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Jonathan Cutrell

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 17 million downloads to date, Developer Tea is a short podcast hosted by Jonathan Cutrell, engineering leader with over 15 years of industry experience. We hope you'll take the topics from this podcast and continue the conversation, either online or in person with your peers. Email: developertea@gmail.com

Developer Tea

This episode delves into a powerful model for encouraging behaviour change, applicable to both managing others and self-improvement, by focusing on three critical factors: Trigger, Incentive, and Ability. It challenges common, ineffective management approaches and provides insights into fostering new habits and desired actions by making the 'right' thing the 'easy' thing.

 • Uncover why 
naive management approaches • , such as mandating rules or blaming individuals, are ineffective at solving underlying behavioural problems or creating new, lasting habits.
 • Learn about the 
Trigger, Incentive, and Ability model • , a set of principles that can be applied to encourage specific actions in others or to facilitate self-betterment and incorporate new behaviours into your own life.
 • Understand that 
Incentives • are the critical factor in deciding what actions to pursue, driven by the question, "what's in it for me?". It's crucial for incentives to be clear and understood; an unclear incentive is effectively no incentive at all. Beneficial incentives tend to be more effective from a scientific standpoint.
 • Discover the importance of a clear 
Trigger • , which is the cross point or moment at which a decision to act is made. Assuming triggers will be self-generated is often a flawed management practice, especially when encouraging new behaviours.
 • Explore how 
Ability • goes beyond just skill, encompassing clarity on 
how • to do something and the reduction of friction and variability in the desired behaviour. The goal is to reduce cognitive overload and make the desired action the easiest option, thereby facilitating habit formation.
 • Realise the 
interconnection between Ability and Incentive • , as a lack of clarity in how to perform a task (Ability) can make the incentive unclear because the reward for completion becomes uncertain.
 • Learn that the investment in encouraging behaviour change should focus on creating a 
better trigger, a better (and clearer) incentive, and higher ability • (lower friction, higher skill) to ensure people engage in the desired behaviour.
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Behavior Change 101: Trigger, Incentive, and Ability

This episode delves into the crucial role of well-positioned goals in a developer's career. It asserts that goals provide clarity, perspective, and purpose, particularly focusing on clarity as a primary benefit. The discussion challenges common struggles with goal setting, including the often-overlooked importance of relevance (the 'R' in SMART goals), suggesting that an irrelevant goal, no matter how specific or measurable, is ultimately ineffective. The core message highlights that the purpose of a goal is to serve as a clarifying and prioritising tool, enabling you to make decisions about what to do and focus your efforts, rather than simply doing work that is handed to you. You will learn to start small and focus on desired outcomes or what you want to be true, accepting that a goal only needs to be "directionally correct" rather than perfect. The episode also provides a practical heuristic: to set goals by considering how your boss will evaluate your performance in the future. It emphasises the importance of setting goals that are challenging but sustainable, avoiding common pitfalls like overly abstract, too easy, or demoralisingly difficult goals, to prevent disengagement and burnout. Ultimately, consistent goal setting and reflection are presented as key drivers for long-term career success.

Understand the fundamental importance of goals • in providing 
clarity, perspective, and purpose • in your career, especially for driven developers.
 • Recognise that 
relevance is the most critical factor in goal setting • ; a goal's specificity or measurability is meaningless if it is not the right goal for you.
 • Grasp that 
the primary function of a goal is to help you make decisions • about what to do, acting as a clarifying, prioritising, and focusing tool for your efforts.
 • Challenge the mindset that your goal as a software engineer is merely to complete assigned work; without personal goals, your career changes and skill development will be difficult.
 • Learn to 
start small when setting goals • and focus on desired 
outcomes • or what you genuinely want to be true in your career.
 • Embrace the concept of a 
"directionally correct" goal • , understanding that a goal does not need to be perfect to guide you effectively towards a larger, long-term outcome.
 • Utilise reflection after meeting a goal to assess whether it moved you closer to your long-term objectives, providing valuable steering for future goals.
 • Employ a practical heuristic for goal setting: 
imagine how your boss would evaluate your performance • in six months or a year, and set goals around those anticipated factors.
 • Be proactive in discussing career growth and goal setting with your manager, framing it as an opportunity for them to direct your efforts towards organisational wins.
 • Identify and avoid common pitfalls in goal setting, such as goals that are 
too abstract (not tractable), too easy (causing disengagement), or too difficult (leading to demoralisation) • .
 • Strive for goals that offer a 
challenging but sustainable • chance of success (e.g., around a 60% probability), requiring focus and the ability to say no, without leading to burnout.
 • Understand that 
consistency in setting and pursuing goals • is what ultimately defines long-term success, rather than the perfection of any single goal.
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For further reading (external sources):

SMART Goals • : The episode mentions the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) as a good set of checks for goals. You can find more information about SMART goals on their 
Wikipedia page • . (Please note: This link provides information from outside of the provided sources and you may want to independently verify that information.)
 • The discussion on goal success probability (e.g., 60% chance of success) alludes to studies on optimal challenge levels for engagement and achievement. You may find further research on goal-setting theory and motivational psychology to explore these concepts in more detail. (Please note: This information is not explicitly from the provided sources and you may want to independently verify it.)

Goal of the Goal - Using Goals As A Prioritization Clarifying Tool

Today we explore Cognitive Load Theory. This concept can profoundly influence how you structure your workday, manage teams, and approach learning in your career. The episode highlights that much of professional work, particularly in knowledge-based roles like software engineering, is fundamentally about learning. You will discover that there is an optimal amount of information processing for effective learning, and both overloading and underloading your cognitive capacity can be detrimental. A key insight is that cognitive load does not discriminate; all external factors, whether work-related or personal (e.g., tiredness, a messy desk), consume your finite cognitive capacity, leaving less "headroom" for optimal performance. Furthermore, cognitive load is not static but varies daily, impacted by an individual's diverse life experiences. The episode also delves into how skill development effectively lowers the cognitive load required for specific tasks, allowing individuals to achieve more with less mental effort or take on new challenges. It underscores the importance of self-awareness in recognising signals of overload or underload, and for managers, it emphasises fostering empathy by understanding how external life factors can impact a team member's cognitive capacity.

Understand the pervasive nature of learning in professional careers • , particularly for developers, where acquiring new information and making connections is a constant.
 • Grasp the 
core principle of Cognitive Load Theory • : there is an 
ideal level of information processing • that maximises your learning ability. Both excessive (overload) and insufficient (underload) cognitive demands can negatively impact this learning rate.
 • Recognise that 
your cognitive load does not differentiate between sources • . This means that personal factors such as being tired, anticipating events, or even having a cluttered workspace contribute to your overall cognitive load, reducing your capacity for work-related tasks.
 • Appreciate that an individual's 
cognitive load is not a fixed value • ; it fluctuates daily due to various life experiences.
 • For managers, learn to 
proactively discuss cognitive load with your team members • to help them operate at an appropriate engagement level. A simple way to initiate this conversation is by asking about their energy and positivity levels.
 • Discover that while 
reducing non-value-producing cognitive load provides more mental overhead • , it also carries the risk of 
underloading • , which can lead to disengagement and reduced performance. The challenge lies in finding the optimal balance.
 • Learn how 
developing skills and gaining experience reduces the cognitive load required to perform a task • . This means you become more efficient and can accomplish the same outcomes with less mental effort, freeing up capacity for new learning or additional responsibilities.
 • Consider career growth through the lens of cognitive load: it involves either increasing efficiency (doing more of the same with less load) or 
expanding your repertoire by taking on new types of cognitive load in parallel • .
 • Understand why 
managing your personal life is intrinsically linked to your career success • (and vice versa), as cognitive load universally affects your capacity to learn and handle challenges.
 • Build empathy by understanding that 
a person's capacity to perform difficult tasks can be significantly moderated by their current cognitive load • , which may be influenced by challenging personal circumstances.
 • Recognise 
task saturation • as the point of cognitive overload where performance declines rapidly, as observed in flight training. Repeated exposure to this point, however, can lead to skill development that lowers the cognitive load for those specific tasks over time.
 • Understand that multitasking often increases cognitive load due to switching costs, making it less efficient than sequential task completion.
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For further reading (external sources):

 • To learn more about the academic background of Cognitive Load Theory, you may find additional information on its 
Wikipedia page • . (Please note: This link provides information from outside of the provided sources and you may want to independently verify that information.)
 • The concept of "task saturation" discussed in the episode, particularly in the context of flight training, relates to a point of cognitive overload. More on this can be explored on its 
Wikipedia page • . (Please note: This link provides information from outside of the provided sources and you may want to independently verify that information.)

Your Capacity for Growth Is Dependent on This Factor - Cognitive Load Theory

This episode focuses again on the fundamental principle that your systems are perfectly designed for the outcomes you are experiencing, regardless of whether those systems were intentionally or accidentally created.

Here are the key takeaways from the episode:

Uncover how your systems, whether intentionally or accidentally designed, are perfectly configured for the outcomes you experience • . The implication of design means choices have been made in setting up a system, but your intent is less important than the actual outcomes produced.
Learn why your intent is less important than the actual outcomes when evaluating your systems • . If your intent was the sole factor, everyone would achieve their desired results. Instead, systems should be judged by the outcomes they generate.
Discover the concept of "accidental design," where unseen factors influence system behaviour • . This can be inspired by Goodhart's law, where a measure becomes a target and changes behaviour, or by environmental factors, such as how your workspace impacts your thinking and heart rate.
Explore how "invisible systems" – the unexamined rules and assumptions that govern your daily life – profoundly influence your actions and results • . These are forces changing your behaviour that you likely haven't evaluated, such as automatically accepting all meeting invites.
Understand that human behaviour, including your own, can be an outcome of your systems • . This perspective offers the 
highest leverage opportunity for change • , as modifying the underlying system is more effective than relying on temporary motivation or addressing knowledge gaps in isolation.
Realise that system boundaries are often arbitrary, and a system's design must account for all factors influencing its outcomes • . For example, a quality assurance system cannot be considered good if it fails due to a "talent" issue; the talent pool and hiring procedures are part of the overall system affecting the outcome. Ignoring such factors because they fall outside perceived boundaries of responsibility can lead to irreducible or expensive risks.

You are encouraged to investigate the invisible parts of your systems and write down the assumed rules that govern your life, even if you haven't evaluated their truth or helpfulness.
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Investigating Your Invisible Systems

This episode discusses why perfection is a dangerous and fragile goal, explaining how striving for 100% leads to unsustainable outlier states. It highlights how setting perfection as a bar can cause commitments to break and plans to fail due to a lack of slack, and offers strategies like building redundancy and planning with slack to achieve goals more effectively without relying on perfection.

Uncover why perfection is a dangerous and fragile goal • , as it often requires exorbitant, unsustainable effort and creates outlier states that are unlikely to be maintained, referencing the "Wedies effect" where things tend to regress to the mean.
Learn how planning for 100% utilisation or setting perfection as a commitment can lead to fragility • , causing plans to fail when unexpected changes occur or leading to giving up altogether once a "perfect" streak is broken.
Discover practical strategies to avoid fragile perfectionism • , such as planning with slack to accommodate change and building redundancy into your systems and personal commitments for more robust outcomes.
Explore why actively avoiding requirements or expectations of perfection • is crucial, as investing in it can be an exponential or even asymptotic step, leading to an unsustainable and fragile state.

Note: sorry about the plane noise in the background. I decided to publish it, since it's imperfect (and that's kind of making the point!).
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Perfection Is Fragile, and You Should Avoid It

This episode introduces the potentially controversial principle that your system is perfectly designed for its current outcomes, urging listeners to embrace greater responsibility for systemic issues. It explores how to redefine system boundaries to holistically integrate all influencing factors, like talent and organisational processes, ensuring that interventions are effective and targeted.

 • Uncover the principle that 
your system is perfectly designed for the results you are getting • , prompting a re-evaluation of what constitutes a "good" system when outcomes are undesirable.
 • Learn why 
arbitrary system boundaries • often lead to critical factors, such as talent, being excluded, and how to consider a system's full scope regardless of traditional lines of responsibility.
 • Discover how 
incorporating talent and other seemingly external factors • into your system design can lead to more efficient and effective solutions, rather than simply patching symptoms.
 • Explore the distinction between judging decisions by their outcomes (resulting) and 
designing systems that proactively reduce uncertainty • and improve the likelihood of success.
 • Understand that system thinking extends beyond technical architecture to encompass 
processes, policies, culture, and interpersonal dynamics • , which collectively influence organisational outcomes.
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Your System is Perfectly Designed for Your Current Outcomes

This episode explores the fundamental mindset of building your vocabulary, extending beyond literal words to conceptual understanding and mental models, and how Large Language Models (LLMs) can be a powerful tool for expanding and refining this crucial skill for career growth, clarity, and navigating disruptions.

 • Uncover why 
building your vocabulary is a fundamental skill • that can help you navigate career transitions, disruptions (such as those caused by AI), and changes in roles.
 • Understand that "vocabulary" goes beyond literal words to include 
mental models, understanding your own self, specific diagrams (like causal loop diagrams or C4 diagrams), and programming paradigms or design patterns • . This conceptual vocabulary provides access to nuanced and powerful ways of thinking.
 • Learn how 
LLMs can be incredibly useful for refining and expanding your conceptual vocabulary • , allowing you to explore new subjects, understand systems, and identify leverage points. They can help you understand the connotations, origins, and applications of concepts, as well as how they piece together with adjacent ideas.
 • Discover why starting with 
fundamental primitives like inputs, outputs, flows, and system types • can help you develop vocabulary, and how 
LLMs can suggest widely used tools or visualisations • based on these primitives (e.g., a scatter plot for XY data).
 • Explore why focusing on 
understanding the "why" and "when" of using a concept or tool is a much higher leverage skill • than merely knowing "how" to use it, enabling you to piece together different vocabulary pieces for deeper insights.
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Using LLMs To Expand Your Working Vocabulary

This episode delves into the use of substitute questions—simpler queries we use to answer more complex ones—and the crucial concept of cohesion between these substitutes and our true objectives. You'll learn how to leverage counterfactual thinking to scrutinize your assumptions and enhance the effectiveness of your decisions. Discover two powerful counterfactual techniques: asking "what else could be true?" to reveal alternative explanations, and employing thought experiments to, for example, precisely define your desires and career aspirations. The discussion offers practical applications, from refining hiring processes by identifying high-cohesion interview criteria to avoiding confirmation bias in debugging. By adopting counterfactual thinking, you can significantly improve your analytical skills, make more informed choices, and build robust strategies.

Uncover how cognitively taxing questions lead us to use substitute questions • as heuristics, and why understanding the 
cohesion • between these is vital for accurate decision-making.
Learn to implement "counterfactual thinking" • to rigorously check your heuristics and substitute questions, ensuring they effectively align with your actual goals and underlying evaluations.
Discover two key counterfactual techniques: • exploring "what else could be true?" to identify alternative explanations for observations, and conducting 
thought experiments • to clarify nuanced personal and professional desires.
Explore practical applications of counterfactuals • to drastically improve processes like 
hiring • , by challenging low-signal interview criteria (e.g., LeetCode problems) and making more predictive assessments of candidates.
Understand how counterfactuals can combat biases like confirmation bias • in problem-solving, such as debugging, by prompting you to consider alternative causes and avoid poor pathways of biased logic.
Realise the transformative power of counterfactual thinking • in refining your thinking process, improving your career trajectory, and enhancing departmental operations by identifying and improving low-cohesion substitutions.
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Great Reviews and Terrible Tacos - Sharpening Substitute Questions with Counterfactuals

This episode explores why maintenance tasks, despite their fundamental importance, are often neglected or deprioritised in our daily lives and professional work. It delves into the psychological biases that make consistent maintenance challenging, such as hyperbolic discounting, where immediate gratification is valued over future gains, and the construal level theory, which highlights how psychological distance makes preventative work less impactful. The concept of the "maintenance paradox" is introduced, explaining that when maintenance is done well, its benefits go unnoticed, diminishing the sense of reward. The episode encourages listeners to adopt a maintenance mindset, making these tasks a standard habit rather than relying on typical prioritisation structures, as they are crucial for enhancing the quality of overall experiences and preventing future, more urgent problems.

 • People tend to 
discount future gains • or devalue them relative to immediate gratification, a concept known as 
hyperbolic discounting • . This means a dollar now is generally more appealing than a dollar tomorrow, or even two dollars tomorrow.
 • Many important tasks, whether changing guitar strings, making your bed, clearing email backlogs, or improving a development environment (often termed 
"tech debt" • in a professional context), are easily put off because they seem like low priority in the moment.
 • The 
"maintenance paradox" • illustrates that when maintenance is performed correctly, its positive effects are often invisible because it prevents negative outcomes that are never experienced. This lack of visible benefit means there's no immediate "dopamine rush" or gratification from consistent maintenance.
Construal level theory • explains why maintenance is difficult by highlighting different forms of 
psychological distance • .
Temporal distance • relates to the future value of maintenance being less immediate.
Spatial distance • suggests tasks further away (e.g., in an attic) are more likely to be in disrepair.
Social distance • refers to maintenance affecting others more than oneself, reducing direct personal impact.
Hypothetical distance • is particularly relevant for maintenance, as preventing a problem means never experiencing the potential downside, making the value of the preventative work hard to assess or feel. This contrasts with 
reactive work • , where real losses are visible, making it seem more urgent and higher priority.
 • A "bad cycle" can be created by the 
dopamine rush • experienced when allowing things to pile up and then finally cleaning or fixing them, which inadvertently trains individuals that it's acceptable to delay maintenance. The marginal benefit of immediate action doesn't provide enough immediate gratification compared to the larger reward of eventual relief.
 • To counteract these biases, maintenance must become a 
standard practice or habit • . Adopting a 
"maintenance mindset" • means understanding that these tasks enhance the quality of other experiences, such as making a bed to create a calm environment or applying sunscreen to prevent future pain.
 • Maintenance tasks often fall into the "important but not urgent" quadrant of the 
Eisenhower matrix • , but they only become urgent when the disrepair is overwhelming, like guitar strings breaking on stage. It is vital to integrate these behaviours into daily routines rather than relying solely on typical prioritisation structures.
 • The podcast itself can be seen as a form of 
"maintenance behaviour" • for one's career and professional life.
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Why Maintenance Matters Now - Construal Level Theory, Marshmallows, and Hyperbolic Discounting

This episode introduces a profound yet simple principle: knowing your baselines. This concept is crucial for effectively detecting and measuring change in your life and career.

Uncover the fundamental idea that to recognise when something has changed, you must first understand what things were like before the change occurred • . Often, people haven't been measuring their lives, making it challenging to spot shifts because their baselines are unknown.
Learn to identify your personal baselines • across various aspects of your life. This includes understanding typical daily habits, such as whether you tend to skip lunch, or how many hours you usually work (e.g., 6, 8, or 10 hours). While general data might suggest optimal working hours (e.g., 35-45 hours for most benefit, rarely more than 55 hours), your personal baseline is unique, and the goal is to empower you to make conscious decisions about your habits.
Explore other crucial areas for baseline measurement • , including simple health metrics like your typical body weight, baseline levels of activity with friends, expected energy levels, and even your baseline for positivity.
Discover how establishing these 'operating norms' for your life can be a critical factor in recognising positive changes • , identifying when you are unconsciously changing a behaviour, or even detecting signs of burnout. For instance, if your body weight trends upwards, it might signal decreased activity. Similarly, knowing your baseline learning rate can help you assess if you are learning at an acceptable pace.
Understand the significant benefit of sharing your baseline measurements or expectations with others • . What others observe about your life can provide a valuable starting point or confirm changes you might not perceive yourself. It's encouraged to get curious about what others are seeing, rather than dismissing their observations.
Grasp why this principle is so important: it helps align your actions with your values and purpose • . If you care about spending quality time with family or friends, understanding your baseline investment in these relationships allows you to recognise if you're moving away from your expected commitment. Knowing your baselines demonstrates that you're putting action behind your values, rather than just stating them.
Consider starting by engaging a trusted person to help you be aware of your baselines • , especially concerning the things that matter most to you. This provides external observation and support.
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Follow This Principle - Establish Your Baselines

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.
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Backlog Psychology - The Ziegarnik Effect - Why Limiting Work In Progress Protects Your Cognitive Load

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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