I discovered a love for the kitchen when I was really small. I remember as a toddler spending lots of time under the kitchen table, coloring, reading or just watching my mom. When I got a little bigger, my mom gave me full run of the kitchen and showed me how to do everything. I remember when I first started making sandwiches without her help, I felt a surge of freedom and made some pretty outlandish looking creations that would put Dagwood (see image above) to shame. The trouble was, I was a little kid and the sandwiches I was creating were too big with flavors that clashed which resulted in many a bad sandwich and wasted ingredients.
My years of making sandwiches have taught me some lessons that apply to many aspects of life, including software application development. Below are the takeaways that have provided insight that anyone can relate to in understanding the process of software creation. MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product and the idea is that you want to minimize the number of features and the complexity of those features so you can quickly get an initial release of your product out the door. The lessons learned below are in sandwich-speak but the concepts relate well to creating an MVP software product.
Focus on Ingredients
Over time, I matured in my sandwich artistry and learned that more is not better. I began to focus on the ingredients and ensured that they were fresh and organic veggies or high quality meats and cheeses. During times when I couldn't afford it or just didn't bother to focus on the quality of the ingredients, I found that my sandwich creations were the less for it (mushy tomatoes, tasteless cheese, etc.) The assembly of the ingredients was also very important. If I sloppily threw things on some bread, the end result was not the same as if I took my time and ensured all the ingredients lined up carefully to fully cover the bread and in turn delight the eater with the intended flavors being present in each bite. Bad ingredients or sloppy assembly is a recipe for disaster that will likely wind up in the kitchen trash bin.
Look for new flavor combinations
Devising the best combination of flavors was a challenge I heartily accepted. What I found created the best sandwich magic was simplicity of flavors and a sensibility about combining them. In the summertime, nothing beats a plain tomato and mayo sandwich on really lovely whole grain bread. Also, many people's old standby of sandwiches is a simple grilled cheese and who would argue the beauty of that? There are many styles of grilled cheese - you can use the standard processed cheese and white bread which isn't bad or you can upgrade to brie and sourdough for some fun or add in thinly sliced veggies or meats. You can throw in something unexpected like raspberry jam to make a killer Monte Cristo. It's a true culinary masterpiece that's artistry is in the combination of simple flavors.
Use an Ingredient in a new way
When I felt really comfortable in my sandwich making skills, I discovered ways to make them more beautiful and appealing in addition to tasting amazing. Veggies, meats and cheeeses can be cut in unique ways (thin or thick slices, chunked, grated) to impart a new asthetic and a different texture in your mouth. Rolling the slices of meat into little tubes and laying them on the bread as the foundation of your sandwich was the best thing I learned about taking something I was using for years and changing it up. I have seriously had people tell me I have made them the best sandwich of their life simply by slicing the bread diagonally or rolling the meat.
Create it for the Eater
Now I have always love loved a plain tomato sandwich, but when it comes to my husband, it must have meat of some kind and absolutely no tomatoes. When I was really trying to wow folks, I tried my best to cater to their needs and not my own desires. I really enjoyed the look of a sandwich that has tomato, avocado and lettuce because to me it gives a sandwich character. But I learned that I needed to keep in mind the likes of the eater, otherwise it was a food failure and nothing hurt more than seeing your creation thrown in the trash.
If you are having a hard time digesting this article and figuring out how it applies to your web app, read it again and change "sandwich" for "application" and "ingredient" for "feature." That should help.
@Deanna2000 - More about me? See my Intro Post.
