Do software people really find it strange that people want to have all their tools and workspace set up in a particular way in advance and it makes them more efficient?

Really?

I bet most of us here could go on for a while about the customization that we've made and just have to have.

So the precise example is a bit off, pretend it's a steak. Done.

Do you really find it strange that some software people just think of food as calories? As fuel? And that slightly "overcooked" bell peppers just isn't a good reason to optimize for taste, when it is just as reasonable to optimize for time?

I optimize my cooking for time. I'll make a chili. I have a crock pot that can be put directly on the burner. So I can throw in the onions and get them caramelized while I chop the peppers. After them I add the herbs, then meat, then take it off the burner and put it in the crockpot heater, and leave it for the next morning, at which point I have ten days of chili. And it taste real fucking good to me.

My desktop, keybindings, automation, etc, sure: mise-en-place. Because I am a software engineer not a chef.

That's really the point I was failing to make: mise-en-place has its time and its place.

And many people see computers just as the magic internet box.

If all you see the article as is info on cooking, I'm of the opinion that you're missing the point.

The last line of the article points this out - mise-en-place is about optimizing for consistency/efficiency in $THING_YOU_CARE_ABOUT

Sure. Like I worked at a company that spent months on design docs and design reviews. Like that? Everything was nicely set up. It was great. Super effective.

Because software is just about following repeatable recipes to produce identical results, day after day after day?

I agree that having one tools organized is a good idea. I disagree with the rest of it. Specifically I don't think cooking is a useful analogy, because it is the antithesis of software development.