Checklist Manifesto

It's been a very busy year since my last post here, and I'm glad to be in a position to start blogging again. I'm focusing on professional and self-development books and resources here. One of the ways that I stay sane during my 2+ hour commute is to listen to audiobooks. I also have a deep and loving relationship with Amazon.com. As a result, I have a backlog of good, recommended books that I've consumed over the last year, and over time I plan to go back and address a number of them.



I'm currently nearing the end of The Checklist Manifesto. Although it focuses on the medical community, there are lessons to be learned simply about how people process information, remember steps of complicated procedures, and can be gently and effectively encouraged to remember the important things with measurable positive outcomes. Gawande brings in industries other than the medical/surgical environment including airline and construction, demonstrating the same levels of successful improvement of outcomes based on having a simple checklist reminder to focus on what's important moreso than on what's loudest or comes to mind first, at crucial stages in the performance of a process.

I read this book with an eye toward how to simplify core procedures in a corporate environment, in part to achieve higher levels of process compliance (after all, I do perform internal audits), and in part to define and measure positive work outcomes. In the medical context of the book, I'd be asking not only how do we ensure that certain steps to prepare for surgery are performed consistently, but how do we measure that the outcome of surgery is improved by performing those steps. In my context, how can we ensure that we achieve process compliance, and also how do we correlate process compliance with improved project outcomes -- customer satisfaction, on-time delivery of work products, reduction in defects identified in testing, etc.

The lesson is apparently universal. People respond well to simple lists of reminders that are clear and well thought out. If the items on the checklist are well-selected, the simple act of focusing ones mind on them at critical moments can have a profound positive impact on both compliance and outcomes.

Conclusion: Recommended reading for medical and other industry process improvement.