The best article you'll read about ramen today

Via Chicago magazine, this rather wonderful (if intense) article: 

Striving for a perfect bowl of ramen — even if it can’t practically be achieved — requires more than feel, intuition, and thousands of hours of muscle memory. It demands exactitude measured in decimals, seconds, and milligrams, using levels, humidity gauges, and refractometers. It is cooking that veers into the domain of laboratory science.

Ask Satinover why this kind of precision is necessary — or really any question at all — and you’ll get an answer that is thought out, quantitative, ready to be bullet-pointed: “There are two reasons. From a business perspective, it’s consistency. My intuition about what’s right isn’t applicable to every component of every dish. I need a control, and numbers are easy to control. The other reason is to avoid having to think about it, to avoid the mental load of what’s correct and what’s not. The number is correct. Twenty grams of onions is correct, not 10 onions. What if you have a larger onion? It’s for a reduction in mental exhaustion.”

I have so many thoughts about this article, and how much I admire Satinover's approach to quality, consistency and his quest for excellence in a bowl. I really admire his search for the right tool for the job (a refractometer for the broth, wow!) 

It feels like launching new restaurants in modern America feels like a bit of a Houdini trick where you are chained inside a box and thrown in a pool and you have six months to either escape or you drown. In that sense, I'm delighted not to be Satinover. 

One company, two warring factions

Via Matt Levine, this unfortunate story of a hedge fund that has a schism: 

Over the last 22 years, John Overdeck and David Siegel built Two Sigma Investments into a $60 billion quant-trading behemoth. But behind the scenes, the billionaire co-founders have clashed over the firm’s direction, succession planning and more, people familiar with the matter said.  

The relationship has deteriorated to the point where Two Sigma felt the need to disclose the friction in a March 31 securities filing. In a little-noticed section on “material risks” related to its investments strategies, the firm warned that Two Sigma’s management committee—which includes only Overdeck and Siegel—is having difficulty making key decisions, a disclosure that lawyers, investors and others say is virtually unprecedented in the investment world. …

The executives, who have offices about 30 feet from each other, split their duties. Overdeck has managed the investment researchers, or modelers, usually favoring a hands-off approach. Siegel oversees the firm’s engineers while appearing at industry conferences, often to speak about the future of artificial intelligence, which he studied decades ago at MIT. Each executive has groups of loyalists within the firm.

“It’s two tribes,” said a person close to the firm. …

In recent years, Overdeck and Siegel have rarely appeared together at firm events. They frequently snipe at each other in meetings, attendees said. Decisions get delayed and projects killed because employees assume they won’t be able to get both founders to agree, the people said. 

One person familiar with Overdeck and Siegel described their relationship as evolving over the years “from irritation to Cold War to hot war.”

I don't think I've ever worked in an environment where two senior managers have been in a state of cold war (or hot war, for that matter.) I can't imagine it's very fun, although I am sure that there have been Hot or Cold Wars in my graduate school department or earlier in my industrial career. 

Here's hoping that you're not in the middle of a Work Cold War (or a hot one.) 

I don't think I'd like to work there

Via Matt Levine's fascinating and hilarious newsletter, this story on an investment firm's perks (?): 

Houlihan Lokey Inc. will offer some workers an all-expenses paid vacation as it seeks to lighten the load for its workers amid a surge in mergers and acquisitions.

“Our team is going to celebrate our achievements with a global getaway,” the firm said in a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg, which contained a link to some of the available trips they could opt to take. “No not all together (after all there is still a pandemic), so whether you choose a secluded beach or a ski adventure or a culinary experience, the choice is yours.”

Houlihan Lokey also said it would no longer allow employees to work past midnight unless there was prior approval from a group head, and the firm promised workers they would get a full 24 hours consecutively each week during which no work would be expected of them.

The boutique investment bank will also offer analysts in the U.S. a one-time $10,000 bonus, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing personnel issues. A spokesman for the firm confirmed the contents of the memo.

A boom in deals has left Houlihan Lokey and its rivals trying to address increasing burnout among young bankers, who are often given the task of preparing lengthy presentations and other materials for client meetings.

 Well, that's certainly generous. Makes you wonder what the typical workload was for their employees...