Insight: When a Visio File Nearly Took Down a Jet – And How Gut Cunning Saved the Day

Case Study: When a Visio File Nearly Took Down a Jet – And How Gut Cunning Saved the Day

Sometimes the fix is so invisible, it’s hard to believe how close you came to disaster.

It’s Tuesday. I’ve had two clients already engage the Fixer Extreme Test this week. Now I’m back in my hotel room, and I’ve just applied it to myself. That’s when I knew—it’s worth writing an Insight article.

This isn’t textbook thinking. It’s instinct, forced imagination, and cut-to-the-chase metaphor-based articulation of real-world problems and solutions. It’s how I operate.

Earlier today, I was about to tweak my Microsoft Edge settings to make opening a Visio file easier. Nothing major—just a convenience click. But something screamed in my gut: Don’t do it, Jason.

I didn’t know why. I couldn’t explain the technical risk. But I remembered the ice on the speedometer probe that brought down a Russian passenger jet. A tiny oversight. Catastrophic outcome.

So I ran it through the Fixer Extreme Test:
Exaggerate it. Imagine the worst.
What if I needed to open something in Edge four months from now—something critical—and that tweak blocked me? What if I was trying to submit a $75,000 proposal and couldn’t access the portal? What if that one click cost me the job?

I flicked the switch from glass-half-full to glass-empty. And I didn’t touch the setting.

That’s the Fixer mindset. It’s not paranoia. It’s structured foresight. It’s knowing that in high-stakes manufacturing, production, or services like consulting, the jet crash doesn’t come from the obvious. It comes from the tweak you made months ago that seemed harmless at the time.

Fixer Insight:

Gut instinct is a system. The Fixer Extreme Test gives it structure. When the stakes are high, don’t override your internal warning system with technical bravado. Respect the ripple effect. And remember: the crash is never about the tweak—it’s about the timing.