The Checklist Manifesto

The Checklist Manifesto explains why checklists can save lives and teaches you how to implement them correctly.

If you were receiving treatment for a heart attack in the 1950s, you may have only had to take meds and be on bed rest. But today there are multiple ways of treating a heart attack and we can even prevent them, too. While we are saving lives, this advancement comes with a cost. The added complexity makes it more difficult for professionals of any kind to make the right decisions consistently

I began my career as a Civil Engineer. In this field, there are numerous code requirements to remember. For the work I do, as many as six different codes, with hundreds of pages each may apply on just one job. I found that with so much to remember, it was difficult to catch each thing that I needed to do on each job. This problem isn’t one that only Civil Engineers have. Multiple fields of work have a hard time remembering, organizing, and applying the correct know-how in the correct way.

The solution to all of these problems is to use a checklist. Though simple, checklists are powerful tools to list all the steps necessary to complete a procedure. They contain the most commonly skipped requirements for accomplishing a complex task. In this way, checklists act as a safety net to make sure we don’t miss what seems obvious.

I love writing spreadsheets. Financial-planning, goal-setting, habit-tracking, and numerous other kinds of in-depth spreadsheets litter my Google Drive right now. If it were up to me to write a checklist for everything I do, I would likely make it too complex. But the power of checklists comes in their being concise, focused only on what’s essential.

When creating a checklist, your goal is not to write an in-depth guide. Rather, focus on the vital few things that you or your team must complete to do the procedure correctly. Think of the items that you may have commonly missed in the past and be sure to include them. You only need five to nine items on a checklist for it to be effective. Most people easily become distracted after about a minute of reading a list, so keeping it short will help you stay focused.

Also make sure that the application of your checklist is clear to those who will be using it. There are two kinds of checklists: 

“READ-DO” checklists are the kind where you read the step first then complete it. “DO-CONFIRM” checklists are used by finishing each step then confirming it’s done.

Knowing which type you’re using is vital to the successful application of checklists.