I suppose that the relevant proverb is “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
On the other hand, it is probably possible to over-granularize: you break a process down into small enough tasks so that when you look over the list of every step you’d have to do, it seems overwhelming.
For example, here’s some overly granularized directions for cooking scrambled eggs.
Step 1: Clear junk from stove. Step 2: Get non-stick frying pan from cabinet. Step 3: Put pan on stove. Step 4: Get plate from cabinet. Step 5: Put plate on stove near pan. Step 6: Get butter knife from drawer. Step 7: Get stick of butter from refrigerator. Step 8: Cut off a small piece of butter from the stick into the pan. Step 9: Put butter knife into sink. Step 10: Return stick of butter to the refrigerator. Step 11: Remove egg carton from refrigerator. Step 12: Place egg carton on counter next to stove. Step 13: Remove two eggs from egg carton. Step 14: Place eggs on stove next to pan. Step 15: Return egg carton to refrigerator. Step 16: Pick up plastic spatula. Step 17: Turn on burner under pan. Step 18: Use plastic spatula to spread butter on pan as it melts. Step 19: Put down plastic spatula. Step 20: Pick up egg from stove. Step 21. Crack egg on the side of stove. Step 22: Open egg above pan, so that its contents fall into the pan. Step 23: Throw eggshell into trash can. Step 24: Repeat steps 17-20, using the second egg. Step 25: Wash hands to remove traces of raw egg that may contain salmonella bacteria. Step 26: Dry hands. Step 27: Pick up plastic spatula. Step 28: Using plastic spatula, stir eggs in frying pan as they cook. Step 29: When eggs are cooked, turn off fire under pan. Step 30: Pick up pan. Step 31: Transfer eggs from frying pan to plate. Use plastic spatula if necessary. Step 32: Put pan down on stove. Step 33: Put down plastic spatula. Step 34: Move plate to table. Step 35: Get ketchup bottle from refrigerator. Step 36: Squirt ketchup on plate. Step 37: Put ketchup bottle on table. Step 38: Get fork from drawer. Step 39: Eat scrambled eggs.
In step 1, I cleared the junk from the stove by pushing it off. It fell on the floor with a loud clatter. Then in step 2 I tried to open the cabinet to get the pan, but the junk on the floor blocked the cabinet door and I stayed there trying to open it until my neighbor came up and complained about how much freaking noise I was making.
This is how I actually think of everyday tasks. Progressively more so in fact, starting six months ago. Energy expended per task has stayed roughly constant, unfortunately. I’m basically baffled about what to do about it. Meditation during tasks is probably the most effective, whereas CBT just feels like more meta tasks. I’ve become increasingly more reflective on morality during the same time period but that could be coincidence and is probably not causal. Familiarity with tons and tons of cached ‘instrumental rationality’ wisdom doesn’t help. I wonder what most people do in similar situations? Do they go schizoid first and then go homeless, or the other way around?
Yes, it makes sense to granularize when you are first learning, and when you run into problems (troubleshooting), but not once you’re already familiar with the process. When you’re not in learning mode, you want to consolidate as much as possible.
The software analogy is the difference between trying to run a program line by line in a debugger (pressing F8 for Step Into or what have you) versus just running a compiled or bytecode optimized version. Even worse is trying to type every line from hand into an interpreter every single time.
I understand your point, but a seemingly ridiculous amount of granularization can still be very useful if you can group certain steps. That way, you can collapse and expand sections of hierarchies as needed. You can also find new ways of doing things.
I think the general rule is that you should granularize to a level sufficient that you (or the intended user of the instructions) knows how to do each step individually, but no further. e.g. that’s why you wouldn’t actually put steps to retrieve cooking utensils from drawers; when instructions call for one, you know (and know how) to obtain one without being told.
This post inspired me to write a fake-mail to a couple of friends. Given that I copy-pasted everything from you I thought I’d share.
Couple of things:
The following is off-topic.
OP wrote a great post. This is not an attempt at satire against the OP.
I’m a long-time lurker, first-time poster (starting off-topic, uphill from here?)
The following includes typos, and used to contain bold emphasis on cliche phrases.
It’s not that funny.
SUBJECT: REAL LIFE DEMONSTRATION: Lifestyle Management—Vague goal turned into super easy actionables
Greetings Mr ,
One of my MITs today was to have a happy tummy. This vague goal came from my core value which is that happiness is a) achievable b) desirable. Being a proponent of SMART goals, I started mapping out the specifics of this project. To begin with, it was way too abstract. So I used to How-method to reformulate my goal into something more concrete. How will I get a happy tummy? By eating something. How will I eat? With a spoon… just kidding—one has to keep things into perspective and considering the relevancy of the answer In my case the relevant answer was to eat . Being aware of one’s resources is essential for realistic planning. Sometimes it’s better to go with one’s gut, rather than planning everything out in detail, so I decided to just eat some scrambled eggs. I could now begin to make a project plan:
PROJECT: SCRAMBLED EGGS [MIT #1, 09′50, Area: /happy/happy_tummy/eat, 09′50 21th of May 2011, Location: , Weather: Sunny]
Step 1: Clear junk from stove.
Step 2: Get non-stick frying pan from cabinet.
Step 3: Put pan on stove.
Step 4: Get plate from cabinet.
Step 5: Put plate on stove near pan.
Step 6: Get butter knife from drawer.
Step 7: Get stick of butter from refrigerator.
Step 8: Cut off a small piece of butter from the stick into the pan.
Step 9: Put butter knife into sink.
Step 10: Return stick of butter to the refrigerator.
Step 11: Remove egg carton from refrigerator.
Step 12: Place egg carton on counter next to stove.
Step 13: Remove two eggs from egg carton.
Step 14: Place eggs on stove next to pan.
Step 15: Return egg carton to refrigerator.
Step 16: Pick up plastic spatula.
Step 17: Turn on burner under pan.
Step 18: Use plastic spatula to spread butter on pan as it melts.
Step 19: Put down plastic spatula.
Step 20: Pick up egg from stove.
Step 21. Crack egg on the side of stove.
Step 22: Open egg above pan, so that its contents fall into the pan.
Step 23: Throw eggshell into trash can.
Step 24: Repeat steps 17-20, using the second egg.
Step 25: Wash hands to remove traces of raw egg that may contain salmonella bacteria.
Step 26: Dry hands.
Step 27: Pick up plastic spatula.
Step 28: Using plastic spatula, stir eggs in frying pan as they cook.
Step 29: When eggs are cooked, turn off fire under pan.
Step 30: Pick up pan.
Step 31: Transfer eggs from frying pan to plate. Use plastic spatula if necessary.
Step 32: Put pan down on stove.
Step 33: Put down plastic spatula.
Step 34: Move plate to table.
Step 35: Get ketchup bottle from refrigerator.
Step 36: Squirt ketchup on plate.
Step 37: Put ketchup bottle on table.
Step 38: Get fork from drawer.
Step 39: Eat scrambled eggs.
There’s a couple of things to note here:
1) Further context in title allows for easier cross-referencing and sorting in the future
2) Very specific steps makes it easy to just follow along rather than losing focus of the important task at hand. In retrospect the Step XX: prefix probably wasn’t necessary, considering that the instructions were written down a) in one place b) for one person. I have this habit of doing things in case I need to delegate, but since I’m currently working from home there wasn’t much I could delegate.
3) Bolded task, helps autofocus eyes on the next actionable.
4) Obviously these sort of specific instructions aren’t always possible to write, but it’s a good idea to at least attempt to write something—it helps one to think the whole thing through properly. Remember that lazy thinking is standard for our caveman brains.
5) Efficient re-use of previous-locally-defined-behaviourals with “repeat steps 17-20” (another reason for using number prefixes, contra point 2).
This is it! I’m off to yet another productive, proactive and problem-free day!
UPDATE 15′30: I can happily report that I’ve succesfully completed MIT #1 of the day! Due to time constraints and stress-reducing work-life balance commitments I’ve decided to postpone my other MITs and LITs to tomorrow. Actually, I think I’ve found a perfect spot in my fixed-time-slots, dynamic-management, multi-user, culturally-neutral, religious-holiday-dates-and-environmentally-aware, offline-syncable-mobile-calendar-platform-system for MIT #2 already!
UPDATE 16′30: Back from some hair-pruning-water-cooler social maintenance and my post-portem analysis. I just wanted to chime in and say that despite just finishing MIT #1 I’m happy about the day. Why you might ask? Here’s a word of wisdom if there ever has been: There’s always more work to do. The important thing is that each day is a day closer to one’s goal. Here goal is referring to one’s overall sense of purpose rather than a goal like “Pick up pan.”. By the way: I didn’t write that, my mentor did. He’s amazing! I advice you all to find such a inspiring person in your life.
The eggs are done when there are no longer goopy liquid parts. (Some ways to make eggs call for goopy liquid but not scrambling.) You can keep going after that if you want them drier and crumblier; stop when there is significant browning. The low end of medium is a good place to put the heat (4 on a dial that goes to 10).
It’s useful to know that “stirring” achieves two distinct things. One is moving the more-cooked parts which are on the bottom, closest to the where the pan generates heat, so that the goopy parts get a turn close to the heat. The other is getting tactile feedback on whether to turn the heat down: if the cooked parts feel like they stick to the pan, you should turn the heat down.
Another useful thing to know is that you will need to execute the whole process at least once and probably several times, and the first time you judge the result acceptable by taste, mouthfeel and look, you should record the various sensations experienced during cooking as a “reference implementation”: treat deviations from this reference experience as signs that the outcome might be different. For instance, how sticky the cooked eggs are supposed to feel before you want to turn down the heat is evaluated relative to the reference.
Step 39 is under-described, too. There are things like allowing the eggs to cool a little, for instance, which are worth mentioning.
I save the ‘substitute food flavour for ketchup’ option for things that don’t taste good already. Then something like eggs can serve as a contrast to ketchup.
Which reminds me… I want stone ground mustard.… Also, why not add some garlic to that? If you could get some roasted garlic and mince it into the eggs before cooking them that might be pretty awesome.
Fortunately for aspiring cooks, expert teachers such as Julia Child have already given us appropriately granularized directions. :) I thought I would mention how a “robot” wouldn’t understand that in your directions, quite a few of the steps are irrelevant to the production of scrambled eggs. For this reason I prefer granularization by sign posting goals. Briefly, “scrambled egg” is produced by: preparing the ingredients, utensils, and the cooking .
Regarding your recipe: I would season with Salt & Pepper. Also, just before your eggs are finished, add cream. (but i would prefer an omelette) :)
I suppose that the relevant proverb is “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
On the other hand, it is probably possible to over-granularize: you break a process down into small enough tasks so that when you look over the list of every step you’d have to do, it seems overwhelming.
For example, here’s some overly granularized directions for cooking scrambled eggs.
Step 1: Clear junk from stove.
Step 2: Get non-stick frying pan from cabinet.
Step 3: Put pan on stove.
Step 4: Get plate from cabinet.
Step 5: Put plate on stove near pan.
Step 6: Get butter knife from drawer.
Step 7: Get stick of butter from refrigerator.
Step 8: Cut off a small piece of butter from the stick into the pan.
Step 9: Put butter knife into sink.
Step 10: Return stick of butter to the refrigerator.
Step 11: Remove egg carton from refrigerator.
Step 12: Place egg carton on counter next to stove.
Step 13: Remove two eggs from egg carton.
Step 14: Place eggs on stove next to pan.
Step 15: Return egg carton to refrigerator.
Step 16: Pick up plastic spatula.
Step 17: Turn on burner under pan.
Step 18: Use plastic spatula to spread butter on pan as it melts.
Step 19: Put down plastic spatula.
Step 20: Pick up egg from stove.
Step 21. Crack egg on the side of stove.
Step 22: Open egg above pan, so that its contents fall into the pan.
Step 23: Throw eggshell into trash can.
Step 24: Repeat steps 17-20, using the second egg.
Step 25: Wash hands to remove traces of raw egg that may contain salmonella bacteria.
Step 26: Dry hands.
Step 27: Pick up plastic spatula.
Step 28: Using plastic spatula, stir eggs in frying pan as they cook.
Step 29: When eggs are cooked, turn off fire under pan.
Step 30: Pick up pan.
Step 31: Transfer eggs from frying pan to plate. Use plastic spatula if necessary.
Step 32: Put pan down on stove.
Step 33: Put down plastic spatula.
Step 34: Move plate to table.
Step 35: Get ketchup bottle from refrigerator.
Step 36: Squirt ketchup on plate.
Step 37: Put ketchup bottle on table.
Step 38: Get fork from drawer.
Step 39: Eat scrambled eggs.
And now you know why I hate cooking. ;)
Now I want eggs.
Me too :)
I didn’t get past step 2.
In step 1, I cleared the junk from the stove by pushing it off. It fell on the floor with a loud clatter. Then in step 2 I tried to open the cabinet to get the pan, but the junk on the floor blocked the cabinet door and I stayed there trying to open it until my neighbor came up and complained about how much freaking noise I was making.
These particular directions weren’t designed to be idiot-proof. ;)
This is how I actually think of everyday tasks. Progressively more so in fact, starting six months ago. Energy expended per task has stayed roughly constant, unfortunately. I’m basically baffled about what to do about it. Meditation during tasks is probably the most effective, whereas CBT just feels like more meta tasks. I’ve become increasingly more reflective on morality during the same time period but that could be coincidence and is probably not causal. Familiarity with tons and tons of cached ‘instrumental rationality’ wisdom doesn’t help. I wonder what most people do in similar situations? Do they go schizoid first and then go homeless, or the other way around?
Schizoid, homelessness tends to be the symptom—although it no doubt helps to reinforce the condition.
Yes, it makes sense to granularize when you are first learning, and when you run into problems (troubleshooting), but not once you’re already familiar with the process. When you’re not in learning mode, you want to consolidate as much as possible.
The software analogy is the difference between trying to run a program line by line in a debugger (pressing F8 for Step Into or what have you) versus just running a compiled or bytecode optimized version. Even worse is trying to type every line from hand into an interpreter every single time.
I understand your point, but a seemingly ridiculous amount of granularization can still be very useful if you can group certain steps. That way, you can collapse and expand sections of hierarchies as needed. You can also find new ways of doing things.
Here is a more positive example of granularization and reconsolidation applied to everyday actions.
I think the general rule is that you should granularize to a level sufficient that you (or the intended user of the instructions) knows how to do each step individually, but no further. e.g. that’s why you wouldn’t actually put steps to retrieve cooking utensils from drawers; when instructions call for one, you know (and know how) to obtain one without being told.
Reminds me of the “teach me to smoke” routine.
This post inspired me to write a fake-mail to a couple of friends. Given that I copy-pasted everything from you I thought I’d share.
Couple of things:
The following is off-topic.
OP wrote a great post. This is not an attempt at satire against the OP.
I’m a long-time lurker, first-time poster (starting off-topic, uphill from here?)
The following includes typos, and used to contain bold emphasis on cliche phrases.
It’s not that funny.
I’m considering making eggs today using this, but I have two questions. How do you know when the eggs are done, and how high do you put the heat?
The eggs are done when there are no longer goopy liquid parts. (Some ways to make eggs call for goopy liquid but not scrambling.) You can keep going after that if you want them drier and crumblier; stop when there is significant browning. The low end of medium is a good place to put the heat (4 on a dial that goes to 10).
It’s useful to know that “stirring” achieves two distinct things. One is moving the more-cooked parts which are on the bottom, closest to the where the pan generates heat, so that the goopy parts get a turn close to the heat. The other is getting tactile feedback on whether to turn the heat down: if the cooked parts feel like they stick to the pan, you should turn the heat down.
Another useful thing to know is that you will need to execute the whole process at least once and probably several times, and the first time you judge the result acceptable by taste, mouthfeel and look, you should record the various sensations experienced during cooking as a “reference implementation”: treat deviations from this reference experience as signs that the outcome might be different. For instance, how sticky the cooked eggs are supposed to feel before you want to turn down the heat is evaluated relative to the reference.
Step 39 is under-described, too. There are things like allowing the eggs to cool a little, for instance, which are worth mentioning.
Ketchup? What a waste perfectly good eggs!
I save the ‘substitute food flavour for ketchup’ option for things that don’t taste good already. Then something like eggs can serve as a contrast to ketchup.
I prefer A1 sauce or mild chili sauce on eggs. Maybe even sriracha...
Paprika, cayenne, dill, and salt. Maybe a little mustard powder...
Which reminds me… I want stone ground mustard.… Also, why not add some garlic to that? If you could get some roasted garlic and mince it into the eggs before cooking them that might be pretty awesome.
Fortunately for aspiring cooks, expert teachers such as Julia Child have already given us appropriately granularized directions. :) I thought I would mention how a “robot” wouldn’t understand that in your directions, quite a few of the steps are irrelevant to the production of scrambled eggs. For this reason I prefer granularization by sign posting goals. Briefly, “scrambled egg” is produced by: preparing the ingredients, utensils, and the cooking .
Regarding your recipe: I would season with Salt & Pepper. Also, just before your eggs are finished, add cream. (but i would prefer an omelette) :)
Interesting. How does this compare to mixing cream or milk in with the eggs before cooking them?