Recently in Kitchen metaphor Category
It seems that many UX designers, consultants and specialists see Gordon Ramsay as an appropriate role model of what they do. At least for Patrick Kennedy and Todd Hoff.
Based upon the restaurant metaphor with a front stage (dining room) and a back stage (kitchen), the authors advice information architects and other user experience professionals to apply their thinking to the area of content management in the back stage as well.
"(...) the brand quality layer 'Brand Experience' illustrates our perception of user experience and brand management of the main stations. We studied the usability, user value, and interface (simplicity, character, and feedback), and rated each site on a scale of eating at various types of Japanese restaurants. (...) We chose restaurants as the metaphor for brand experience because, from an interactive branding point of view, a visit to a website is like a visit to a restaurant in terms of service, feedback, content, pleasure, character, and memorability. And also because Tokyo has the highest density of good restaurants in the world." - courtesy of ruurdpriester
"The idea of thoughtful reduction is an important one in the creation process, whether the end result is a new recipe or user interface: how do you make things simpler without removing what's necessary?" says Lisa Agustin in Information Design Watch
Adaptive Path's Experience Design Director Ryan Freitas published his presentation 'A House Divided: Two Perspectives on Managing the Customer Experience'. "Restaurants experiment with the elements of the dining experience that are hidden from their customers. If it makes sense to move elements of production forward, consider it as a means to build a compelling experience." Also, he refers to an interesting paper by Robert Glushko and Lindsay Tabas. Great stuff!
Everything to no one ('featuritis'), cook what you know ('you're the user') and passion for your environment ('code beauty') are lessons from Gordon Ramsay for software developers, says David Heinemeier (37signals).
Ryan Freitas (Adaptive Path) presented at UX Week 2007. "For those who manage creative organizations, the professional kitchen can provide inspiration for how to balance important principles like consistency, creative freedom and effective problem solving, all under stressful conditions. Ryan Freitas discusses these and other parallels between the worlds of the cook and the designer." - His slides are available for download.
