My Weber barbecue didn’t work. It was on high, the gas was swelling, but didn’t get above the test level of 75 degrees.
Why?
That was the issue.
The circumstances mattered—at least to our guests. We had a whole group of people we didn’t know all that well at the house and I had a bunch of orange ruffy about to go on the flame…expecting it to cook. Somehow, nothing was happening.
What to do, besides calling out for pizza?
Something was wrong and I wasn’t sure what it was. You have to find out because you have a result to achieve. So, what do you do?
Step 1. Go through the alternatives.
The gas on? Yes. How do I know that? Easy. The flame is burning.
Okay, the gas in on.
The gas on full boar? I think so! The knob doesn’t move any farther to the left. So that’s not the issue.
If the gas is on and the gas is on full boar, then why isn’t it heating?
I didn’t know. I truly didn’t. But it obviously wasn’t heating. Could it be that it’s wet? Or greasy? Or something? Yes, of course. But that’s the whole point—what is it?
That’s business diagnostics.
If a business doesn’t work, there has to be a reason. It’s not like its not working because of no cause. There is something that is creating a scenario in which it is not working. Our job is to find out what that is. Our job is not to simply quit.
Have you ever tried to cook orange ruffy on a grill? If you have, and it’s not working you figure out how to make it work. You don’t personalize it. You don’t kill the messenger or slaughter the orange ruffy. You simply figure out how to make it work.
It’s no different in business.
The process is the same.
Step 1. Establish what you objective is. In the case of the orange ruffy, it was a fire breathing barbecue heating to 375.
Step 2. Identify whether the objective is being achieved. If not…go through the alternatives as to why it is not achieving the objective the alternatives as to why it is not achieving the objective. Sometimes it’s meticulous. Often times it’s pedantic. But there should be no other option but to go through those alternatives one at a time in descending order or priority. The most obvious first. The second most obvious second. And so forth and so on.
Step 3. When you find the right one, fix the problem and move on.
Business diagnostics. What was your objective? Did you achieve the objective? Why not—go through the alternatives. It’s diagnostics at different levels each time.
By the way, I don’t know a lot about barbeques, but when it came down to it, it was the flame pocket. It was wet. Just in the knick of time, said our guests.
De-personalize the process and objectify the steps.
Original writing date: May 1999