We wanted something different. Not another platform. Not a heavy process. And definitely not a mandate that turned sharing into performance.
The ambition behind Open Kitchen was simple. Make day-to-day work visible in a human way. Let people see how problems are being solved, what teams are learning, and where curiosity might spark new conversations. Do it asynchronously, with minimal friction, and in a way that could scale without becoming noise.
The challenge was turning that intent into a sustainable system. One that balanced cadence with quality, encouraged broad participation, respected confidentiality, and did not depend on constant manual effort.
Open Kitchen was designed as a lightweight, automation-first workflow rather than a new internal product. The guiding principle was to meet people where they already work and remove as many barriers as possible between insight and sharing.
Short-form video became the core medium. Clips are typically 120 to 180 seconds, focused on a single idea, decision, or learning. Recording is deliberately informal, often captured directly from short video calls or cut down from longer sessions like lunch and learn, all hands, or podcasts. The emphasis is on clarity and momentum, not polish.
To support this at scale, we built an end-to-end automation pipeline using n8n. Contributors upload clips via a simple form, where they can name, tag, and add a short caption. Longer recordings are post-processed in Riverside.fm, producing clean, reusable cut-ups without manual editing overhead.
From there, n8n takes over. Videos are archived into a shared library with consistent naming and structure. Posting to Slack is fully automated, with scheduled drops throughout the week to create a predictable rhythm. Older content is rotated out, and new clips are queued intelligently.
One of the more subtle challenges was avoiding bias and fatigue. Left unchecked, automated posting can easily over-index on a single team, role, or talking head. To address this, the workflow includes simple sequencing logic that deliberately varies contributors and departments, ensuring diversity of voice and perspective over time.
The result is a system that feels curated without requiring a full-time editor, and organic without being chaotic.
Open Kitchen is now embedded into the daily rhythm of Dootrix. Videos surface routinely in Slack, creating a steady pulse of insight across engineering, R&D, commercial teams, leadership, and culture.
People can dip in when they have time. They can reply in threads, ask follow-up questions, or simply build context about what others are working on. Importantly, participation is driven by example and good defaults, not quotas or enforcement.
From an operational perspective, the impact has been equally strong. What began as a cultural initiative has become a live demonstration of how thoughtful automation can support human systems rather than replace them. The n8n workflow runs quietly in the background, handling scheduling, curation, archiving, and balance, while teams focus on sharing what matters.
The Open Kitchen model has also started to generate external value. Internal clips are being repurposed into customer-facing content, micro-posts, and learning artefacts, turning everyday work into authentic thought leadership with minimal extra effort.
Most importantly, Open Kitchen has reinforced a core Dootrix belief. Visibility creates learning. Learning creates opportunity. And when the mechanics are right, culture scales naturally.
We built Open Kitchen for ourselves, but it reflects the same approach we take with clients. Start with a clear human problem. Design for low friction. Automate the boring parts. And build systems that can evolve without constant rework.
This case study is not about video tooling. It is about using platforms like n8n to orchestrate real-world workflows that blend people, process, and technology into something sustainable.
Whether it is internal knowledge sharing, customer communications, compliance processes, or AI-enabled operations, the principles are the same. Practical automation beats theoretical transformation every time.
Open Kitchen shows what is possible when you treat automation as an enabler of culture, not just efficiency.