From the Kitchen to the Office: Managing Multiple Projects
Part of our work as Creative Producers at Human Design requires managing multiple projects at one time, and doing it well. Recently, I had seven projects that I was leading. It was a fun, challenging, and busy season of work.
Before I came to Human Design, I worked for ten years in a restaurant kitchen. You learn how to manage multiple tasks really well when the daily rushes happen and people are hungry. You learn how to communicate on the fly and work as a team with others to accomplish the tasks before you.
Managing projects in an office environment is much different is a lot of ways but similar in others. There may not be as much yelling (or F-bombs for that matter, hopefully), it’s not as hot (hopefully), and you get to sit down (although, standing is apparently much healthier for you… hopefully) Overall, it’s a slower pace as far as daily workflow goes, but the skills gained in the kitchen, for me, have translated in some ways to my work in managing projects, particularly in the attention to detail and work ethic it takes to succeed.
UTILIZING TASK MANAGEMENT TOOLS
In a kitchen, during a dinner rush, the last thing you want is for things to be out of place. One misplaced food item or knife can create more chaos in the midst of what is typically already chaos. Being organized is important in my work at Human Design and I use multiple tools to help make sure I have everything in front of me at all times. I use an app called Things to help keep my to-dos where I can see them, right below our company Slack channel. As emails come in or conversations happen, I’m able to add to-dos to each respective project and add due dates. If I’m ever wondering what I need to do next, I can quickly refer to that list. I also use Field Notes journals to jot down ideas and general project notes. They are small and easy to carry around. Since I don’t use my computer in meetings with clients (Mike Taylor wrote a great article on this), I generally translate my notes into working tasks on my computer afterward. Whiteboard desks are also a nice addition to have in order to write down notes quickly on your desk.
PLAN AHEAD, AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
In the kitchen, I was always one of the first people in the building in the mornings to plan out my days. I would look through my whole kitchen and put together the list of food I needed to prepare that day before we opened. This would help keep me on track and organized throughout the day, even when the craziness of lunch rushes ensued. I always knew what I was working with. It helps to know what you are working with so you can prepare your teammates and so that when things go wrong, you aren’t caught completely off guard and you are able to quickly offer a solution.
In the office, I have adopted a similar approach. I like to be in the office before 9 am to check my e-mail, review each project I am working on and put together a general game plan for the day. Obviously, each day will bring whatever it might bring and you’ll have to adjust on the fly at times, but it’s good to at least know which way you are headed in on any given day. When I’m able to review my day before it begins, I feel much more confident in my ability to lead our teams and our clients through the ups and downs of a project.
IS MULTITASKING REALLY A THING?
The debate is certainly out there: is multitasking really possible? I’d say at times, no, it’s not. There are days when a certain task for a certain project demands my full attention for an extended amount of time in order to put the best effort forward. There are other times though, when I am able to be in multiple Slack conversations and writing down notes for multiple projects because the time is there and I’m gathering information at a time when I have the space to do multiple things at once.
In the kitchen, “multitasking” much of the time is really just 10–30 seconds at a time for ten different plates that need to go out in five minutes. There are times when you are able to — and need to — focus on one particular dish to make sure that it’s cooked properly. It’s less of a question of if multitasking is possible in my mind and more of determining when it’s necessary.
COMMUNICATION IS KEY
In the kitchen, if cooks aren’t talking, things are bound to go wrong. If servers don’t communicate, things are bound to go wrong. Things don’t get cooked correctly, or orders don’t get communicated correctly and the customers get angry. In our work at Human Design, communication in house and communication with clients is key. If one client e-mails me and needs something but I’m working with another client, I’m always sure to e-mail that client back to let them know that I got their message and will get back to them as soon as I can with an answer. Same goes for my team in the office. You can’t be everywhere all the time; sometimes you need to communicate that you will get to a task later, and that’s okay. As long as communication is happening, things tend to go smoother. Even when everything doesn’t seem to be going your way, communication and working through issues together are what will brings about the quickest resolution to a problem.
CONCLUSION
I’ve still got a lot to learn when it comes to managing multiple projects and I always want to get better at it. What’s important is that we have fun with our work and learn from our mistakes. I am grateful for the ten years I worked in the service industry. The skill sets I learned are ones that continually evolve into different life circumstances.
