Hi friends,
This week, I want to share some recent work challenges, along with a little review of Culinary Class Wars.
Work-related:
These past few weeks have been pretty intense, but I think I’m finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel! This project has thrown a few challenges my way. First, there’s the time pressure—we have to launch in Q4, which means all design and development work needs to be done by the end of this month. Second, there’s overlap with other teams, so we’ve had to constantly track their progress to avoid delays or conflicts. And third, because of the tight timeline and constraints, some of my designs aren’t the perfect approach. That means I’ve been in constant communication with stakeholders, explaining why we made certain design decisions.
During this time, I’ve been using Google Docs to record all my ideas, meeting notes, suggestions, problems, and the logic behind each design decision, along with the trade-offs involved. I’ve also asked ChatGPT to help organize everything, and then I move the cleaned-up version into Figma. It’s a bit of a DIY approach, but it’s been really helpful! Having those notes has allowed me to defend my design decisions when questions come from different directions.
Another thing I’ve learned is that it’s okay to share drafts of designs early on. You don’t need to wait for everything to be perfect—by that point, it might be too late. Sharing early lets me get helpful feedback, and from those suggestions, I often find recurring patterns. For example, this time around, people kept asking what the “must-haves” were for the product. So I started listing out what’s a Must Do versus a Can Do, then restructured the design based on those priorities. When I shared the updated version, the focus was much clearer, and people even complimented me on my design principles. This approach also helped me avoid those tricky situations where people question whether it’s the best practice. Fingers crossed, this project will wrap up in the next few weeks!
Other Thoughts:
Recently, I’ve been watching a Korean reality show called Culinary Class Wars. The editing is fantastic, the pacing is tight, and the theme is super clear—it does a great job promoting Korean food culture. Since I have a baby now, I can’t binge-watch like I used to, but the show is so good that I just can’t stop!
It’s different from other food shows like Chef’s Table or Somebody Feeds Phil. This one really highlights how contestants use creativity and culinary skills under tough conditions, much like my daily work where I have to find creative solutions despite limitations in technology, time, and resources.
One of my favorite parts is the “Infinite Cooking Hell” tofu challenge. Contestants had to create new tofu-based dishes every 30 minutes, with eliminations after each round. Watching them apply years of experience and knife skills to craft innovative dishes under immense time pressure was truly mind-blowing!
Chefs can tell a whole story with food, while design works differently . I’ve heard that good design should be invisible, but food leaves behind flavor, memories, and stories. I really admire what they do—it even makes me want to learn how to cook!
Long
嗨讀者朋友：
這週想跟大家分享一些最近工作上的挑戰，還有一點點《黑白大廚》的觀後感。
工作相關：
這幾週的案子讓我忙得焦頭爛額，現在似乎快要見到曙光了！這個案子主要面臨幾個挑戰。第一是時間壓力，我們必須在Q4上架，這代表所有設計和研發必須在這個月內完成。第二是內容與其他組的工作有重合，我們需要不斷跟進他們的進度，以確保不會延遲或重疊。第三，基於時間和內容的考量，我的設計在某些角度看來並不是最佳解法，就需要不停的與不同的利益關係者溝通，解釋為什麼會做出這樣的設計選擇。這段時間，我一直用Google Docs來記錄所有的靈感、會議中的建議、問題和想法，還有每個設計選擇背後的邏輯和權衡(trade-offs)，然後再請ChatGPT幫忙整理，最後把精簡後的內容放進Figma裡面。雖然很土法煉鋼，但也幸好有紀錄，這樣在面對來自不同方向的問題時，可以拿出來支撐設計決定。
另外學到的事，就算是很初步的設計草稿也可以拿出來分享，而大家的建議也都或多或少有幫助。不用等到一切完美才展示，因為那時可能已經來不及了。透過紀錄，我也找到大家建議中反覆出現的pattern，例如這次是被不停詢問到什麼事產品必須做的(Must Do)，會後我開始列出哪些是Must Do，哪些是可以Can Do，然後根據這些優先級重新排版，後來再次分享的時就更聚焦，也因此被稱讚有系統地思考，也讓我避開之前提過的被質疑最佳解法的危機。希望在幾週，這個案子就告尾聲了。
其他分享：
最近我看了韓國實境秀《黑白大廚：階級料理大戰》(Culinary Class Wars)。這個節目剪輯超好、節奏緊湊，主題明確，成功地推廣了韓國飲食文化。雖然有了寶寶後不能像以前那樣一次看好幾集，但這節目真的是太精彩了，完全停不下來。
跟其他飲食節目不一樣，像《主廚的餐桌》(Chef’s Table) 或《菲爾來吃吧》(Somebody Feeds Phil)，這檔節目更強調參賽者如何在有限的條件下發揮創意，這讓我想到我的日常，在技術、時間、人力的限制下尋找突破口，和他們做料理的挑戰有點像。這跟他們在廚房的挑戰其實挺像的。節目裡有一個豆腐無限挑戰是我最喜歡的關卡。參賽者必須在三十分鐘內，僅用豆腐這個食材做出不同的料理，每三十分鐘淘汰一人，留下來的參賽者要繼續創新菜單。看他們在時間與壓力下，還能用精湛的刀工和豐富的經驗做出那麼多創意料理，真是超級佩服！
廚師們可以用食材來講述一個完整的故事，而設計不同。好的設計是要不著痕跡的，而料理留下的是美味和故事。看完後，我好想去學做菜啊。
Long