Order of solving printing issues 3D Printers (those who print, not the machine, dummy)!

I haven't been printing in a while, so when I returned to my Monoprice Select Mini VII, of course it had been sprung out of whack. Some of my first prints would not even come out of the extruder until I realized I had some pretty bad (and worse, unnoticed!) heat creep going on. After fixing that issue, it became apparent that many more persisted.

My question for you all is this: In general, what problems should be addressed first when looking at a complete disaster of a print?

I'm not going to specify any singular problem, but I am interested in seeing the "order of operations" for general problem solving when multiple issues exist. For example, "Fix bed height before anything else; this is a common problem that produces multiple others." Hopefully, this can help others with multiple printing issues, too.
for sure the answer could be dissertation or even a book because there is no simple way to address "all" issues - it's just to wide area

but as the simple troubleshooting i would list it this way


is your printer alive so is it


working at all (check power, cables)
communicate with the world (check app, drivers, cables)
moving HE and heating HB (check jams, end-points, belts, screws)
is it extruding (check heating, temperature, HE jams, filament path)



if all above is "yes" then


is your printer making printouts and are those printouts


starts and continues (check heating HB, HB adhesion, leveling, cooling)
finished at all (check all above again, stepsticks temerature)
keeping the shape (check screws and nuts, couplings, stiffness, stability, temperatures)



if all above is "yes" then in general you are half way ;)


common issues - printout is


bent or skewed (check geometry, stiffnes, leveling, belts, vibrations, stepsticks temerature)
wrapped or overextruded (check temperature, extruding, printout angles)
underextruded (check filament flow, filament path, stepsticks temerature)
stringy (check temperatures, app settings)



that is the main path i think. all above is more or less applicable to all DIY printers and all prusa clones and all clones of clones ;)

it can go wrong and fork in all possible moments as there is so many aspects to screw...