You know that feeling when you sit with something you're working on for so long that you can no longer view it with a "fresh" set of eyes?
It me - specifically with a term I'm aiming to define in the Total Station Domination book - and I could use your help. It's about the word: details.
A big part of writing TSD has been defining terms. I've found, when done well, it allows for language that's just thrown around in a professional kitchen to actually get operationalized.
That "ahh, I get it" or "THAT'S what you mean, alright..." effect can happen, and it's magical...especially in a team dynamic.
I'm like 98.4% sure on my definition of details, but I need some feedback on this (over 4,000+ of you read this so I'm hoping to get at least a few replies here).
In TSD's context, my working definition right now is: detail = information + decision
Information is raw data. Call it like you see it. It arrived from the purveyor that way. Objective, numerical stats on something. Examples::
The age of the guest at position 2 on table 12
The weight of the scallop
The pH of the yuzu juice
You can quantify, measure, and obviously notice these things with enough awareness and attention.
Time for a quick peek behind the curtain. A decision, funnily enough, is actually the common denominator across all of the other things I was GOING to pair with information to define "details":
Opinions
Preferences
Constraints
Trade-offs
Choices
Perspectives
By the time ANY of these reach your station at work, a decision was made, and I have a hard time finding examples where that's not the case. That's why information + decision has worked best so far as a model.
See, chefs use this language all the time of someone being "detail-oriented" or "having an attention to detail", but what are they actually talking about? If you ask a few more questions to someone like that, what you'll notice is that there's typically an underlying reason or explanation for WHY that detail is what it is (and not the myriad of other forms it could take).
You might remember me covering the root of the word decision before; deciding meaning "to cut off", literally removing alternatives or other options.
If you think about it, that's what you "notice" when identifying a detail. I could give all sorts of food examples here (the size of a tuile, the cook-temp on a steak, etc.) but I stress-tested this model on other creative industries to check myself:
The type of paint that a gallery artist uses on a canvas, or the number of brush strokes that make up a tree in the landscape of the piece
The key that's used in writing a song, or the sections of the chorus that include harmonies
The color of the buttons on a jacket, or the thread used in the stitching
On one hand, yes, I hear the argument that these technically fit the bill for "information", but they exist in that form because of a decision. Someone (or something, as we get into the age of more capable AI) made the call for it to be that way.
Am I making any sense here?
The reason I want to get this right is because it influences how I teach this lesson in the book.
In TSD v3.0, I used the word qualities as what you should pay attention to, have the ability to put into words, or ask questions about. In the few of who you have worked with me on this new material, focusing on details instead (specifically information + decisions) has felt like a drastic improvement and we've achieved faster and more effective behavior change at work.
If your execution is off on your station, this definition allows you to ask better questions, have more conviction, and cut to the core of the issue. When the details aren't right, this definition empowers you to ask yourself:
Do I not understand the information? Or do I not understand the decision?
Quick story time: an old boss of mine used to tout this word "awareness" with all of us as a team. The lesson he was trying to impart (as I understood it, could've been wrong), was to pay closer attention. Notice more.
The problem with optimizing exclusively for awareness was that it caused individuals on the team (myself included) to not communicate. "I'm looking at this thing and I'm unsure about it...if I ask the question does it mean I'm not aware enough?"
Instead, a big part of this section in TSD is about asking questions and communicating more. Yes, I advocate for all of the awareness behaviors too: taste more, look closer, measure, save your demos, etc. in an effort to proactively answer the question before you need to ask - no need to be too much of a Curious George in the kitchen, yapping your sous chef's ear off.
The tl;dr effectively is: my aim with this definition is to acknowledge the fact that details, in professional kitchens, often go beyond just information, and might include individual decisions which are subjective and have the potential to vary depending on the context.
When everyone on the same page here, the goal is to increase proactive communication, shared understanding, and decrease assumptions and mistakes, both with guests and inside the team.
That leads me to my question for you: what am I missing here?
Have you had "details" defined in a way that allows you to perform better at work?
Give me an example where this model breaks for you.
Oops, that was more than a single question - hit reply on what's on your mind, even if it's a one liner or if it feels like harsh feedback - you won't hurt my feelings, I could use your help here!
In the News:
(these got covered on the pod this week, subscribe here to get the story + opinion on these!)
⭐
Where did Sézanne's 3 Michelin Stars go?
After Chef Daniel Calvert’s high-profile exit, Sézanne is being reassessed by Michelin as new chef Stephen Lancaster reshapes the restaurant’s menu
This is a new section we're experimenting with, so I'm going to include this explainer section for the next 2-3 emails!
How Skill Exercises work - it's pretty simple:
1. We share a skill you can discover/improve/work on, either from a Repertoire program or from another valuable source
2. Should you decide to give it a try at work this week, follow the research-backed process of deliberate practice. We use a framework along these lines in TSD of Prepare (where you set a goal, form a hypothesis, measure your baseline), Perform (where you do the reps, with sufficient volume), and Problem-Solve (where you check, adjust, and respond to feedback).
Bonus: Ensure your mindset is in the right place to develop this skill. Aim for curiosity, habit-forming long-term thinking, and an optimistic, opportunistic frame where you're stacking the deck in your favor. We'll provide examples for these in each week's Skill Exercise to get you started, but certainly feel free to customize to get you to take action.
This skill is from Total Station Domination, and it aims to solve problems related to quantity + quality of what's on your station at work. It's called Eyes On.
What if someone took that purée you made yesterday for an offsite?
What if the lid got bumped and the tart has been exposed to the fan of the walk-in all night and it's dried out now?
Are you sure that those radishes came in?
Eyes On involves taking a proactive approach to starting your day with a review of what you have, the state of it, documenting this (on your prep list or in your notes), and peppering in questions & updates (where beneficial) along the way. It will (hopefully) become a habit eventually, but you can improve the skill of how you execute this at work.
[Prepare]
"Would it decrease my stress or would my station be better set up for success if I had a better handle on what was on it every day?"
Reflect on previous week's problems, issues that could've been prevented, or moments where you're avoiding getting Eyes On.
[Perform]
Every Other Day
Start here, but increase to once daily, maxing out at 3x per day (at start of the day, a reasonable mid point, and again after breaking down). ~5 minutes max, check against the core areas that have caused problems in the past: walk-in (for raw product), low boy (for prep you already have), and guest count already booked for tonight.
[Problem-Solve]
Share the Update
Partner up with a co-worker and share what you learn from getting Eyes On with each other, or make it a habit of using your prep list as your guide for correlated feedback on what you might've missed. You can even increase communication with your boss/manager after getting Eyes On to keep them in the loop on what you learn from this routine.
From You Folks:
We discussed that Michelin doesn't actually use the term "Michelin-starred chef"...
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Total Station Domination: Get the proven program for how to prepare, perform and problem solve in professional kitchens. It's lessons from Michelin training, emulsified with habits and skills you can use ASAP on your station. Get your Station Score to see where you could improve!
