When too many people are involved in managing or directing a project, the result is likely to be poor or confused.
This proverb appeared in English by the 16th century, using the kitchen as a metaphor for any collaborative effort. The image of multiple cooks interfering with each other while preparing soup creates a vivid picture of how excessive input can ruin a project.
This saying perfectly captures what management theorists now call 'coordination problems' - the mathematical reality that communication complexity increases exponentially with each additional person involved. A kitchen with one cook has zero coordination challenges, but add more cooks and you quickly get chaos, which is why professional kitchens have strict hierarchies.
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