Yes. Foolishly most of the less expensive dishwashers don’t heat the water themselves, and the first cycle is more effective if it doesn’t have a period of using cool water from the pipes until the hot water arrives.

I was skeptical at first too but it truly works.

But it may be worth clarifying to your partner that once the water is coming out of the tap hot, the water in the hot pipes is already hot, so turning the tap to cool at that point no longer negatively impacts the dishwasher.

The important part is getting the cool water in the hot water pipes that has been sitting there flushed out before starting the dishwasher. If that’s already achieved, then what you do with the tap doesn’t matter anymore