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DoingThisTogether

It's grand if someone wants to take on a task but thinks they'll need help. Speak up, and we'll negotiate for the help you need, whatever it may be. "I'd love to do <whatever> if I knew <whatever> . . . " If it's a technique, someone can show you. If it's a factoid, I bet someone knows. And so on. At David and Amy's wedding we had lots of folks doing stuff they hadn't quite done all of before. I suspect Rita and Mark would have been a bit more reluctant to do potatos (Roasted, red, with pepper, rosemary, and sweet onions) for 65 people if they hadn't had someone to ask about things from time to time.

That's one way the person running a kitchen can help allow sous-chef to be successful - be a source of the trick they're missing. I tend to broker these things a lot. "Doesn't Becky know something about that? Let's ask her." Turns out I don't have to know, as long as we know, somewhere in the stew. I have great fun when some of the stuff we end up making is new to me. If someone's got a dish they're good at, I get to watch and learn, while they get to show off. And the dinner is better in the end. Everybody wins.

The only things that have to be really strongly coordinated are limited, shared resources. Stove space and prep space are examples. Sometimes others pop up, like pots and pans. If we see any of those coming, we can attempt to sidestep them before the fact.

Another trick is to get a cross check when you think a task is done. This does at least these things:

• Gets a check on artifact quality. That's helpful sometimes.
• Actually helps us all keep a common understanding of the state of the cooking. At least two people are real clear on the stuff, and the rest of us get to listen in on the conversation.
• You get clear about your intentions. To get a useful artifact check, you have to say something like: "I think I'm done with this step, of this thing, so it's ready for these next steps here." Lots of process info there and a free process check.
• Ideas happen. One of my favorites is "Have you thought of adding . . . "
• Socially, of course, this builds group ownership of the outcome.
• And people are at least partially pre-briefed if you need help all of a sudden. "Help me get these out of the oven." and there's a whole lot less "What these?" and "For what?"

Are we talking about cooking here, or software? Hmmmmmmm.

-JimBullock (I only know one trick, really.) 2002.10.2