How I learnt the power of checklists – By John Kay

Found via Abnormal Returns.

Mr Gawande discovered that the good checklist is short but not too short. If the list is long, none of the items on it are taken very seriously. You can easily persuade people to agree to things when you ask them to mechanically click or tick their way through a list of questions. Consider the lack of attention you give to the many privacy questions asked by websitesor questions on an immigration form. It turns out you can easily persuade people to declare their involvement in genocide or intention to subvert the constitution of the US by inserting the relevant question in a long list of immigration queries, all of which expect the answer yes.

So the good checklist is selective – it doesn’t cover mistakes that are rarely made; no one goes on holiday without their suitcase. Or mistakes that don’t matter – toothpaste is available almost everywhere.

Flying – and surgery – lend themselves to checklists because there is a large element of routine, and because the consequences of an elementary error can be devastating. The first factor makes it possible to compile a useful list, the second encourages people to use it.

But Mr Gawande’s most important discovery was that the power of the checklist came from a less obvious source. The list empowers members of a team to monitor each other. Adherence to the list allows the nurse to correct the surgeon, the co-pilot to review the captain.

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Related book: The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

Related previous posts:

THE CHECKLIST - by Atul Gawande

‘Airline pilot’ protocols in finance - By Atul Gawande