from The New Yorker …

                            from The New Yorker
                                     September 5, 2005
                                  ANNALS OF TECHNOLOGY

                                        The Bakeoff
                          Project Delta aims to create the perfect cookie

                                     by Malcolm Gladwell

                                  Gundrum is short and round.       evidence     of     rhythmic
1.                                He has dark hair and a            munching (the metronomic
                                  mustache and speaks with the      hand-to-mouth cycle that
Steve Gundrum launched            flattened vowels of the upper     lies at the heart of any
Project Delta at a small          Midwest. He is voluble and        successful               snack
dinner last fall at Il Fornaio,   excitable     and     doggedly    experience).         Mattson
in Burlingame, just down          unpretentious, to the point       created the shelf-stable Mrs.
the road from the San             that your best chance of          Fields     Chocolate      Chip
Francisco Airport. It wasn't      seeing him in a suit is           Cookie, the new Boca Burger
the Þrst time he'd been to Il     probably Halloween. He runs       products for Kraft Foods,
Fornaio, and he made his          Mattson, one of the country's     Orville        Redenbacher's
selection quickly, with just a    foremost food research-and-       Butter     Toffee    Popcorn
glance at the menu; he is the     development firms, which is       Clusters, and so many other
sort of person who might          situated in a low-slung           products     that     it     is
have thought about his            concrete-and-glass building in    impossible to walk down the
choice in advance -- maybe        a nondescript office park in      aisle of a supermarket and
even that morning, while          Silicon Valley. Gundrum's         not be surrounded by
shaving. He would have            office is a spare, windowless     evidence of the company's
posed it to himself as a          room near the rear, and all       handiwork.
question -- Ravioli alla          day      long     white-coated
Lucana? -- and turned it          technicians come to him with      That evening, Gundrum had
over in his mind, assembling      prototypes in little bowls, or    invited two of his senior
and disassembling the dish,       on skewers, or in Tupperware      colleagues at Mattson --
ingredient by ingredient, as      containers. His job is to taste   Samson Hsia and Carol
if it were a model airplane.      and advise, and the most          Borba -- to dinner, along
Did the Pecorino pepato           common words out of his           with Steven Addis, who runs
really belong? What if you        mouth are "I have an idea."       a prominent branding firm
dropped the basil? What           Just that afternoon, Gundrum      in the Bay Area. They sat
would the ravioli taste like if   had       ruled     on      the   around an oblong table off
you froze it, along with the      reformulation of a popular        to one side of the dining
ricotta and the Parmesan,         spinach dip (which had an         room,     with    the    sun
and tried to sell it in the       unfortunate tendency to smell     streaming in the window,
supermarket? And then             like lawn clippings) and          and Gundrum informed
what would you do about the       examined the latest iteration     them that he intended to
fennel?                           of a low-carb kettle corn for     reinvent the cookie, to make
something both nutritious         these contradictions -- from       one way of          inventing
and as "indulgent" as the         Snackwells and diet Oreos to       something new.
premium cookies on the            the dry, grainy hockey pucks
supermarket shelf. "We            that pass for cookies in           Gundrum had a particular
want to delight people," he       health-food stores -- but in       interest, as it happened, in
said. "We don't want some         every case ¦flavor or fluffiness   software. He had read
ultra-high-nutrition power        or tenderness has been             widely about it, and once,
bar, where you have to            compromised.               Steve   when he ran into Steve Jobs
rationalize            your       Gundrum was undeterred. He         at an Apple store in the
consumption." He said it          told his colleagues that he        Valley, chatted with him for
again: "We want to delight        wanted Project Delta to create     forty-five      minutes      on
people."                          the world's great-est cookie.      technical matters relating to
                                  He wanted to do it in six          the Apple operating system.
As everyone at the table          months. He wanted to enlist        He saw little difference
knew, a healthful, good-          the biggest players in the         between what he did for a
tasting cookie is something       American food industry. And        living and what the soft-
of a contradiction. A cookie      how would he come up with          ware engineers in the
represents the combination        this wonder cookie? The old-       surrounding hills of Silicon
of       three     unhealthful    fashioned way. He wanted to        Valley did. "Lines of code
ingredients-sugar,       white    hold a bakeoff.                    are no different from a
flour, and shortening. The                                           recipe," he explains. "It's the
sugar adds sweetness, bulk,       2.                                 same thing. You add a little
and texture: along with                                              salt, and it tastes better. You
baking powder, it produces        The standard protocol for          write a little piece of code,
the tiny cell structures that     inventing something in the         and it makes the software
make baked goods light and        food industry is called the        work faster." But in the
fluffy. The fat helps carry the   matrix model. There is a           software world, Gundrum
flavor. If you want a big hit     department      for     product    knew, there were ongoing
of vanilla, or that chocolate     development, which comes up        debates about the best way
taste that really blooms in       with a new idea, and a             to come up with new code.
the nasal cavities, you need      department      for      process
fat. It also keeps the strands    development, which figures         On the one hand, there was
of gluten in the flour from       out how to realize it, and then,   the       "open       source"
getting too tightly bound         down the line, departments         movement. Its patron saint
together, so that the cookie      for packing, quality assurance,    was Linus Torvald, the
stays chewable. The ¦our, of      regulatory affairs, chemistry,     Norwegian      hacker    who
course, gives the batter its      microbiology, and so on. In a      decided to build a free
structure, and, with the          conventional            bakeoff,   version of Unix, the hugely
sugar, provides the base for      Gundrum would have pitted          complicated         operating
the browning reaction that        three    identical      matrixes   system that runs many of
occurs during baking. You         against one another and            the world's large computers.
could replace the standard        compared the results. But he       Torvald created the basic
white flour with wheat flour,     wasn't satisfied with the          implementation       of   his
which is higher in fibre, but     unexamined          assumption     version, which he called
fibre adds grittiness. Over       behind     the    conventional     Linux, posted it online, and
the years, there have been        bakeoff -- that there was j st
                                                               u     invited people to contribute
many attempts to resolve                                             to its development. Over the
years,      thousands      of    "I remember once I was             and then refrozen. But
programmers had helped,          working with a printing            coming up with a healthy
and     Linux    was     now     company in Chicago," Beck          cookie,    which      required
considered as good as            says. "The people there were       finessing     the     inherent
proprietary versions of Unix.    having a terrible problem with     contradictions posed by
"Given enough eyeballs all       their technology. I got there,     sugar, flour, and shortening,
bugs are shallow" was the        and I saw that the senior          was the kind of problem that
Linux mantra: a thousand         people had these corner            the food industry had more
people working for an hour       offices, and they were working     trouble with. Gundrum
each can do a better job         separately and doing things        recalled one brainstorming
writing and fixing code than     separately that they had           session that a client of his, a
a single person working for a    trouble integrating later on.      major food company, had
thou-sand hours, because         So I said, 'Find a space where     convened. "This is no joke,"
the chances are that among       you can work together.' So         he said. "They played a tape
those thousand people you        they found a corner of the         where it sounded like the
can find precisely the right     machine room. It was a raised      wind was blowing and the
expert for every problem         floor, ice cold. They just loved   birds were chirping. And
that comes up.                   it. They would go there five       they posed us out on a dance
                                 hours a day, making lots of        floor, and we had to hold
On the other hand, there         progress. I flew home. They        our arms out like we were
was        the       "extreme    hired me for my technical          trees and close our eyes, and
programming" movement,           expertise. And I told them to      the ideas were supposed to
known as XP, which was led       rearrange the office furniture,    grow like fruits off the limbs
by a legendary programmer        and that was the most              of the trees. Next to me was
named Kent Beck. He called       valuable thing I could offer       the head of R. & D., and he
for breaking a problem into      them."                             looked at me and said:
the      smallest     possible                                      'What the hell are we doing
increments, and proceeding       It seemed to Gundrum that          here?'"
as simply and modestly as        people in the food world had a
possible. He thought that        great deal to learn from all       For Project Delta, Gundrum
programmers should work          this. They had become adept        decreed that there would be
in pairs, two to a computer,     at solving what he called          three       teams,     each
passing the keyboard back        "science projects" -- problems     representing a different
and forth. Between Beck and      that required straightforward,     methodology of invention.
Torvald     were    countless    linear      applications     of    He had read Kent Beck's
other people, arguing for        expensive German machinery         writings, and decided that
slightly different variations.   and armies of white-coated         the Þrst would be the XP
But everyone in the software     people with advanced degrees       team. He enlisted two of
world agreed that trying to      in engineering. Cool Whip was      Mattson's brightest young
get people to be as creative     a good example: a product          associates -- Peter Dea and
as possible was, as often as     processed so exquisitely --        Dan Howell. Dea is a food
not, a social problem: it        with air bubbles of such           scientist, who worked as a
depended not just on who         fantastic    uniformity    and     confectionist before coming
was on the team but on how       stability -- that it remains       to Mattson. He is tall and
the team was organized.          structurally sound for months,     spare, with short dark hair.
                                 at high elevation and at low       "Peter is really good at
                                 elevation, frozen and thawed       hitting the high note,"
Gundrum said. "If a product       Berg would serve as sounding       is quite possible that this
needs to have a particular        board and project director.        was the most talented group
flavor profile, he's really       His team would execute their       of people ever to work
good at getting that one          conceptions.                       together in the history of the
dimension and getting it                                             food industry.
right."     Howell     is    a    Then Gundrum was at a
culinarian-goateed        and     technology conference in           Soon after the launch of
talkative,    a    man      of    California and heard the           Project      Delta,      Steve
enthusiasms who uses high-        software pioneer Mitch Kapor       Gundrum and his colleague
end Mattson equipment to          talking about the open-source      Samson Hsia were standing
make an exceptional cup of        revolution.          Afterward,    around, talking about the
espresso every afternoon.         Gundrum approached Kapor.          current products in the
He started his career as a        "I said to Mitch, 'What do you     supermarket which they
barista at Starbucks, and         think? Can I apply this-some       particularly admire. "I like
then realized that his            of the same principles-outside     the Uncrustable line from
vocation lay elsewhere. "A        of software and bring it to the    Smuckers," Hsia said. "It's a
customer said to me, 'What        food industry?'" Gundrum           frozen sandwich without any
do you want to be doing?          recounted. "He stopped and         crust. It eats very well. You
Because you clearly don't         said, 'Why the hell not!'" So      can put it in a lunchbox
want to be here,'" Howell         Gundrum invited an élite           frozen, and it will be
said. "I told him, 'I want to     group of food-industry bakers      unfrozen by lunchtime."
be sitting in a room working      and scientists to collaborate      Hsia is a trim, silver-haired
on a better non-fat pudding.'     online. They would be the          man who is said to know as
"                                 third team. He signed up a         much about emulsions as
                                  senior person from Mars, Inc.,     anyone in the business.
The second team was               someone from R. & D. at            "There's something else," he
headed by Barb Stuckey, an        Kraft, the marketing manager       said, suddenly. "We just saw
executive vice-president of       for    Nestlé    Toll    House     it last week. It's made by
marketing at Mattson and          refrigerated/frozen      cookie    Jennie-O. It's turkey in a
one of the firm's stars. She is   dough, a senior director of R.     bag." This was a turkey that
slender and sleek, with short     & D. at Birds Eye Foods, the       was seasoned, plumped with
blond hair. She tends to          head of the innovation             brine, and sold in a heat-
think out loud, and, because      program       for      Kellogg's   resistant plastic bag: the
she thinks quickly, she ends      Morning Foods, the director        customer simply has to place
up talking quickly, too-in        of seasoning at McCormick, a       it in the oven. Hsia began to
nervous brilliant bursts.         cookie maven formerly at           stride toward the Mattson
Stuckey, Gundrum decided,         Keebler, and six more high-        kitch-ens,     because      he
would represent "managed"         level specialists. Mattson's       realized they actually had a
research and development-a        innovation manager, Carol          Jennie-O turkey in the back.
traditional       hierarchical    Borba, who began her career        Gundrum followed, the two
team, as opposed to a             as a line cook at Bouley, in       men weaving their way
partnership like Dea and          Manhattan, was given the role      through     the    maze     of
Howell's. She would work          of project manager. Two            corridors that make up the
with Doug Berg, who runs          Mattson       staffers     were    Mattson of-Þces. They came
one of Mattson's product-         assigned to carry out the          to a large freezer. Gundrum
development teams. Stuckey        group's     recommendations.       pulled out a bright-colored
would draw the big picture.       This was the Dream Team. It        bag. Inside was a second,
clear bag, and inside that       The Mattson kitchens are a         under 17.5 grams, saturated
bag was a twelve-pound           series of large, connecting        fat under two grams, fibre
turkey. "This is one of my       rooms, running along the back      more than one gram, protein
favorite innovations of the      of the building. There is a        more than two grams, and
last year," Gundrum said, as     pilot plant in one corner --       so on; in other words, the
Hsia nodded happily. "There      containing a mini version of       cookie was to be at least
is material science involved.    the equipment that, say,           fifteen per cent superior to
There is food science            Heinz would use to make            the supermarket average in
involved.       There       is   canned soup, a soft-serve ice-     the      major      nutritional
positioning involved. You        cream machine, an industrial-      categories. To Dea and
can take this thing, throw it    strength     pasta-maker,     a    Howell,     that     suggested
in your oven, and people will    colloid mill for making oil-       oatmeal, and crispy, as
be blown away. It's that         and-water emulsions, a flash       opposed to soft. "I've tried
good. If I was Butterball, I'd   pasteurizer, and an eighty-        lots of cookies that are sold
be terrified."                   five-thousand-dollar               as soft and I never like them,
                                 Japanese-made       coextruder     because they're trying to be
Jennie-O        had     taken    for, among other things,           something that they're not,"
something old and made it        pastry-and-filling                 Dea explained. "A soft
new. But where had that          combinations. At any given         cookie is a fresh cookie, and
idea come from? Was it a         time, the firm may have as         what you are trying to do
team? A committee? A lone        many as fifty or sixty projects    with soft is be a fresh cookie
turkey genius? Those of us       under way, so the kitchens are     that's a month old. And that
whose only interaction with      a hive of activity, with           means you need to fake the
such innovations is at the       pressure cookers filled with       freshness, to engineer the
point of sale have a naïve       baked beans bubbling in one        cookie."
faith in human creativity; we    corner, and someone rushing
suppose that a world             from one room to another           The two decided to focus on
capable of coming up with        carrying a tray of pizza slices    a kind of oatmeal-chocolate-
turkey in a bag is capable of    with experimental toppings.        chip hybrid, with liberal
coming up with the next big                                         applications of roasted soy
thing as well-a healthy          Dea and Howell, the XP team,       nuts, toffee, and caramel. A
cookie, a faster computer        took over part of one of the       straight        oatmeal-raisin
chip, an automobile engine       kitchens, setting up at a long     cookie or a straight low-cal
that gets a hundred miles to     stainless-steel lab bench. The     chocolate-chip cookie was
the gallon. But if you're the    countertop was crowded with        out of the question. This was
one responsible for those        tins of flour, a big white         a reflection of what might be
bright new ideas there is no     plastic container of wheat         called the Hidden Valley
such certainty. You come up      dextrin, a dozen bottles of        Ranch principle, in honor of
with one great idea, and the     liquid sweeteners, two plastic     a story that Samson Hsia
process is so miraculous that    bottles of Kirkland olive oil,     often told about his years
all you do is puzzle over how    and, somewhat puzzlingly,          working on salad dressing
on earth you ever did it, and    three varieties of single-malt     when he was at Clorox. The
worry whether you'll ever be     Scotch. The Project Delta brief    couple who owned Hidden
able to do it again.             was simple. All cookies had to     Valley Ranch, near Santa
                                 have fewer than a hundred          Barbara, had come up with a
3.                               and thirty calories per serving.   seasoning blend of salt,
                                 Carbohydrates had to be            pepper, onion, garlic, and
parsley flakes that was          endless iteration, and Dea and     granulated-sugar     kind   of
mixed with equal parts           Howell began by baking             mouth feel."
mayonnaise and buttermilk        version after version in quick
to make what was, by all         succession -- establishing the     "It's got more fat than us,
accounts, an extraordinary       cookie size, the optimal           though, and subsequently
dressing. Clorox tried to        baking time, the desired           it's shorter in texture,"
bottle it, but found that the    variety of chocolate chips, the    Howell said. "And so, when
buttermilk could not coexist,    cut of oats (bulk oats? rolled     you break it, it breaks more
over any period of time, with    oats? groats?), the varieties of   nicely. Ours is a little harder
the mayonnaise. The way to       flour, and the toffee dosage,      to break."
fix    the    problem,    and    while testing a variety of high-
preserve the texture, was to     tech supplements, notably          By "shorter in texture," he
make the combination more        inulin, a fibre source derived     meant that the cookie
acidic. But when you             from chicory root. As they         "popped" when you bit into
increased the acidity you        worked, they made notes on         it. Saturated fats are solid
ruined the flavor. Clorox's      tablet P.C.s, which gave them      fats, and give a cookie
food engineers worked on         a running electronic record of     crispness. Parmesan cheese
Hidden       Valley     Ranch    each version. "With food,          is short-textured. Brie is
dressing for close to a          there's a large circle of pretty   long. A shortbread like a
decade. They tried different     good, and we're solidly in         Lorna Doone is a classic
kinds of processing and          pretty good," Dea announced,       short-textured cookie. But
stability control and endless    after several intensive days of    the XP cookie had, for
cycles of consumer testing       baking. A tray of cookies was      health reasons, substituted
before they gave up and          cooling in front of him on the     unsaturated       fats      for
simply came out with a high-     counter. "Typically, that's        saturated       fats,      and
acid Hidden Valley Ranch         when you take it to the            unsaturated fats are liquid.
dressing -- which promptly       customers."                        They make the dough
became a runaway best-                                              stickier,   and      inevitably
seller.     Why?      Because    In this case, the customer was     compromise a little of that
consumers had never tasted       Gundrum, and the next week         satisfying pop.
real Hidden Valley Ranch         Howell marched over to
dressing, and as a result had    Gundrum's office with two          "The whole-wheat flour
no way of knowing that what      Ziploc bags of cookies in his      makes us a little grittier,
they were eating was inferior    hand. There was a package of       too," Howell went on. "It has
to the original. For those in    Chips Ahoy! on the table, and      larger particulates." He
the food business, the lesson    Howell took one out. "We've        broke open one of the Chips
was       unforgettable:    if   been eating these versus Chips     Ahoy!. "See how fine the
something was new, it didn't     Ahoy!," he said.                   grain is? Now look at one of
have to be perfect. And,                                            our cookies. The particulates
since healthful, indulgent       The two cookies looked             are larger. It is part of what
cookies couldn't be perfect,     remarkably alike. Gundrum          we lose by going with a
they had to be new: hence        tried one of each. "The Chips      healthy profile. If it was just
oatmeal, chocolate chips,        Ahoy!, it's tasty," he said.       sugar and ¦our, for instance,
toffee, and caramel.             "When you eat it, the starch       the carbohydrate chains are
                                 hydrates in your mouth. The        going to be shorter, and so
Cookie development, at the       XP doesn't have that same          they will dissolve more
Mattson level, is a matter of                                       quickly in your mouth.
Whereas with more fibre          "You know, before the election       balancing      act,"     Anne
you get longer carbohydrate      Good Housekeeping had this           Cristofano, who was doing
chains and they don't            cookie bakeoff," Stuckey said,       the bench work for Team
dissolve as quickly, and you     as the meeting ended. "Laura         Stuckey, said. She baked
get that slightly tooth-         Bush's entry was full of             batch after batch, playing
packing feel."                   chocolate chips and had              the carbohydrates (first the
                                 familiar ingredients. And            flour, and then granulated
"It looks very wholesome,        Teresa Heinz went with               sugar, and finally various
like something you would         pumpkin-spice cookies. I             kinds of what are called
want to feed your kids,"         remember thinking, That's            sugar alcohols, low-calorie
Gundrum said, finally. They      just like the Democrats! So          sweeteners derived from
were still only in the realm     not mainstream! I wanted her         hydrogenizing          starch)
of pretty good.                  to win. But she's chosen this        against      the     almonds.
                                 cookie that's funky and weird        Cristofano took a version to
4.                               and out of the box. And I kind       Stuckey. It didn't go well.
                                 of feel the same way about the
Team Stuckey, meanwhile,         tea cookie. It's too far out, and    "We're not getting enough
was having problems of its       will lose to something that's        strawberry impact from the
own. Barb Stuckey's first        more        comfortable        for   fruit alone," Stuckey said.
thought had been a tea           consumers."                          "We have to find some way
cookie, or, more specifically,                                        to boost the strawberry."
a chai cookie -- something       Stuckey's     next     thought       She nibbled some more.
with      cardamom        and    involved strawberries and a          "And, because of the low fat
cinnamon and vanilla and         shortbread       base.      But      and all that stuff, I don't feel
cloves and a soft dairy note.    shortbread     was     virtually     like we're getting that pop."
Doug Berg was dispatched         impossible       under      the
to run the experiment. He        nutritional guidelines: there        The Dream Team, by any
and his team did three or        was no way to get that smooth        measure,        was       the
four rounds of prototypes.       butter-flour-sugar                   overwhelming Project Delta
The result was a cookie that     combination.      So      Team       favorite. This was, after all,
tasted, astonishingly, like a    Stuckey       switched        to     the Dream Team, and if any
cup of chai, which was, of       something     closer     to    a     idea is ingrained in our
course, its problem. Who         strawberry-cobbler      cookie,      thinking it is that the best
wanted a cookie that tasted      which had the Hidden Valley          way to solve a difficult
like a cup of chai? Stuckey      Ranch advantage that no one          problem is to bring the
called a meeting in the          knew what a strawberry-              maximum        amount      of
Mattson trophy room, where       cobbler cookie was supposed          expertise to bear on it. Sure
samples of every Mattson         to taste like. Getting the           enough, in the early going
product that has made it to      carbohydrates down to the            the Dream Team was on fire.
market are displayed. After      required 17.5 grams, though,         The members of the Dream
everyone was done tasting        was a struggle, because of how       Team did not doggedly fix
the cookies, a bag of them       much flour and fruit cobbler         on a single idea, like Dea
sat in the middle of the table   requires. The obvious choice         and Howell, or move in fits
for forty-five minutes-and       to replace the flour was             and starts from chai sugar
no one reached to take a         almonds. But nuts have high          cookies     to    strawberry
second bite. It was a bad        levels of both saturated and         shortbread to strawberry
sign.                            unsaturated fat. "It became a        cobbler, like Team Stuckey.
It came up with thirty-four      possible role for zucchini or      Subject: Yes.
ideas,     representing    an    wasabi peas. Meanwhile, a          Gourmet         Vanilla   does
astonishing range of cookie      more conservative faction,         outsell any new flavor. But
philosophies: a chocolate        mindful of the Project Delta       we must remember that
cookie with gourmet cocoa,       mandate to appeal to the           DIET vanilla does not and
high-end chocolate chips,        whole family, started talking      never has. It is the high end,
pecans, raisins, Irish steel-    up peanut butter. Within a         gourmet segment of ice
cut oats, and the new            few days, the tensions were        cream that is growing. Diet
Ultragrain White Whole           obvious:                           Oreos were vastly outsold by
Wheat flour; a bite-size                                            new entries like Snackwells.
oatmeal cookie with a            From: Chef J.                      Diet Snickers were vastly
Ceylon cinnamon filling, or                                         outsold by new entries like
chili and tamarind, or pieces                                       balance bars. New Coke
of dried peaches with a                                             failed miserably, while Red
cinnamon-and-ginger              Subject:               Bull is still growing.
dusting; the classic seven-
layer bar with oatmeal
instead of graham crackers,
coated in chocolate with a       Please keep in mind that less      What flavor IS Red Bull,
choice of coffee flavors; a      than 10 years ago, espresso,       anyway?
"wellness" cookie, with an       latte and dulce de leche were
oatmeal base, soy and whey       EXOTIC flavors / products          Eventually, Carol Borba, the
proteins, inulin and oat beta    that     were      considered      Dream Team project leader,
glucan and a combination of      unsuitable       for      the      asked Gundrum whether she
erythritol and sugar and         mainstream. And let's not          should try to calm things
sterol esters-and so on.         even mention CHIPOTLE.             down. He told her no; the
                                                                    group had to find its "own
In the course of spewing out     From: Andy Smith                   kind of natural rhythm." He
all    those    new     ideas,                                      wanted to know what fifteen
however, the Dream Team                                             high-powered bakers thrown
took a difficult turn. A man                                        together on a project felt
named J. Hugh McEvoy             Subject: Bought any Ben and        like, and the answer was
(a.k.a. Chef J.), out of         Jerry's recently?                  that they felt like chaos.
Chicago, tried to take                                              They took twice as long as
control of the discussion. He                                       the XP team. They created
wanted something exotic --                                          ten times the headache.
not a health-food version of     While we may not want to
something already out there.     invent another Oreo or Chips       Worse, no one in the open-
But in the e-mail discussions    Ahoy!, last I looked, World's      source group seemed to be
with others on the team his      Best Vanilla was B&J's # 2         having any fun. "Quite
sense of what constituted        selling flavor and Haagen          honestly, I was expecting a
exotic began to get really       Dazs' Vanilla (their top seller)   bit more involvement in
exotic -- "Chinese star anise    outsold Dulce 3 to 1.              this," Howard Plein, of
plus fennel plus Pastis plus                                        Edlong     Dairy     Flavors,
dark chocolate." Others,         From: Chef J.                      confessed afterward. "They
emboldened by his example,                                          said, expect to spend half an
began talking about a                                               hour a day. But without
doing actual bench work --        the food business. There was      eighty and eighty-five people
all we were asked to do was       nothing there that you            involved.     We      roamed
to come up with ideas." He        couldn't   walk     into   a      around, and we set up a
wanted to bake: he didn't         supermarket and see on the        video camera, because we
enjoy being one of fifteen        shelf. Any Pepperidge Farm        wanted to make sense of
cogs in a machine. To Dan         product is better than that.      what was happening."
Fletcher, of Kellogg's, "the      Any one."
whole thing spun in place                                           When the consultants asked
for a long time. I got            It may have been a fine           people what was going on,
frustrated with that. The         cookie. But, since no single      though, they couldn't get
number of people involved         person played a central role in   any satisfactory answers.
seemed unwieldy. You want         its creation, it didn't seem to   "Each person only knew a
some diversity of youth and       anyone to be a fine cookie.       little piece of the puzzle, like
experience, but you want to                                         the radiation person knew
keep it close-knit as well.       The strength of the Dream         where the radiation was, or
You get some depth in the         Team -- the fact that it had so   the maintenance person
process versus breadth. We        many smart people on it --        would say, 'I'm trying to get
were a mile wide and an           was also its weakness: it had     this valve closed,' " Klinger
inch     deep."     Chef    J.,   too many smart people on it.      said. "No one had the big
meanwhile, felt thwarted by       Size provides expertise. But it   picture. We started to ask
Carol Borba; he felt that she     also creates friction, and one    questions. We said, 'What is
was pushing her favorite, a       of the truths Project Delta       your mission?' And if the
caramel turtle, to the            exposed is that we tend to        person didn't have one, we
detriment of better ideas.        overestimate the importance       said, 'Get out.' There were
"We had the best people in        of        expertise         and   just too many people. We
the country involved," he         underestimate the problem of      ended up getting that team
says. "We were irrelevant.        friction.   Gary     Klein,   a   down from eighty-five to
That's the weakness of it.        decision-making consultant,       thirty-five people, and the
Fifteen is too many. How          once examined this issue in       first thing that happened
much true input can any one       depth at a nuclear power plant    was that the noise in the
person have when you are          in North Carolina. In the         room       was    dramatically
lost in the crowd?" In the        nineteen-nineties, the power      reduced." The room was
end, the Dream Team               supply used to keep the           quiet and calm enough so
whittled down its thirty-four     reactor cool malfunctioned.       that people could easily find
possibilities to one: a chewy     The plant had to shut down in     those they needed to talk to.
oatmeal cookie, with a pecan      a hurry, and the shutdown         "At the very end, they had a
"thumbprint" in the middle,       went badly. So the managers       big drill that the N.R.C. was
and ribbons of caramel-and-       brought in Klein's consulting     going to regulate. The
chocolate      glaze.    When     group to observe as they ran      regulators said it was one of
Gundrum tasted it, he had         through one of the crisis         their hardest drills. And you
nothing but praise for its        rehearsals     mandated      by   know what? They aced it."
"cookie hedonics." But a          federal regulators. "The drill    Was          the        plant's
number       of    the   team     lasted four hours," David         management team smarter
members        were    plainly    Klinger, the lead consultant      with thirty-five people on it
unhappy with the choice. "It      on the project, recalled. "It     than it was with eighty-five?
is not bad," Chef J. said.        was in this big operations        Of course not, but the
"But not bad doesn't win in       room, and there were between      expertise of those additional
fifty people was more than        after all, to understand what      as he stood by Gundrum's
cancelled out by the extra        to leave out. Spolsky notes        desk. "We used wheat
confusion and noise they          that almost all the successful     dextrin, which I think gives
created.                          open-source products have          us       some      crispiness
                                  been attempts to clone some        advantages and some shelf-
The open-source movement          preexisting software program,      stability advantages. We
has had the same problem.         like    Microsoft's    Internet    have a little more vanilla in
The number of people              Explorer, or Unix. "One of the     this round, which gives you
involved can result in            reasons open source works          that     brown,     rounding
enormous        friction.   The   well for Linux is that there       background note."
software       theorist    Joel   isn't any real design work to
Spolsky points out that           be undertaken," he says.           Gundrum nodded. "The
open-source software tends        "They were doing what we           vanilla is almost like a
to have user interfaces that      would call chasing tail-lights."   surrogate for sugar," he said.
are difficult for ordinary        Open source was great for a        "It     potentiates       the
people      to    use:    "With   science project, in which the      sweetness."
Microsoft Windows, you            goals were clearly defined and
right-click on a folder, and      the technical hurdles easily       "Last time, the leavening
you're given the option to        identifiable. Had Project Delta    system was baking soda and
share that folder over the        been a Cool Whip bakeoff, an       baking powder," Howell
Web. To do the same thing         exercise in chasing tail-lights,   went on. "I switched that to
with Apache, the open-            the Dream Team would easily        baking         soda        and
source Web server, you've         win. But if you want to design     monocalcium        phosphate.
got to track down a file that     a truly innovative software        That helps them rise a little
has a different name and is       program -- or a truly              bit better. And we baked
stored in a different place on    innovative cookie -- the costs     them at a slightly higher
every system. Then you have       of bigness can become              temperature for slightly
to edit it, and it has its own    overwhelming.                      longer, so that we drove off a
syntax and its own little                                            little bit more moisture."
programming language, and         In the frantic final weeks
there are lots of different       before the bakeoff, while the      "How close are          you?"
comments, and you edit it         Dream Team was trying to fix       Gundrum asked.
the first time and it doesn't     a problem with crumbling,
work and then you edit it the     and hit on the idea of glazing     "Very close," Howell replied.
second time and it doesn't        the pecan on the face of the
work."                            cookie, Dea and Howell             Gundrum was lost in
                                  continued to make steady,          thought for a moment. "It
Because there are so many         incremental improvements.          looks very wholesome. It
individual voices involved in                                        looks like something you'd
an open-source project, no        "These cookies were baked          want to feed your kids. It has
one can agree on the right        five days ago," Howell told        very good aroma. I really
way to do things. And,            Gundrum, as he handed him a        like the texture. My guess is
because no one can agree,         Ziploc bag. Dea was off            that it eats very well with
every possible option is built    somewhere in the Midwest,          milk." He turned back to
into the software, thereby        meeting with clients, and          Howell, suddenly solicitous.
frustrating the central goal      Howell looked apprehensive,        "Do you want some milk?"
of good design, which is,         stroking his goatee nervously
Meanwhile, Barb Stuckey          strawberries: suddenly they        "What we're trying to do
had a revelation. She was        felt fresh.                        here is a shelf-stable cookie
working on a tortilla-chip                                          that will last six months,"
project, and had bags of         Batches      of    the     new     Stuckey said. "I think we're
tortilla chips all over her      strawberry-cobbler prototype       better off if we can make it
desk. "You have no idea how      were     ordered    up,    with    crispy."
much engineering goes into       different formulations of the
those things," she said,         citric acid and the crystals. A    Smithson thought for a
holding up a tortilla chip.      meeting was called in the          moment. "You can have
"It's greater than what it       trophy room. Anne Cristofano       either a crispy, low-moisture
takes to build a bridge. It's    brought two plastic bags Þlled     cookie or a soft and chewy
crazy." And one of the clever    with cookies. Stuckey was          cookie," she said. "But you
things about cheese tortilla     there, as was a senior Mattson     can't get the outside crisp
chips-particularly the low-      food     technologist   named      and the inside chewy. We
fat versions-is how they go      Karen Smithson, an outsider        know that. The moisture will
about distracting the palate.    brought to the meeting in an       migrate. It will equilibrate
"You know how you put a          advisory role. Smithson, a         over time, so you end up
chip in your mouth and the       former pastry chef, was a little   with     a    cookie    that's
minute it hits your tongue it    older than Stuckey and             consistent all the way
explodes     with     flavor?"   Cristofano, with an air of self-   through. Remember we did
Stuckey said. "It's because      possession. She broke the seal     all that work on Mrs. Fields?
it's    got    this    topical   on the first bag, and took a       That's what we learned."
seasoning. It's got dried        bite with her eyes half closed.
cheese powders and sugar         The other two watched              They talked for a bit, in
and probably M.S.G. and all      intently.                          technical    terms,     about
that other stuff on the                                             various kinds of sugars and
outside of the chip."            "Umm," Smithson said, after        starches. Smithson didn't
                                 the briefest of pauses. "That is   think that the stability issue
Her idea was to apply that       pretty darn good. And this is      was going to be a problem.
technique to strawberry          one of the healthy cookies? I
cobbler-to take large crystals   would not say, 'This is            "Isn't     it      compelling,
of sugar, plate them with        healthy.' I can't taste the        visually?" Stuckey blurted
citric acid, and dust the        trade-off." She looked up at       out, after a lull in the
cookies with them. "The          Stuckey. "How old are they?"       conversation. And it was:
minute they reach your                                              the dried-strawberry chunks
tongue, you get this sweet-      "Today," Stuckey replied.          broke though the surface of
and-sour hit, and then you                                          the cookie, and the tiny
crunch into the cookie and       "O.K. . . ." This was a            citric-sugar crystals glinted
get the rest-the strawberry      complicating fact. Any cookie      in the light. "I just think you
and the oats," she said. The     tastes good on the day it's        get so much more bang for
crystals threw off your taste    baked. The question was how        the buck when you put the
buds. You weren't focussed       it tasted after baking and         seasoning on the outside."
on the fact that there was       packaging and shipping and
half as much fat in the          sitting in a warehouse and on      "Yet   it's  not    weird,"
cookie as there should be.       a supermarket shelf and            Smithson said, nodding. She
Plus, the citric acid brought    finally in someone's cupboard.     picked up another cookie.
a tangy flavor to the dried                                         "The mouth feel is a
combination of chewy and          caramel cookie. Forty-four per     asking a mother which of
crunchy. With the flavors,        cent voted for Team Stuckey's      her children she liked best.
you have the caramelized          strawberry cobbler.                "I thought Barb's cookie was
sugar,      the  brown-sugar                                         a little too sweet, and I wish
notes. You have a little bit of   The Project Delta postmortem       the open-source cookie was
a chew from the oats. You         was held at Chaya Brasserie, a     a little tighter, less crumbly.
have a flavor from the            French-Asian              fusion   With XP, I think we would
strawberry, and it helps to       restaurant        on         the   have done better, but we had
have a combination of the         Embarcadero,        in      San    a wardrobe malfunction.
sugar alcohol and the brown       Francisco.     It   was     just   They used too much batter,
sugar. You know, sugars           Gundrum and Steven Addis,          overbaked it, and the cookie
have different deliveries,        from the first Project Delta       came out too hard and thick.
and sometimes you get some        dinner, and their wives. Dan
of the sweetness right off        Howell was immersed in a           "In the end, it was not so
and some of it continues on.      confidential project for a big     much which cookie won that
You notice that a lot with the    food conglomerate back East.       interested him. It was who
artificial sweeteners. You get    Peter Dea was working with         won-and why. Three people
the sweetness that doesn't        Cargill on a wellness product.     from his own shop had
go away, long after the other     Carol Borba was in Chicago, at     beaten a Dream Team, and
flavors are gone. With this       a meeting of the Food              the decisive edge had come
one, the sweetness is nice.       Marketing Institute. Barb          not from the collective
The flavors come together at      Stuckey was helping Ringling       wisdom of a large group but
the same time and fade at         Brothers rethink the food at       from one person's ability to
the same time, and then you       its    concessions.      "We've    make a lateral connection
have the little bright after-     learned a lot about the circus,"   between two previously
hits from the fruit and the       Gundrum said. Meanwhile,           unconnected objects -- a
citric crunchies, which are" -    Addis's firm had created a         tortilla chip and a cookie.
- she paused, looking for the     logo and a brand name for          Was that just Barb being
right word -- "brilliant."        Project Delta. Mattson has         Barb? In large part, yes. But
                                  offered to license the winning     it was hard to believe that
5.                                cookie at no cost, as long as a    one of the Dream Team
                                  percentage of its sales goes to    members would not have
The bakeoff took place in         a charitable foundation that       made the same kind of leap
April. Mattson selected a         Mattson has set up to feed the     had they been in an
representative sample of          hungry. Someday soon, you          environment quiet enough
nearly     three     hundred      should be able to go into a        to allow them to think.
households from around the        supermarket and buy Team
country. Each was mailed          Stuckey's strawberry-cobbler       "Do you know what else we
bubble-wrapped packages           cookie.                            learned?" Gundrum said. He
containing       all    three                                        was     talking    about    a
entrants. The vote was close      "Which one would you have          questionnaire given to the
but unequivocal. Fourteen         voted for?" Addis asked            voters. "We were looking at
per cent of the households        Gundrum.                           the open-ended questions --
voted for the XP oatmeal-                                            where all the families who
chocolate-chip        cookie.     "I have to say, they were all      voted could tell us what they
Forty-one per cent voted for      good in their own way,"            were thinking. They all said
the Dream Team's oatmeal-         Gundrum replied. It was like       the same thing -- all of
them." His eyes grew wide.
"They wanted better granola
bars and breakfast bars. I
would not have expected
that." He fell silent for a
moment, turning a granola
bar over and around in his
mind,     assembling     and
disassembling it piece by
piece, as if it were a model
airplane. "I thought that
they were pretty good," he
said. "I mean, there are so
many of them out there. But
apparently people want
them better."

© 2005 Malcolm Gladwell