Stuart’s mean beef stew

26Aug08

One of the little wrinkles in project planning is the difference between the duration of a task, and the effort required.

Stuart’s mean beef stew is a great illustration.

To make it you take a small pile of stewing steak, chop it up and shove it in a casserole with some beer. Leave it to cook for a few hours, then chop some onions, add tomato puree and bits and bobs, stir it into the mixture, and Bob’s your auntie. It’s stunningly tasty, and dead easy to make, and it doesn’t matter much if you vary the ingredients a bit.

The duration of the task is about 4 hours, because you can use cheap cuts of beef which take ages to cook. The effort is about 30 minutes, because for most of the time you are in the garden with a beer waiting for the beef to cook.

When you’re thinking about your project and worrying about effort & duration, just remember the beef stew, and all will be well.

And if you want to try it, you can find the whole recipe right here – Stuart’s mean beef stew.

Enjoy!

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