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The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

by Atul Gawande

Checklists are not a new concept; they have been around for decades since pilots first started using them to ensure they followed all the necessary steps during take-off and landing. Since then, checklists have made their way into most fields - construction, medicine, the culinary arts, investment banking etc. They are the most useful way to ensure that you have taken all the necessary steps to complete a project successfully, and they take the pressure off trying to remember every little detail.

Filled with personal anecdotes and historical reviews of how checklists are a useful tool for just about anyone, The Checklist Manifesto provides a guide on how to construct a checklist to use for your tasks and projects. We have compiled all the advice from this book into a series of habits that can be easily used to create your own checklist system to help you complete projects with ease.

Summary Notes

The Checklist

“Checklists established a higher standard of baseline performance.”

Even when we are working on tasks we have done a hundred times before, our memory is not infallible - there is a chance a few key steps may slip our mind. Creating a checklist and using it to ensure you completed your task/project properly will ensure you do not miss out any important steps.

Actions to take

Create checklists for all your important tasks/projects.

Organization

The Save

“They believed in the wisdom of the group, the wisdom of making sure that multiple pairs of eyes were on a problem and then letting the watchers decide what to do.”

As projects grow more complex, there is more room for things to go wrong. Sometimes, having a normal checklist will not be enough, however, a communication checklist that ensures each member of the team is communicating their expertise with the other members will help avert most problems.

Remember, good communication between everyone working on a project is extremely important for the project to succeed.