Since we’ve all been doing a lot more cooking at home, and some of you have likely experienced some kitchen disasters, I would like to present to you a parable about the different ways to address failures on projects, aka When There is Smoke, There is Fire. 1/8

When it becomes apparent that a project is struggling, that is the equivalent of the smoke detector going off while you are cooking in the kitchen. There are three typical responses to this: 2/8

First, remove the food from the heat source to eliminate the problem, then figure out what went wrong and move forward with this new information to do better next time. Almost always the ideal response. Dinner might not get served, but everyone is safe. Rarely happens. 3/8

You can also turn on the exhaust fan to disperse the smoke.This doesn’t directly address the source of the problem, BUT it can be an appropriate response when you are cooking certain types of food. 4/8

Some foods naturally generate a lot of smoke because they have a lot of fat. If you are going to cook, say, a big fat porterhouse indoors, you have to expect smoke and be prepared for it. You can also open some windows (preferably before you start cooking) to help. 5/8

Finally, there are many, many people who just take the batteries out of the smoke detector. This clearly removes the annoying beeping but also eliminates the ability to warn of danger, and things will get worse and worse until you find your entire kitchen engulfed in flames. 6/8

(there is yet a fourth strategy which is to just run screaming out of the house, but most people know they are abandoning hope when they do that). 7/8

Figure out what your smoke detectors are on projects. Make sure you have fans and open windows for high risk projects. So many “leadership strategies” are the equivalent of removing the batteries from smoke detectors. They simply suppress feedback while increasing risk. 8/8

(this thread brought to you by me cooking a steak over the stove and setting off my smoke alarm and then writing "smoke alarm - exhaust - disable" on my white board thinking there must be some deeper meaning I could extract from the experience"