The one in which Jim points out a coffee shop lesson
Long-time reader Jim was reading yesterday’s email about baristas from the #1 rated coffee shop in America and pointed out an interesting idea:
“One thing I’ll add is that the best shops are often rigid or uncompromising about something that ends up being inconvenient for customers.”
I also found many practices of great coffee shops annoying at first, for example, that they only serve drinks in one size. That seemed crazy to me when I was a coffee novice!
But, now I look for that as a sign of a great coffee shop.
See, I learned that great coffee shops tune their recipes for a particular ratio of water, coffee (and maybe milk.) This is especially important with pour-overs and espresso drinks.
Crappy coffee shops simply keep adding liquid to fill the cup without regard to taste.
This brought up an interesting parallel: Maybe the best programmers appear annoying to novice managers.
Where a less experienced programmer will jump into coding, great programmers start by understanding. When they receive a new project, they begin by asking questions. Probably LOTS of questions.
Asking a lot of questions might not feel ‘productive’ to a novice manager, or one in a big hurry – so it might appear annoying.
Today I’m going to be on the lookout for ‘annoying’ things, and ask myself, “Could this be an opportunity for learning?”
Thanks, Jim!
Best,
Marcus
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