Developing in a Kitchen

A cooks guide to software development

Chop the onions

Be proactive to save everyone time
Did someone forget to chop onions for you? Chop them yourself. No one should get held up because there are not enough chopped onions. Unless someone can chop onions three times faster than you, do it yourself.

No raw chicken

If the task is unfinished, don’t push it
There will be no raw chicken. It does not matter if you ran out of time or something else came up. We need to assume that it may kill the diner. Don’t serve it.

No burnt steak

If the task is not done well, don’t push it
There will be no burnt steak. To burn a steak is to ruin it. Covering it in sauce only hides the problem. I don’t care how nice it’s supposed to make the steak taste. If it’s burnt, it’s ruined, and we need to start again.

Serve hot soup

Always communicate estimates and availability
If the soup is served but the garnish isn’t ready the soup will get cold while you wait. Maybe you had to take a shit - not a problem. The soup can stay in the pot until the garnish is ready. Er on side of over communication so people can adapt to the new situations.