AMA Answer: While the recipe instructions and ingredients are consistent, how is it that the quality outcome of a cake can vary considerably?

Upon my AMA about how baking a cake is the same as developping software moment Simon Tomes asked "While the recipe instructions and ingredients are consistent, how is it that the quality outcome of a cake can vary considerably?".
Many people have probably aske dthemselves this question, from the most experienced to those trying to bake for the first time. The answer is that there is a lot that can change the outcome of your cake.

First of, just because the instructions are the same, doesn't mean that people will interpret them the same or even understand them correctly. If the recipe says to mix shortly, how long is that? Or if the recipe uses specific baking terms a person new to baking doesn't understand? I remember a recipe for sponge cake that said I needed to beat the eggs and sugar until 'writing', that's not a term everyone will know. 
The same happens when you give isntructions to other people in software development. If you don't do proper onboarding or have good documentation, how is everyone supposed to have the same definition of applciation sepcific words and business knowledge? If a test says to do this step a few times and then there is an expected result, how many times is a few how will someone know it doesn't work as expected when the instructions aren't clear?

Second of is the tools. I don't just mean if you have a payed code editor with all the bells and whistles compared to the basic free version (which compares to a hand whisk vs a hand mixer or stand mixer for baking), but that can play a part. It's also the condition of the tools: if you need to whip up egg whites to stiff peaks but the bowl isn't clean, that's not going to happen. You might think "that's not really something that happens with software development, Demi", but you're wrong. If your computer get a virus, if your screen is cracked, if you keyboard is refusing to let you use the letter 'G', if your it department has decided to block the use of certain applications or sites that you need, ... there are many things that can be wrong with your set-up that will affect the outcome.
But even if all that is working and you have the top of the line machine with all the bells and whistles someone could ask for, still doesn't mean you egt a better result if you don't know how to use it. If my stand-mixer has three different types of whisks and attachment to make ice cream, that won't help me if I don't know which kidn of whisk is best used for what or if I don't know how to make ice cream. The same way that having all the plugins won't help you if you don't know how they work or asking the in-built AI coding assistant if you don't know how to make good prompts or review the answers.

Lastly is somethignng you don't always have a lot of say in: environment. If you are trying to make chocolates but it's to warm in your house, that chocolate won't look very good, If you are trying to bake a cake in the kitchen, but other people are also doing something in the kitchen, lots of things can go wrong. While testing or coding and the lightbulb above you keeps flickering, the intenret suddenly goes out or people keep interupting you while you try to focus, ... there are many aspects of your environment that will change the outcome of your work.