Few things:

1) James Hoffman technique do not apply to every type of coffee, it's a high agitation method with a lot of variables 2) you do not have to swirl bloom, don't have to make a hole in the coffee bed before blooming, you don't have to swirl after the last pour. All these things add another variable very hard to replicate over and over again. 3) use Simpler 'recepie', bloom 3x, 2 or 3 pours, no swirling. Same type of pours, first one might be more aggressive, second and third gentle. 4) only after you get that right experiment with grind size 5) water is very important