At first glance, the professional kitchen may not be an obvious place for software developers to learn some important lessons. But join me for an a la carte menu of the best in agility.
Globally recognised chefs made famous for shouting at staff. Heat. Stress. Ridiculous hours. A complex, positional hierarchy invented in the 19th Century by an army cook turned fraudster turned celebrity. Although these headlines may be distinctly off message for our teams of technology creatives, the underlying behaviours at the heart of the professional kitchen are actually very in tune with the best of business agility.
Clarity of Purpose
Watch a couple of episodes from chef Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares tv show. Even chosen at random, you are likely to bump into a recurring theme. Restauranteurs fall into a trap of hugely expansive menu choices and fail to manage the quality of their offering. With so many meal choices, the restaurant is unable to stock the best raw materials, often relying on freezing produce to prolong shelf life. Confused customers are left with a bewildering array of options that speak nothing of specialty and care, so vote with their feet.
“If our people know what we stand for, they will feel empowered and motivated.”
Queue some Gordon magic. He works with the owners and chefs to reduce the menu, picking a small list of freshly prepared meals. The restaurant now has purpose, a meaningful brand and happy customers.
There is a very important lesson for us here. We should alight on a simple shared vision and set of goals. In paring down our scope and focusing on what is really important, we provide intent. If our people know what we stand for, they will feel empowered and motivated. If our customers know what we stand for, they will choose to partner because they feel aligned to us.
Customer Focus
A restaurant survives on its reputation and the all important diners. Without customers, there is no business. This is a two-way relationship. The chefs create meals they believe the diners want to eat. The diners will avoid those dishes they don’t like, heap praise on their favourites and blast their friends with recommendations and instagram pictures . A good restaurant listens to the feedback, constantly honing the menu and innovating around the popular choices.
Our customers should be at the heart of everything we do. If not for them, why do anything? Bring the customer to the centre of product design. Introduce short, meaningful feedback loops to gather opinion as early as possible in the development cycle. Be willing to pivot without mercy, changing plans at a moment’s notice if the needs of customer or market conditions demand it.
Built in Quality
It shouldn’t be the diner who first tests whether the quality of food is up to scratch. In a good restaurant, everybody plays a part in checking the meal is right. However, the frontline in quality checks in the professional kitchen is the chef that cooked the meal. There is an expectation that food is prepared to the highest standards before hitting the pass where meals are assembled and sent for service. Chefs constantly taste to make sure seasoning is right. They check that dishes have been cooked correctly. They don’t blindly ship food to the pass, hoping the head chef or maybe waitstaff will find any problems.
“We need to take ownership and pride in the quality of our offerings.”
Of course it needs to be the same in software, with developers actively driving quality checks. We shouldn’t throw our new code over some virtual fence to a testing team and we shouldn’t be hoping to catch any bugs in acceptance testing. We need to take ownership and pride in the quality of our offerings, adopting practices that bake built-in quality to the process of code writing.
Communication and Collaboration
Communication in the kitchen is vital. It can make the difference between a disaster and great service. Vocal cooks are synchronising their activities, calling out orders so everyone is aware of the current priorities, and issuing updates and warnings as hot food moves around the kitchen. Importantly, they are also listening to the rest of the team. When serving a table of diners, it is very unlikely that one single chef can deliver on their own. To deliver successfully, each chef must be in constant communication with the rest of team to ensure the meals arrive to the pass at the same time.
No surprises here to note that communication and collaboration are must haves in software delivery too. There are dependencies to be identified and managed, requirements refined, synchronisation attained within teams and across teams of teams for larger solutions.
One lesson I think we need to learn is the two-way nature of communication in the kitchen. A simple “oui, chef” or similar from the cook when someone calls over or a new order has arrived is both an acknowledgement and sign of respect. In our world of fire-and-forget emails, re-introducing some form of this two-way dialogue and acknowledgment would go a long way to fix some of the dysfunctions I see with assumed outcomes based on failed communication.
Family Meal and the Art of Team Building
The cooks in a kitchen brigade eat a meal before service, with everyone sharing the food like a family. These meals are prepared by the cooks themselves and can also be a way for newer cooks to impress the head chef with their skills.
“Members of the team will grow together, exchange vulnerabilities and have a free forum to share experiences”
This family style behaviour is an important aspect of developing trust and psychological safety. Bonding as a team can be accelerated through something as simple, and social as eating together. Humans are evolutionarily wired to manage interactions with others in group sizes that somewhat match family and small village. It’s why small teams have been prevalent throughout history. Think army squads and platoons, which in the US military ranges from perhaps 6-10 in a squad and 18-50 in a platoon. It’s the same with agile teams and teams of teams.
By bringing together our teams or groups to bond through something like the simple act of sharing a meal, we are tapping into a very powerful subconscious toolset. Members of the team will grow together, exchange vulnerabilities and have a free forum to share experiences away from specific tasks that await them at their desk.
Craftsmanship
Learning your trade as a chef is a life long pursuit. It is accepted that less experienced cooks progress through kitchen ranks; absorbing, honing and demonstrating new skills as they go.
No chef will ever consider themselves a complete master. There is always innovation, experimentation and the next menu.
In agility we should aspire to this same sense of craftsmanship. If we choose to take pride in our work and understand that our skills are in constant need of sharpening, we can continue to motivate ourselves to improve and reach higher states of performance.
Lessons from the Kitchen
There are so many lessons we agilists can take back to the office from the kitchen. Whether we are finding insights in our purpose, customer focus, team building, collaboration or craftsmanship; one thing I hope we agree on is there is much food for thought.
About the Author
Richard Williams is a fan of business adaptivity in all its many forms. He is a Visiting Fellow in the Industry Faculty at Kingston University Business School and an IC Agile authorised instructor in Leadership, People Development and Adaptive Organization Design. Richard has 25 years of experience working in delivery and product roles for a variety of FinTech and Financial Services companies. He is a transformation coach and SAFe Program Consultant.
