Hacker News Reader

Comment by hinkley | Hacker News Reader

I'm a little disappointed we haven't collectively stolen 'mis-en-place' from professional chefs.

Working in chaos is just masochism. There will be enough chaos you can't control, don't add accidental chaos to the system.

View on HN

Ex-cook here, more than 10 years. Learn about mise-en-place and implement it in your work. It will be painful as hell but you will begin working far more quickly and accurately than your coworkers and it will likely end up with you leading.

I see so many similarities in the jobs. Great mise-en-place makes a great cook just the same as a great dev. Remember though, even the best cooks have to chop garlic during service occasionally.

I hear you. It's a really good metaphor, but it seems to get strained when your 'mis' is more than 20 ingredients.

Also, French is much more the lingua Franca of cooking than it is software engineering.

Your "putting" is more than 20 ingredients?

(I do get your meaning, I just found your phrasing a bit funny.)

I learned mis-en-place from a bike mechanic, and 20 'ingredients' isn't even table stakes for a mechanic (unless you count each wrench or socket set as 1 tool, and then we're close).

There were only two 'adults' in that shop - the manager, and Bob, the senior mechanic, and I'm pretty sure both of them were maybe 28. The rest of us were college age. He was constantly irritated that we couldn't seem to keep our shit organized. Most of the time this was some muttering or making little jokes at our expense.

Until you wanted to borrow one of his tools because you couldn't find yours, then you got an earful.

I was pretty sure I didn't like Bob at first, but now I'm not so sure.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com