The Checklist Manifesto : How to Get Things Right

Actionable tips from Atul Gawande's NYT best seller.

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande is an easy-to-read, engaging book that provides a simple solution to the complicated modern life — A checklist.

Picture Credit: iheartmixtapes’s Flickr

One Sentence Summary

The systematic approach of creating and maintaining a functional checklist to complete a task will reduce errors and increase the chances of achieving the best outcome, whether in flying planes, cooking, constructing giant structures or performing surgery.

Why checklists are important?

1. Checklists significantly reduce the potential cost of human mistakes.
2. The act of creating a checklist forces the mind to think of all the parts involved in completing a task.
3. Checklists allow one to create ritual that eliminates the thinking about routine tasks — so that greater focus can be given to the non-routine stuff.
4. Creating checking mechanisms requires making tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge which can be…