I am in Switzerland, as a lecturer at Art & Design branch of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Hochschule Luzern, formerly HGK Lucerne School of Art and Design), staying in Zurich with my dear friend Rolf Bächler. This is the second time Rolf and I have taught a course together titled “What’s Cooking?” which we created last year for the newly introduced Design Management class. As the first instructors at the beginning of the studies, our task is team building while exposing the new group of students to a real-life management and design assignment.

To achieve this goal, we use a hands-on cooking project: In a very short time, the students must plan a meal within a budget for a group of people. They must take into consideration the specific needs and expectations of the people, plan, shop, cook, decorate, serve and clean up – all in a rigid time frame. In Lucerne the service is provided for the “Senti-Treff” Community Center’s regular Tuesday Family lunch-table, which is usually attended by 20 to 25 adults and children.

In the process of this project, the group must define what needs to be done, break into small task groups to execute the duties and yet work as a total team to complete the task.In a morning lecture, Rolf and I outline the task, but after that we are only there to give advice when we are asked for it, and jump in if we see that anything is going terribly wrong. We want the students to set up their own structure, think and plan through the process and execute every task themselves.

The result of this exercise is to get a group to learn how to quickly build a team while still functioning as individuals and for small groups within the team to solve a problem. They also must apply design techniques in the guise of decorating the rooms and the tables, draw menus, present the meals, etc.

This course has been so well received by our students that we would love to make it available to other schools and businesses that could profit from it. I hope you enjoy the attached pictures from our 2006 class and the comments by one of the participants. If you want to know more about “What’s Cooking”, you can e-mail me at nik@niksprocket.org.

Bon appetit!

Module 1 - What's Cooking

Comments from one of our students

So, what’s cooking? Or should it rather be called “what’s up”? At least that’s how it could be interpreted. All the same, it is what it says, cooking! But what has cooking in common with Design Management? Definitely more than one might assume at first glance. Just think of all the ingredients that you need to prepare a proper three-course menu and what it takes until the dishes can be served. Nothing to be worried about you might reckon. However, what if it is not just for a handful of friends but for some hundred guests? All of a sudden you are to face a great deal of challenges that you have to overcome i.e. with whom are you dealing, what are their requirements, what’s the budget, how do you “design” this event and its various facets, which premises are suitable catering for this number of people, where and how do I go for shopping and how do you split up the various jobs (obviously such a task could never be managed by a single person) to mention only but a few. Hence welcome to the world of Design Management and the perfect case study and unforgettable experience to kick off this course.

Text by Simon Buikema
DMI - December 2006