> Markdown version of [/videos/100626-wearedevelopers-live-your-brain-is-lying-to-you-cognitive-biases-in-development](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100626-wearedevelopers-live-your-brain-is-lying-to-you-cognitive-biases-in-development). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

---

# WeAreDevelopers LIVE: Your Brain Is Lying to You: Cognitive Biases in Development

Kate Astrid reveals how hardwired cognitive biases secretly sabotage your code. Learn to debug your brain before sycophantic AI assistants amplify your worst development mistakes.

- **Speakers:** [Kate Astrid](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@kate-astrid), [Christian Heilmann](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@chris-heilmann), [Daniel Cranney](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@daniel-cranney)
- **Event:** WeAreDevelopers LIVE
- **Published:** October 28, 2026
- **Duration:** 1:19:46
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100626-wearedevelopers-live-your-brain-is-lying-to-you-cognitive-biases-in-development
- **Thumbnail URL:** https://customer-goifxnzhrq3d0d54.cloudflarestream.com/9ff00081a3eff673834150aeeddf6d46/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg?time=4462500ms

## Summary

The episode kicks off with a roundup of web development news, touching on the vulnerabilities of relying on underfunded open-source maintainers (highlighted by a recent php incident) and the shifting landscape of ai training data. The hosts also explore the trend of ai and hardware integration, noting how developers are hacking smart devices to reclaim control over ad-subsidized electronics.

Kate Astrid, product engineer at Cogram, joins the show to examine how hardwired cognitive biases secretly sabotage software development. She highlights the *sunk cost fallacy*, which tricks developers into pouring endless hours into doomed features or unfulfilling roles, and *anchoring bias*, where casually dropping an estimate like "two days" unconsciously anchors the entire team's timeline. Furthermore, *survivorship bias* often skews technology choices, as developers flock to trending frameworks while ignoring the silent graveyard of companies that failed using them. 

To combat these mental traps, Astrid advocates for treating software engineering like the scientific method: rather than seeking validation, developers must actively ask, "What do I know, and why do I think I know it?" This is particularly critical in the era of ai-assisted coding. The panel observes that as developers increasingly work in isolated silos with sycophantic llms—which tend to agree with prompts rather than challenge them—they lose the natural "team check" that human collaboration provides. Embracing our inherent flaws and maintaining a rigorous, questioning mindset remains the most effective way to write resilient code and build functional teams.

**Keywords:** cognitive biases in software engineering, sunk cost fallacy in coding, anchoring bias in agile estimation, survivorship bias in tech stacks, ai-assisted coding risks, llm confirmation bias, open-source maintainer funding, hardware hacking smart devices, cogram construction platform, scientific method in development, php open-source vulnerabilities, developer silo workflow challenges, css random function implementation, combating confirmation bias, ai token language costs

## Chapters

1. **Maintaining an extensive developer blog and fixing broken links** (01:28) — Updating a massive static site reveals the high volume of dead services on the modern web.
1. **Navigating confusing developer job titles and consulting roles** (04:35) — Comparing specific IT job titles like forward deployed engineer against protected titles in other industries clarifies professional roles.
1. **Explaining developer roles to border control and non-technical people** (08:41) — The challenges of traveling internationally and communicating responsibilities highlight the ambiguity of modern engineering titles.
1. **Closing maker spaces and the accessibility of hardware hacking** (11:33) — The shutdown of corporate hardware labs contrasts with the growing ease of modifying consumer electronics.
1. **Evaluating new hardware form factors and feature bloat** (15:38) — Adding multiple features and foldable screens increases cognitive load rather than solving actual user problems.
1. **Addressing single points of failure in open source software** (20:37) — Relying on underfunded volunteer maintainers for critical web infrastructure creates massive security and stability vulnerabilities.
1. **Mitigating legal risks by training models on cached data** (24:02) — Shifting artificial intelligence training away from the live internet helps avoid copyright and intellectual property violations.
1. **Understanding the security risks of cracked and illegal software** (25:52) — Downloading unlicensed applications inevitably exposes personal computers to long-term vulnerabilities and malicious botnets.
1. **Analyzing token consumption discrepancies across different human languages** (28:42) — Generating responses in non-English languages consumes significantly more tokens and increases the financial cost of inference.
1. **Implementing artificial intelligence automation in the construction industry** (32:31) — Traditional architecture and construction firms remain hesitant about data security when adopting automated design platforms.
1. **Exploring experimental side projects and specialized developer tools** (34:46) — Building quirky applications like local wikis or domain name system language models highlights the value of experimentation.
1. **Creating social media preview images and niche developer networks** (39:26) — Generating proper metadata images ensures links unfurl correctly when sharing content across various social platforms.
1. **Utilizing native random functions within modern styling sheets** (41:56) — The introduction of randomness in layout styles enables natural variations without relying on external scripting logic.
1. **Differentiating real technology news from fabricated media headlines** (45:16) — Guessing whether obscure tech developments are true reveals the increasingly bizarre nature of the modern industry.
1. **Recognizing the sunk cost fallacy and survivorship bias** (53:45) — Developers frequently waste time on failing architectural decisions simply because they have already invested heavy effort.
1. **Counteracting confirmation bias and arbitrary estimation anchors** (58:26) — Applying the scientific method to software engineering prevents teams from making decisions based on arbitrary initial numbers.
1. **Preventing language models from reinforcing existing developer biases** (60:59) — Relying exclusively on enthusiastic artificial intelligence suggestions can blind engineers to fundamental flaws in their logic.
1. **Accepting personal shortcomings to overcome cognitive barriers** (63:22) — Acknowledging personal cognitive flaws without embarrassment prevents developers from making defensive technical decisions.
1. **Improving team collaboration by complementing individual developer weaknesses** (68:41) — Building diverse software engineering teams ensures that individual cognitive biases are balanced by different perspectives.
1. **Recommended literature for understanding rationality and cognitive limitations** (75:50) — Reading specialized fiction and scientific texts provides practical frameworks for recognizing and managing irrational thought patterns.

## Related Moments

- [Mitigating hardwired cognitive biases in technical decision making](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1992-thoughts-on-modern-software-development-observations-from-a-21-year-journey) (from "Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development - Observations From a 21-Year Journey")
  - **Thumbnail URL:** https://customer-goifxnzhrq3d0d54.cloudflarestream.com/0f08793e1e4f133f408907b76ef1f15f/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg?time=148900ms
- [Addressing psychological safety and ethical risks of AI adoption](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1950-the-scrum-master-as-an-orchestrator-guiding-human-ai-collaboration-in-modern-teams) (from "The Scrum Master as an Orchestrator: Guiding Human–AI Collaboration in Modern Teams")
  - **Thumbnail URL:** https://customer-goifxnzhrq3d0d54.cloudflarestream.com/52b10b4a761191c21118aef5434da437/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg?time=111730ms
- [Addressing developer burnout and the impact of artificial intelligence](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1504-cracking-the-code-to-tech-team-satisfaction) (from "Cracking the Code to Tech Team Satisfaction")
  - **Thumbnail URL:** https://customer-goifxnzhrq3d0d54.cloudflarestream.com/756f673275637b7f5660cc98cd0f036e/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg?time=188645ms
- [Balancing AI enthusiasm with cynical engineering tool practices](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1858-a-stack-overflow-for-agents-peter-wilson) (from "A Stack Overflow for Agents? - Peter Wilson")
  - **Thumbnail URL:** https://customer-goifxnzhrq3d0d54.cloudflarestream.com/03ec81fd4216e39146888b08674f3789/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg?time=125600ms
- [Developing practical habits to counter cognitive biases](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100373-your-brain-is-lying-to-you-cognitive-biases-in-development) (from "Your Brain Is Lying to You: Cognitive Biases in Development")
  - **Thumbnail URL:** https://customer-goifxnzhrq3d0d54.cloudflarestream.com/4e46c077eba5d5b3416a77c5ae710b09/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg?time=194482ms
- [Cognitive bias and uncritical tech adoption in architecture](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1438-why-most-software-projects-fail-silently) (from "Why (most) software projects fail silently...")
  - **Thumbnail URL:** https://customer-goifxnzhrq3d0d54.cloudflarestream.com/f6317a4d8cb27f19cb4c91824823e3ca/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg?time=167175ms

## Related Articles

- [Exploring AI: Opportunities and Risks for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/522-exploring-ai-opportunities-and-risks-for-developers)
- [What is Software Engineering in the Age of AI?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/640-what-is-software-engineering-in-the-age-of-ai)
- [Dev Digest 132 - Binging WADFlix?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/473-dev-digest-132-binging-wadflix)
- [Dev Digest 137 - AI'm not sure about this](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/485-dev-digest-137-ai-m-not-sure-about-this)

## Related Jobs

- [Staff Developer Advocate, GitHub Security Lab](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/3929243-staff-developer-advocate-github-security-lab) at **GitHub**
- [Staff Developer Advocate, GitHub Security Lab](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/2628442-staff-developer-advocate-github-security-lab) at **GitHub**
- [Senior Software Engineer, Sandboxes (Eu Or East Coast Preferred)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/2161904-senior-software-engineer-sandboxes-eu-or-east-coast-preferred) at **Docker, Inc.**
- [Principal Software Engineer, Developer Tools](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/48451-principal-software-engineer-developer-tools) at **Docker, Inc.**
- [Principal Software Engineer, AI Tools and Security](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/48450-principal-software-engineer-ai-tools-and-security) at **Docker, Inc.**
- [Senior Software Engineer, Sandboxes](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/48460-senior-software-engineer-sandboxes) at **Docker, Inc.**