Head of Cakes

 

Greg looked at his desk. Head of Classical Cakes. Not CEO, not President, not Founder, but the current leader at any rate. Not that it had the same meaning in the Post-Event world, but it was something significant and fairly influential.

Corporations didn’t quite exist the same way as they once did, but things still needed organizing, groups of people needed a final person to make a decision and a representative who could speak with some authority. This 5 year cycle, it was finally Greg’s turn.

Not that there was strictly a competition, but neither was it a straightforward rotation. It simply ended up being the best fit of the moment. That was based on a few factors, how much time you wanted dedicate to the job, how familiar you were with the subject and if you had done enough other jobs since you last managed something. The exact how was a bit of a mystery and varied from group to group. There were a lot of votes, but it wasn’t clear how much each one was weighted.

As with anything, there were some tradeoffs. It wasn’t the type of job you could just clock out and forget. Not that people worked for a living, but they still kept track of time. There was a certain expectation of work done per week, just to keep everything running. Some people preferred jobs that ended cleanly when you stepped away, but others like to solve problems in their spare time.

Greg was very clearly part of the latter group. Even when doing more menial jobs he spent a good amount of his free time trying to find ways to optimize his job and make things better for people in his orbit.

A few friends had mentioned it would be worth it to look into the Head positions at various organizations. Initially he didn’t like the idea much, thinking it was top-down and uninvolved as Pre-Event CEOs. The previous Head of Classical Cakes, Roger, hadn’t been as visible to Greg, but only because he worked nearly at opposite times. Greg thought back to how their path’s had crossed.

A month ago Greg’s friends had let Classical Cakes know about his interest with the group’s problems. So far he had been using their website’s forum to detail most of his plans and solutions. While many posted under their real names, some people wanted a division between online and offline. Greg was one of them, using a different name at each of the forums.

The group finally had their answer, but it became a question of how to broach the subject. In the end it was rather simple. The old Head of Cakes changed his preferred working hours, and soon fell into Greg’s work group. Greg was surprised but not intimidated, he began sharing some of his ideas to Roger once he got more familiar with him. The two hit it off quite well, with both men realizing there was quite a lot of overlap between their goals.

“Greg, I think you’d do great as the Head of Classical Cakes. I hope you’ve realized it’s not the position it was pre-Event. You have a lot of great ideas, and the drive to see them through. It’s only year 4 for me, but I’d step down early if you think you’re up for it. I can’t guarantee you’d be the pick. By now your TopicCred is just as high as mine, if not higher.”

“TopicCred?” was all Greg could think to ask. It was a bit much to think about all at once.

“That’s just the informal name for it. It’s a weighting of how helpful your suggestions have been, how knowledgeable on the subject you seem to be and how available you are to talk to people.”

“But how did mine get so high?” Greg finally asked.

“Oh, it’s not tied to you – it’s your username here “CakeThoughts”. Your own vote as that user would likely go a long way. You wouldn’t have to be named, or even be public with your vote. Some people figured it was me, since it posted while I would normally be working. I did go through with a lot of the suggestions, but I didn’t fully understand all of them. There were a few things that stood out as being a bit different to how other Heads run things, so I knew it wasn’t from the usual group. Classical Cakes have been trying to track down who to thank, but we respect the privacy of our anonymous forum users as an unbreakable rule. We have been monitoring your posts quite closely, wondering if you would step forward at some point. When you didn’t we didn’t want pressure you, or try too hard to find you, but we looked for the username in other places. We couldn’t find it, so that pretty much dried up our options till your friends mentioned you.”

‘So much for no overlap’ thought Greg. Still as much as he didn’t like being in the limelight for suggestions, he was a bit happy they finally put everything together.

As expected, Rodger stepped down, and the vote on the forums and within the company happened shortly after. Greg, or rather ‘CakeThoughts’ was the community pick and that ended up being more important. Internally, everyone who wanted the job had either done it too recently to be nominated again or lacked any new ideas. The organization could have picked someone suitable for staying the course, but training new people was vital too. Greg was quickly ushered into his new job.

Being on the inside of the production meant he could see where some of his other ideas were less feasible than he initially thought. Piles of reports and graphs told a wide ranging layout of what was happening with Classical Cakes and in the outside world. It was an overwhelming amount of data to go over, but Greg quickly found his own way to manage and digest the important bits.

In this new world, products weren’t bought and sold, but they still needed to be produced. Efficiency and benefit were important, if not as quantifiable as they used to be. There were competing products in the general heading of desserts, though overall variety was a goal – nobody would be working toward a monopoly.

Right now, the main issue on the table was how much of the cakes to make ready, and how much to leave as dry mixes for the end user to make. There was some play on what was suitable for each area and Greg was quick to find regional trends that jumped out in seasonal slices. Not that shifts in consumption were invisible to other company heads, but few had split the data into the true regional outlines. It seemed that some groups avoided foods when certain other harvests were in season.

Greg asked for the data on primary crops for each area and to ignore the cultural indicators entirely. He then had them borrow the data for other food choices in the area at certain times. Everyone kept data in the OpenWeb, but it was a good habit to leave a record of who was accessing what, so analysis duplication would be minimized. A particular insight in one area might be handy to others, so appended logs were always an interesting read.

As expected, a shift in other foods was obvious, and showed higher caloric intake for periods of strenuous activity. Unfortunately the previous groups of Classical Cakes decision makers had read the lack of demand the wrong way. They had reduced the overall shipments rather than correctly interpret the need. As well, they had put lighter mixes in assuming people were avoiding desserts, when they were actually avoiding quick sugars when they needed more nourishment.

A small test in one of the special harvest weeks showed that Greg’s estimate was indeed accurate. Up till then people had simply hoarded the dry mixes they wanted, saving them for the right time. Nobody had complained, assuming that the shortage was for reasons beyond a misinterpreted supply/demand forecast. One that had grown worse as the correction – more dry packets sooner, and less pre-made ones later – became it’s own feedback loop.

It was a few problems like that which Greg had tackled during his first few months. Just diving into the numbers and seeing what kind of tale they were trying to tell. Without the burden of being too close to the industry beforehand, he could look at things with fresh eyes.

Another thing which Greg had focused on was how the mixes were packaged. Up till now they had combined all the dry ingredients together. As Classical Cakes grew, it began serving more markets. That seemed to be hitting a wall though. Not from people wanting to stop a monopoly, but that the mixes weren’t doing as well in some markets.

He put a call out on the forums to see what the issue was. He got the results for poorer cakes tied to various factors. Water, eggs, appliances, humidity, preparation quirks. It seemed that some people were having more success than others, but the answer wasn’t obvious. He then plotted the worst of the results against an altitude map and saw the problem. Over the years, people had drifted away from locations where they grew up, and wanted to keep the mixes from where they were formerly.

The problem with that was that each area needed a different amount of baking time and leavening agents. By keeping the ingredients separate, standardized to be too much, and making the instructions location based they could make things more successful more often.

That meant that people had to measure things themselves, more like traditional baking, and had extra to add to household stores. It made it more fun for children and the extra ingredients could save trips for individual items.

Then branching off that way, Greg realized the whole industry could be turned on its head. They could standardize ingredient packs for different general uses, and streamline the gathering of supplies. People could grab packs that had the ratio of ingredients that made sense for them, and trade small overages and deficiencies among themselves.

Everyone shared food freely anyway, so organizing it per household was just a relic of the Pre-Event days. Generic packs could simplify most of the food distribution and free time up for more interesting jobs. It was a bold plan, but one that could solve a lot of issues with doubling up of efforts.

It was discussed among the various Heads and the governing council. A short trial with just dessert packs in a small region would be the test. Since it was an idea from Classical Cakes, and they already required a wide assortment of ingredients, they would produce the needed packages.

Soon, packages for breads, cakes, and fruit desserts were ready. All of them were enough for about a weeks worth of food for a four person family in that particular niche. Almost at once, various individual suppliers for flour, baking soda and the like saw a more predictable demand for their goods. People wouldn’t have to grab too large packets of salt and other dry ingredients to sit on shelves both in the food distribution centres and on their own. The micro-packets that it all came in were sized well for individual recipes and trading in smaller groups.

Levels for various foodstuffs were kept to as-needed amounts, making things fresher by moving through the system faster. The idea was expanded to other food courses and a widening regional testing.

As people grew used to the idea, food distribution was simplified as intended. Small pantries sprung up to manage the inventory of several nearby houses and less people did the gathering. Excess and shortage were easily balanced out in individual neighbourhoods by couriers who had groups of six to twelve pantries to manage.

Stores that used to house excess goods were scaled back as they system became sustainable on it’s own. Large dropoffs to central hubs could be tailored to match the seasons and varying demands.

Greg had since grown onto computerizing the whole system, making automatic scans happen as goods were moved and used. Classical Cakes had since been retooled to a full time Package Assembly location and he had graduated to more challenges.