What’s your favourite type of sandwich?
Hoagie? Open face? Triple decker? A submarine? An Oreo? Hmmmm?
A while ago I wrote a bit about the PB+J sandwich (my personal favourite) and the abhorrence of spreading the peanut butter too thin. The analogy was to entice you to think about if we take too much on (work, responsibility, excesses) how we are left not being as effective at a single thing anymore.
If you are interested in that topic click here and off you go.
If you are still here, well, as the title suggests, the subject of the sandwich remains. The other morning my wife had an early appointment so I was left to my own devices to make my own breakfast. Now, I am not the typical guy (or maybe I am) because I can cook for myself and on this particular morning I was feeling pretty ambitious. Fuelled by a coffee and a hunger driven from a particularly eventful evening I set out to make a killer breakfast sandwich.
Not just any sandwich, my friends.
This one was going to be a monster. I was THAT hungry. So, off I went; a couple of slices of 12 grain bread, a couple of fried eggs (yes, a couple), some Swiss cheese, mayo, lettuce and fresh tomatoes. It might not sound like a good combo but it really worked.
From a taste perspective.
The thing was piled high, the tomatoes were super juicy, the eggs we as slippery as a used car salesman, the Swiss melted like a bride on her wedding night, the lettuce as crisp as a freshly made bed and the bread, as much as I love it, worked like a charm to hold it all together up until the first bite. House of cards, the whole lot.
The thing tasted like heaven but it was a Gong Show.
A hot mess, so to speak.
The tomatoes squished out ones side, the eggs gooped all over my fingers (I love it when the yolks are a bit soft), the lettuce acted like a skating rink and shot the eggs out the other side. The fresh un-toasted bread, like a straw house in a windstorm, started to disintegrate from all the moisture.
What the heck happened?
Great idea. Great flavour combination. The right amount of salt & pepper. Not too much mayo. Fresh damn bread. It was a match made in heaven.
Were two eggs too many? Should they have been cooked more?
Did I have the wrong bread? Maybe a focaccia would have been a better choice. Or not.
I loved the tomatoes but because they were placed between the lettuce and the eggs there was nothing to hold them in place and boy were they ripe.
I thought the cheese would bind it all together but just like a cheese it decided to taste good but otherwise, in its melted state, was all it was willing to give. No more help there.
Just like any great idea without a great plan to execute it the whole thing went to pot.
- The seed was planted.
- The ingredients were there. Solid!
- All tasty, fresh and natural.
Unfortunately it was poorly planned and while it looked great in its pristine state, in actual fact, the whole thing was rife with poorly chosen ingredients. Sure the taste was there but the structure and the execution left me with something that just didn’t work.
No John Hannibal Smith time here!
Now the question is:
“Is the idea more important that the plan and execution or are the reliant on each other?”
Well, based on my sandwich making abilities this past Saturday I would think it’s a mucho combo platter. A great idea is just that and a great plan to carry out that idea is essential to [ek-si-kyoo-shuhn]
- To carry out.
- To perform or do.
- To perform in accordance with a design or plan.
What’s an idea {chicken} without a good plan {egg}?
- There is no need to plan without an idea.
- And if you don’t plan then there is no way to execute. It’s just an idea then.
Symbiotic.
So, the next time a sandwich {project} needs to be made {planned} the ingredients {ideas} need to be properly selected {communicated}. The symbiotic relationship between the ingredients {ideas} and the bread {plan} will prove {create} successful {a properly executed project}.
Every day our jobs test us no matter what we may do.
We are all busier than ever. We have to generate ideas about how to help people or solve a problem and we sometimes fly by the seat of our pants. Sure we always seem to get across the goal line but what does that cost us? Messy hands, stained shirt and a big toothy grin later our stomachs are full but we now have more work ahead of us than we originally planned or intended. If we had only thought about those combinations {ideas} a little before we started cooking {executing} them then the outcome {result} may have been different. The taste {product} could still be true to the intent {idea} but it would have not generated the extra work required to clean up {correct} the mess {unnecessary errors} that ensued.
That’s what I remembered after making that sandwich.
It still tasted good though.
- What is the best sandwich combination you have ever made?
- And why was it so good?
A quirky sense-o-humour coupled with an indelible sense of stylish sarcasm makes it difficult to take the world too seriously doesn't it? My faves: fun, passion and hard work. I work here everyday: www.designdialog.ca
