291 pages
English language
Published Aug. 13, 2016
Work clean
the life-changing power of mise-en-place to organize your life, work, and mind
by Dan Charnas
4 stars
(6 reviews)
"In Work Clean, Dan Charnas reveals how to apply mise-en-place outside the kitchen, in any kind of work. Culled from dozens of interviews with culinary professionals and executives, including world-renowned chefs like Thomas Keller and Alfred Portale, this essential guide offers a simple system to focus your actions and accomplish your work."--Book jacket.
brenticus reviewed Work clean by Dan Charnas
None
3 stars
Generally I found this book helpful and interesting. The stories from the chefs did a good job at establishing the philosophy behind this methodology, and even gave me insights into other aspects of management and technical work that weren't necessarily part of the self-help portion.
As for the methodology suggested... It's okay. Maybe it's better to say it's dubiously explained. I've integrated bits and pieces into my day as I went through the book, and it's often been very helpful, but those bits and pieces are explained in an odd order and when everything comes together at the end it's very whelming.
It also feels very corporate. Or something. Lots of references to check out the website, lots of terms to make it sound like a super unique thing, lots of nice round numbers for things that feel like they're padded out to hit a nice round number.
Basically, this …
Generally I found this book helpful and interesting. The stories from the chefs did a good job at establishing the philosophy behind this methodology, and even gave me insights into other aspects of management and technical work that weren't necessarily part of the self-help portion.
As for the methodology suggested... It's okay. Maybe it's better to say it's dubiously explained. I've integrated bits and pieces into my day as I went through the book, and it's often been very helpful, but those bits and pieces are explained in an odd order and when everything comes together at the end it's very whelming.
It also feels very corporate. Or something. Lots of references to check out the website, lots of terms to make it sound like a super unique thing, lots of nice round numbers for things that feel like they're padded out to hit a nice round number.
Basically, this is a very good read about the life and philosophy of fine dining chefs, and a mediocre self-help book that has some good advice anyways. It's tough to nail down how I feel about it, but was interesting enough to recommend, I think.
As for the methodology suggested... It's okay. Maybe it's better to say it's dubiously explained. I've integrated bits and pieces into my day as I went through the book, and it's often been very helpful, but those bits and pieces are explained in an odd order and when everything comes together at the end it's very whelming.
It also feels very corporate. Or something. Lots of references to check out the website, lots of terms to make it sound like a super unique thing, lots of nice round numbers for things that feel like they're padded out to hit a nice round number.
Basically, this is a very good read about the life and philosophy of fine dining chefs, and a mediocre self-help book that has some good advice anyways. It's tough to nail down how I feel about it, but was interesting enough to recommend, I think.
marksutherland reviewed Work clean by Dan Charnas
Review of 'Work clean' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The bulk of this book is about the restaurant discipline of mise-en-place, with lots of interviews and stories to illustrate the underlying principles. The back half then attempts to apply these to modern office work and advocates a particular system (in the vein of GTD). He's a little too indulgent of hustle culture and the frankly abusive environment that seems to be the norm of many kitchens. Overall this is excellent food for thought when it comes to evaluating your own work systems but I'm not entirely persuaded that his Work Clean method is obviously superior.
Matto reviewed Work clean by Dan Charnas
Review of 'Work clean' on 'GoodReads'
3 stars
Explanation of some principles uses by chefs in the kitchen of restaurants and how you can apply these as a knowledge worker.
