Thread by @tottinge

Following recipes is a kind of cooking. At some level, it is needed. Consistent reproduction of a menu item can be important in some applications. But knowing how flavors work together and various techniques of prep are far more important -- even for the home cook.

But to know how to mix flavors, you have to teach yourself to taste. If you don't know how to taste, then you don't know why the recipe works. You can't create any meaningful variations. You can't develop it. You can't substitute. You can't use different equipment. You're stuck.

And if you don't know knife techniques, blanching, assembling dry and wet ingredients, searing, etc then you can't make any decisions while cooking. You can't make variations. You can't correct flaws. You're stuck.

But if you know the *why* of the recipe, then you are resilient. You know there is more than one way, and you know that you can vary some ingredients, and you can make substitutions. You're robust. You can even build dishes on the fly, or from whatever is on sale.

That resiliency and robustness, that autonomy and empowerment, has some up-front costs and you can spend a lifetime learning. But without it, you have to have perfect planning (all ingredients available & fresh, all utensils at hand, etc).

And when planning fails, you fail. You can either make a lousy dish, or you can give up and call for pizza. You can't succeed in the face of adversity. You experience waste and loss.

Not understanding what you're doing is a huge risk.
Learning takes time.
But one path is robust and flexible, the other is fragile and requires exquisite planning.

Have you transcended the recipes...
In your company?
In your daily tasks?
In your agile transformation?
In your ceremonies?
In your coaching?

Are you (collective "you") at risk of failure precisely because you're recipe-followers?