugget sized portions. It’s a great cup of tea length format with plenty of useful information to help drive you in your career as a developer.
Perfect timing for something this incredible
I just randomly came across this, but it was just at the perfect time and these have me really thinking and for the better. Truly amazing
Every episode gives you something to think about
Jonathan always chooses topics that leave me with something to take away and think about. Taking into account the topics he brings up has helped me see my development approach from different perspectives and I think made me better for it.