Lamination Station

After my python class I realized that coding is very similar to making laminated doughs, like croissants or danishes. Every individual step/ section must be correct for it all to come together to make a viable product. The thinking I was taught in pastry school was to build every step perfectly. To leave no room for error in the developing stages so that the product does not fail at the end.

Laminated doughs are the perfect example of showing you if all your work was correct. You put all this work into this product, but it isn’t until the final step (baking) that you’ll realize if something went wrong. And you can’t fix it, just keep it in mind for the next time around. Luckily with designing/ coding you have the opportunity to fix things before they become a larger problem, or even get the opportunity to fix after without needing to completely start over.

Being a project manager, you need to be able to keep an eye on multiple moving parts and see how each different piece will meld with the other parts. Croissants are the perfect example of that. There are two minimum separate parts to croissants, the butter and the dough.

Also when working with dough, you learn to understand its different mannerisms/ quirks, which is what you need to learn to do with your team. If the dough or a team member is acting a way that is unfavorable, it is your job as the PM to take in that information and figure out a way to make the situation better. Dough is getting oily, let it sit in the fridge a little longer. Or a team member is getting frustrated, reach out to see if there is something you can do to help or have them to take a break to cool down. It’s about assessing the situation and making a judgement call on how to fix it in the best possible way.