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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 explains what is arguably the best career advice you'll hear this week: the one skill that signifies seniority in software engineers is the ability to synthesise and optimise for multiple factors at once. Instead of focusing on a single factor, such as performance or maintainability, senior engineers identify and weigh the various trade-offs involved in any decision.

Discover the key skill that distinguishes a senior engineer: • It's the ability to synthesise multiple, competing factors—like performance, maintainability, cost, and time to market—rather than focusing on just one.
Learn why single-factor thinking can hold you back: • Junior engineers often optimise for what they know best or what is easiest to measure, which can harm the overall solution, the team, and their professional reputation.
Understand how to demonstrate seniority in interviews and at work: • You can show your maturity and wisdom by identifying the crucial trade-offs for any given problem, asking what factors need to be balanced, and exploring options that might satisfy multiple goals at once.
Explore how to find better solutions by thinking in trade-offs: • The goal isn't just to make sacrifices; often, the mark of a great senior engineer is finding a third option that effectively balances or optimises for multiple important factors simultaneously.
Start practising this skill today: • Challenge yourself to identify what you are giving up with any decision and consider factors you don't normally prioritise. Ask "What am I saying no to?" to develop this crucial skill.
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This One Skill Signifies Seniority For Software Engineers

This episode focuses on the critical importance of having a backup plan, not just for technical redundancies but especially for situations involving human error, which are highly prevalent in one's career. The core argument hinges on understanding risk and reward curves, highlighting the disproportionate impact of failures compared to incremental successes.

Understanding Risk and Reward Curves:

Successes are often incremental • . Delivering a project on time typically leads to opportunities for more projects, good performance reviews, and modest pay increases (e.g., 5-7%). These are positive, but linear or slightly bumpy gains.
Failures, especially uncaught ones, have a much longer negative tail • . The potential for loss from a significant mistake or a disastrous project 
significantly outweighs • the potential for gain from a success.
 • A bad performance review, for example, can affect future reviews, decrease promotion likelihood, and follow you for a much longer period than a good one.
 • Uncaught failures can place individuals in a pool for budget cuts or layoffs, leading to 
catastrophic curves • where negative effects compound much faster, resembling a logarithmic function. One or two significant negative events could wipe out all accumulated incremental gains.

The Criticality of Backup Plans:

 • Backup plans are essential to 
avoid these catastrophic negative curves • and major "wipeout scenarios".
 • This preparedness applies to project failures, personal career contingencies (e.g., getting laid off), and even events beyond direct control.
 • It's crucial to prepare for 
theoretically possible catastrophic events • , not just those that have historically occurred. Even "Black Swan" events or things you're not prepared for can cause major issues.
 • Thinking like this (e.g., similar to life insurance, which you only need once if at all) encourages hedging efforts with basic backup plans, such as redundancy.

Benefits of Preparedness:

 • The more you prepare for contingencies, the more likely you can deal with the majority of failures, preventing the catastrophic curve.
 • Having backup plans can create a 
"flywheel effect" • , where your ability to respond to negative events actually increases the speed of stacking up further positive outcomes.
 • Being 
proactive in your career • (e.g., interviewing even when you're happy in your current role) builds resiliency.

Actionable Advice:

Focus on what could go wrong • : Try to figure out how things could fail and what catastrophic events are possible, even if they haven't happened yet.
Identify vulnerabilities • : Locate areas where a catastrophe could lead to a steep drop-off in your career trajectory.
Implement a basic backup plan • : The recommendation is to put just one in place this week for something that could catastrophically impact your career. This provides a sense of relief and ensures readiness if needed. Taking this first step is likely to encourage creating more backup plans for professional situations.
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Backup Plans and Risk Reward Curves

Todays episode delves into understanding and leveraging second and third-order consequences – the ripple effects that occur after an initial action – and introduces forcing functions, which are an inverted way of thinking about these consequences, designed to drive desired outcomes by first determining "what must be true" for them to occur. The episode also connects these concepts to the importance of effective goal setting, explaining how well-defined goals provide clarity, focus, and a strategic framework for decision-making and career advancement.

Grasp Second and Third-Order Consequences: • Learn to identify the 
downstream effects of initial actions • . For instance, setting a target for test coverage (first action) might lead to people adding tests that don't genuinely test anything but merely inflate the metric (second-order consequence), potentially resulting in disillusionment with testing or continued incidents despite high coverage (third-order consequence). Conversely, giving someone ownership or autonomy (first action) can lead to them proactively filling out details and owning ambiguity (second-order consequence), which may result in higher quality work, freeing up managerial time, and setting the individual up for promotion (third-order consequence).
Utilise Forcing Functions for Desired Outcomes: • Understand forcing functions as an 
inverted approach to consequences • , where you begin with a desired outcome and then identify the upstream requirements or desirable effects that 
must be true • for that outcome to be achieved. This method helps to focus efforts on one to three key areas for improvement, rather than trying to enhance everything simultaneously.
Implement Effective Forcing Functions: • Discover how various elements can act as deliberate or accidental forcing functions:
 • A 
prioritised backlog • acts as a forcing function for essential discussions, decision-making, gathering sufficient information for prioritisation, and ensuring knowledgeable individuals are involved in the process.
Presentations, demos, or all-hands meetings • serve as powerful social forcing functions, as the desire to avoid the discomfort of not having progress to show incentivises action and preparation.
Sprint planning • is a forcing function that necessitates a clear understanding of priorities and team capacity for the upcoming sprint.
Quality metrics or Service Level Agreements (SLAs), • such as a P95 response time, act as forcing functions by requiring other system components to be correctly aligned to meet the target.
 • The 
choice of technology or tech stack • can be a significant forcing function for hiring, unintentionally selecting for specific types of engineers (e.g., Java for enterprise experience, TypeScript for full-stack, functional languages for functional programming experience).
Workplace restrictions • , like requiring night availability, can be accidental forcing functions, potentially selecting against individuals with community involvement, family commitments, or social lives.
Successful hiring and recruiting • is a strong forcing function for many positive aspects of a company, indicating technical success, high retention, competitive salaries, and a high standard for talent across the organisation.
Harness Goals for Clarity and Focus: • Recognise that 
a well-positioned goal is paramount for finding clarity, perspective, and purpose • in your career. Goals provide a framework to make decisions about what to do, ensuring your time is spent on what matters to you rather than just on tasks handed to you, thereby enabling personal career growth.
Set Relevant and Directionally Correct Goals: • Emphasise the 
relevance • of your goals; even if they are specific, measurable, actionable, and time-bound (SMART), they are ineffective if they are not relevant to your desired career path. Aim for goals that are 
directionally correct • , moving you generally towards a long-term outcome (e.g., leading a project if your long-term aspiration is to lead teams), rather than being paralysed by the pursuit of a "perfect" goal.
Leverage Manager Feedback for Goal Setting: • If you are unsure how to set goals, consider what your boss would look for in your performance in six months. 
Proactively engage your manager • by initiating conversations about career growth and goal setting, framing it as an opportunity for mutual success and seeking their input on what constitutes a "home run" for your role.
Set Sustainable and Challenging Goals: • Avoid goals that are too abstract (lacking clear actions) or that significantly over- or underestimate your capacity, as both can lead to disengagement. Instead, strive for 
challenging but sustainable goals • that require focus and making difficult choices (e.g., saying "no" to other things) but do not lead to burnout.
Be Mindful of Your Choices: • Deliberately 
choose your forcing functions • and become aware of those you are accidentally opting into. Consistently consider the 
downstream effects (second and third-order consequences) • of your actions today, and set goals that 
imply • a desired future state rather than dictating the exact methods. Consistency in this mindful approach to goal setting and understanding consequences is key to long-term career success.
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Second Order Consequences and Forcing Functions

This episode delves into the philosophical concept of hyperobjects – problems so vast and complex they lack clear boundaries and cannot be "solved" once and for all. It explores why attempting to permanently fix issues like technical debt, user experience, or performance management is often ineffective. Instead, it offers a new perspective: how to interact with and manage these intractable problems by focusing on specific outcomes and accepting their ongoing nature.

Understand hyperobjects • as problems that extend beyond clear boundaries and time, such as technical debt or performance management, which cannot be truly "solved".
 • Discover why a 
"one-time fix" approach is an anti-pattern • for hyperobjects, as their dynamic nature means solutions must also be continuous.
 • Learn to 
shift your mindset from "solving" to "interacting" • with these large, persistent problems, focusing on managing their effects rather than trying to contain them.
 • Explore the importance of 
focusing on specific, achievable outcomes • and taking "snapshots" of the problem's current state, acknowledging that the hyperobject itself will continue to evolve.
 • Recognise that 
language and conceptualisation • play a crucial role in framing and addressing these intractable challenges within your work and organisation.
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Don't Try to Solve Hyperobject Problems Once

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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🧡 Leave a Review
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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

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Thank you to long time sponsor and friends of the show Linode for sponsoring today's episode!

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Self Confidence is Accepting Your Weakness

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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