The importance of Mise-en-Place list.

Table of Contents

What is Mise-en-Place list?

Mise en place, a French term meaning putting in place. It is commonly referred to as a “daily to-do” list in any French-based kitchens. We prepared it at the end of a shift for the next shift, a checklist that must be done for the shift to keep the engine running.

A shift in the kitchen usually lasts between 9 and 14 hours, during which time they include preparing and cooking during the service. We had limited time to prep; therefore, the list must be pragmatic and realistic to be finished by the end of the day.

After joining the software development industry, I almost forgot the importance of a mise en place list. Like how I was taught about the Software Development Life Cycle course, we pile up a mountain of tasks that need to be done, and every time I looked at the backlog and “to-do”, the paralyzing overwhelm made me want to procrastinate.

Why is a list important?

The importance of mise en place is based on a sense of urgency; tasks are able to be finished on that day so that our work will not be overloaded and delayed. Therefore, the list is always tailor-made for the next shift; however, during software development, I tend to visit the same list every day rather than creating a new list every day.

By creating a list for that day, I can focus on the tasks that are urgent today, so that they won’t be a blocker for tomorrow’s work. With that said, to keep the list realistic, it is usually short with clearly and concisely described tasks. That way, we can reduce our cognitive load, instead of figuring out what to do, and spend our energy on how to do it.

A clear and concise description prevents ambiguity. During various projects, I performed better when the task descriptions were clear and concise; I rather reach out and ask instead of drowning in lengthy descriptions.

Slaying a task is a problem-solving process. The 3 most important parts are first, the input data structure, which is our problem; second, the output data structure, which is our goal; third, where we divide and conquer the problem, aka the algorithm.

As long as we have the first and second parts, our role as developers will be focusing on the third part.

Ultra Organised doesn’t help

While preparing a list digitally, I often see the options of creating subtasks and task dependencies. At the time of making the list, it gave an illusion of “well-organised”.

Weeks later, you might find it confusing and take some time to figure out what the original intentions were. That’s why I have stopped myself from creating a list containing subtasks and keep the list flat.

Secret weapon

A mise en place is certainly helping me to stay focused, but another big challenge is to keep myself away from distractions during the hours.

During my last few years working in a kitchen, I found that to maximise my productivity, I paired my mise en place list with time blocking to create a session that I was hyper-focused on.

In this session, I will keep my headphones on, keep my head down and finish all the preps within the dedicated time before jumping on another task and never multitasking. I was in a “tunnel-focused” mode.

With tunnel focused, I outperformed everyone and even have time to work on my paperwork. But right now, I feel like I am missing something.

Create my wheels

The secret weapon of tunnel focus was something that I had been missing, and I aimed to bring it back to my life as a tool to keep me disciplined.

In the Apple App Store, I found many app-blocking, time-blocking, or Pomodoro technique apps, but not an all-in-one that suits my needs. So I am creating one for people like myself, who need to stay focused on one thing at a time.

Closing

This will mark the beginning of the development of my productivity app. Stay tuned for my weekly blog post, or follow me on X/Twitter for my build in public journey.