Samuel Seibert

Book Recommendation:

“The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.” by Atul Gawande

 

Meta

• Who would benefit from reading this book?

  If you want to improve the stability of a process you manage.

 

• What could you get out of this book?

  Understanding of how a checklist is different from a “to do” list.

  How to build a checklist for yourself, and gain adoption in an organization.

• How long to read?

  Reading took about a week and 1/2. It was enjoyable to digest the stories over the course of several days.

 

• Pages & Highlights: 225 pages,  28 sections worth highlighting

 

• Structure: The first part visits application of the checklist in the medical field, Gawanda goes on to show how checklists are used in massive construction projects and by pilot. He brings in some interesting research sources about investors using checklists and then brings the book back around to talk more about the hard work of getting organizations to adhere to checklist use.

 

• Thesis: Don’t underestimate the benefits of a checklist.

 

Top Three Quotations

 

1.) “…under conditions of complexity, not only are checklists a help, they are required for success. There must always be room for judgment, but judgment aided—and even enhanced—by procedure.” loc 997

 

I’ve been resistant to checklists in the past. I thought they would just take more time I didn’t have. But now the statement, “required for success” resonated with me because now I can how the importance of work I do needs to be completely error free and what I truly do not have time for is going back over my work to repair mistakes. It also makes me wonder what the checklist could be for a helpful book recommendation or an insightful analysis.

 

 

2.) “To some extent, we had covered this territory in drafting our surgery checklist. No question, it needed some trimming, and many items on the list could be sharper and less confusing. I figured we could fix it easily. But Boorman was adamant about one further point: no matter how careful we might be, no matter how much thought we might put in, a checklist has to be tested in the real world, which is inevitably more complicated than expected. First drafts always fall apart, he said, and one needs to study how, make changes, and keep testing until the checklist works consistently.” loc 1,560

 

Very encouraging to me as I’ve started to apply checklist processes in work. Knowing when it is all falling apart, and the ground starts shaking, it does not mean it is not working. It’s part of grappling with the complexity of moving from theory to application.

 

 

3.) “The fear people have about the idea of adherence to protocol is rigidity. They imagine mindless automatons, heads down in a checklist, incapable of looking out their windshield and coping with the real world in front of them. But what you find, when a checklist is well made, is exactly the opposite. The checklist gets the dumb stuff out of the way, the routines your brain shouldn’t have to occupy itself with (Are the elevator controls set? Did the patient get her antibiotics on time? Did the managers sell all their shares? Is everyone on the same page here?), and lets it rise above to focus on the hard stuff (Where should we land?).” loc 2,235

 

One of my favorite points of the book. It provides great points for how checklists, rather than draining the humanity out of process, helps to sap the drudgery out of a process and automate it. This leaves more space for creativity and improve. Just like having methodical way for cleaning and stocking a kitchen leaves more mental space for experimenting with new dishes.

 

 

Challenge

What is one process in your personal or professional life that would benefit from a checklist?

Post it in the comments, and we can talk about. I’d love to have a conversation about how we can use checklists to get more done.

 

-SRS
 
 
Disclaimer:
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If you click through the Amazon links and buy the book,

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please purchase it through one of the links here.

Thanks ^_^