Using Substition to Make Decisions Simpler

Developer Tea by Jonathan Cutrell

Jul 22, 202600:18:30Technology

The skills you've built for reading people, reviewing code, and making calls under uncertainty all rely on the same brain shortcut: substituting an easier question for a hard one. In this episode, Jonathan explores how t...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Developer Tea.

You Don't Learn Helplessness - You Learn Control

Sep 5, 2026 - 00:16:00

A 1967 study gave us the concept of learned helplessness — but the same researchers later reversed it. Pa...

Why Reducing Complexity Is A Sign of Seniority

Aug 21, 2026 - 00:15:21

As you grow as an engineer, something counterintuitive happens: the systems you build get simpler, not mo...

A Pragmatic Definition for Accountability

Aug 14, 2026 - 00:22:34

Accountability is one of the most important concepts in your career—and one of the most frequently weapon...

Your Single Most Important Tool for Managing the Uneven Downsides of Risk

Jul 10, 2026 - 00:25:00

The skills you build and the tools you master matter, but they aren't your most important asset when thin...

Why Can't You Go Faster With AI? Focus on the Friction to Find Out

Jun 24, 2026 - 00:19:26

The skills you spent years building are getting cheaper to replicate—but that's not where the friction li...

Software Engineering Principles That Still Hold Up in an Agentic World - Old Lessons Made New

Jun 18, 2026 - 00:31:28

The skills problem isn't going anywhere — it's just wearing new clothes. In this episode, I unpack how th...

Principles Oriented Thinking as a Durable Skill in an AI First World

Jun 10, 2026 - 00:27:34

The skills that survive every industry shakeup aren't the ones you can Google — they're softer, harder to...

What the Science Actually Says About Effective Feedback

Jun 3, 2026 - 00:27:50

Feedback is one of the hardest skills in any career, and most of us have only experienced a handful of mo...