From Recipes to Roadmaps: Lessons from the Kitchen

If you know me well, you know how much I love being in the kitchen. Most evenings, you’ll find me there—apron on, headphones in, completely absorbed in cooking something (occasionally questionable). My wife and kids are the true heroes here, patiently enduring experiments like Italian-style pav bhaji made with pesto sauce. (For the record, they haven’t banned me from the kitchen yet, so I’m taking that as a win!)

Beyond being my zen space, the kitchen has become an unexpected teacher. It’s taught me lessons that I carry into my professional life every day. Whether it’s planning projects, managing resources, or understanding the importance of presenting ideas well, the lessons I’ve learned in the kitchen often find their way into how I solve problems at work.

Prepping for Success: Planning with Precision

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Whether you’re tackling a recipe or a work project, planning is often half the battle. It’s something I’ve come to appreciate deeply—both in the kitchen and in my professional life.

When I cook, I always start with a clear idea of what the final dish is going to look like. If I want my sauce to be velvety, the first question I ask myself is, “Do I have cream in the fridge?” If not, what’s my alternative? This simple thought process sets the tone for everything else: the ingredients I’ll need, the order I’ll cook things in, and the time it will take to bring it all together.

It’s the same with building a report or solving a business problem at work. If the end goal is a detailed sales trend analysis, I ask: Do we have the data at the right granularity? Do we have a pipeline to get it if we don’t? Answering these questions upfront gives me a high-level sense of the time and effort the task will require, and whether it’s feasible in the first place.

Now, don’t get me wrong—sometimes we dive into a dish (or a project) without a clear vision of the final deliverable. Maybe we’re experimenting, or maybe circumstances demand that we figure things out as we go. And while this can work, it often leads to unexpected challenges: missing ingredients, mismanaged time, or an outcome that isn’t quite what we hoped for.

Lining Up Tasks: Efficient Workflows

I’ll admit it—I’m an easy target for impulse buys when it comes to kitchen gadgets. If it promises to slice or dice just a little better, chances are I’ve bought it. The result? My kitchen countertop is so cluttered that there’s barely any space left for actual cooking!

To manage this chaos, I’ve learned to be very intentional about what I bring to the counter. I start with the three tools or ingredients I need immediately, keeping the rest tucked away until their time comes. For example, I’ll set out my cutting board, knife, and garlic for the first step. Once I’m done chopping, the cutting board goes back to the sink, and the next set of tools or ingredients—say, the blender and tomatoes—takes their place. This constant cycle of clearing and resetting has trained my mind to break down a recipe into modular steps and focus only on what’s necessary at each stage.

The takeaway? Whether in the kitchen or a professional setting, resource constraints—be it counter space or compute power—can actually teach us to prioritize and organize better. It’s less about mastering everything and more about finding a system that works, even when things get a little crowded.

For example, when designing a pipeline, we focus first on what’s absolutely essential: Do we have the input data ready? Are there quick transformations needed before loading? Once that’s set, we clear space for the next step, like building distributed workflows or scaling for production. It’s the same with project planning or even budget management: prioritize the essentials first, execute in sequence, and make room for the next step. It’s all about creating space for the work that matters most.

Adapting on the Fly: Resilience Under Pressure

No matter how much planning you do, life has a way of throwing curveballs—and the kitchen is no exception. Two things I’ve learned over time: First, despite your best efforts, things can and will go south. Second, most dishes (and projects) can recover if you act quickly and decisively.

Take this example: you’re air-frying onions to get them perfectly roasted for a dish, but you glance away for just a moment too long. Instead of golden-brown perfection, you’re greeted by charred onions. A disaster? Not quite. Charred onions can add a smoky depth of flavor that elevates the dish in unexpected ways—think smoky onion dip or a garnish for a rich curry.

The key lesson here is flexibility. When things don’t go as planned, it’s not about perfection; it’s about pivoting. You evaluate the situation, adjust on the fly, and move forward with a Plan B.

The same mindset applies to engineering. Pipelines break, data sources change, or a last-minute requirement throws off your carefully crafted plan. What matters isn’t avoiding every possible failure—it’s how quickly you can assess the situation, identify a workaround, and execute it with minimal disruption.

For example, let’s say a key API you rely on for data goes down right before a major report is due. Instead of panicking, you might shift to a cached data source or pull in a similar/closest dataset from another source while the issue gets resolved. The end product might not be perfect, but it gets the job done, and you’ve learned something valuable in the process.

Ultimately, resilience under pressure is what separates a good cook—or engineer—from a great one. It’s not about avoiding mistakes; it’s about how you handle them when they happen. And sometimes, those “mistakes” can even lead to unexpected wins.

Presentation Matters: Crafting the Final Product

The dish presentation is hands down my favorite part of any kitchen reality show, especially when Gordon Ramsay is the judge. (And yes, as someone who works for Fox, I can’t resist giving a nod to Hell’s Kitchen—it’s practically a requirement!)

How many times have we seen a perfectly cooked, delicious dish get utterly trashed because of a mediocre presentation? It’s a harsh reminder that no matter how great your work is behind the scenes if the final product doesn’t align with what the audience expects, it won’t get the credit it deserves.

The same is true in engineering. You could build a pipeline so efficient it’s practically a work of art, but if the output doesn’t meet your stakeholder’s needs, it won’t see much use. Let’s face it—if the “Dictator” says, “The missile is too round; it needs to be pointy!” you make it pointy. (Of course, that’s a dramatic example, but it underscores a simple truth: presentation matters)

Jokes aside, presentation matters because it’s the bridge between your hard work and its impact. Whether it’s designing a dashboard that enables quick decision-making or creating a data catalog that makes your warehouse accessible and intuitive, the goal is the same: ensure the end product is functional, user-friendly, and aligned with what the stakeholders value.

Because in the end, it’s not just about what you build—it’s about how you make it accessible and impactful. Presentation is where the technical meets the human, and that’s where success truly happens.

Final Notes (Garnishing)

At the end of the day, it’s all about perspective. Whether you’re in the kitchen or knee-deep in an engineering problem, things will go wrong—it’s inevitable. But sometimes, those unexpected detours bring out your best ideas. After all, sometimes the most memorable dishes—or solutions—are the ones that didn’t go by the book. The real magic happens when you embrace the chaos, roll up your sleeves, and turn the problem into an opportunity. After all, who doesn’t love a little unexpected flavor in life? ❤️

What’s one unexpected place you’ve drawn inspiration from in your professional life?