Where to Cut
Sometimes a problem has several parts, but only one part of the sequence is actually failing.
That is where a stage cut helps.
Ask:
What happens first?
What happens next?
Where does the result start going wrong?
Instead of judging the entire process at once, separate it into stages.
Example: Dating
“I can’t date successfully.”
That could mean very different things depending on where the process breaks:
meeting people;
getting matches;
starting conversations;
getting first dates;
getting second dates;
building attraction;
choosing compatible people;
maintaining a relationship.
If you get plenty of first dates but almost never get a second one, “dating” is not failing everywhere.
Something is happening at a particular stage.
That gives you somewhere much more useful to look.
Example: Work
“The project keeps failing.”
Break the process into stages:
requirements;
planning;
execution;
review;
delivery;
follow-up.
Maybe execution is fine.
Maybe the real problem begins when requirements keep changing after the work has already started.
If you fix the wrong stage, you can work much harder without improving the result.
Example: The Dishwasher
“The dishwasher doesn’t clean anything.”
Maybe the machine:
fills correctly;
heats correctly;
sprays correctly;
drains correctly;
but the dishes are still dirty because the filter is clogged.
The dishwasher is not one event.
It is a sequence.
Find the stage where reality starts diverging from what you expected.
When to Try This Cut
Use a stage cut when:
a process has several steps;
the same outcome keeps recurring;
you know something is wrong but not where;
you keep trying to repair the whole system at once.
Ask:
Where does the process stop working the way I want it to?
You may discover that most of the machine is fine.
One stage is just ruining everybody’s day.
FOLLOW THE WIRES