Failed Flatties: The importance of following directions

So today I learned a good lesson. I would see myself as a decent cook, able to follow most any recipe and come out with good-great results. I am, however, lacking in the baking area. For me, there is much to learn still. Today I made biscuits to go along with dinner as well as to have for home made biscuits and gravy in the morning. I used a very tasty recipe courtesy of foodnetwork.com and The Neely's. The recipe says to make the biscuits 1" (one inch) thick. No idea how thick I actually made them, but definitely not 1"...and I thought they would rise. Well, they rose a little, but not to an inch thickness. Anyway - to all you out there learning to cook, follow the directions (especially when baking...)to a T!