In my reading not long ago I found a pointer to a short piece by Sean Silverthorne – “The Power of the Humble Checklist“. As the author points out, and as I will confirm, having a standard checklist for complex, but nevertheless, routine tasks – e.g., the pilot’s pre-flight checklist or the hospital’s safe-surgery checklist – is lifesaving and invaluable.
I’ve also found that having a carefully developed checklist for my important, even one-of, activities can prevent embarrassing moments as well as wasting time for me and others. For me, this will often take the form of a detailed list of actions that I must take to reach a particular goal.
For another take on this subject see Dan and Chip Heath’s “Heroic Checklist”.
I think you’ll find these two pieces to be an interesting read and even, perhaps, you’ll find a new practice (or two or three . . . ) you want to develop.
Have a great week. . . . . jim
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