If I'm going to do some serious cleaning, I might get it in my head to do a checklist first so that I don't waste any time. The problem I have with checklists is that I'm really awesome at using them to replace ACTUALLY DOING THE THING for which the checklist was created. Going without a checklist, I've shown up at destinations missing everything from toothbrushes (replaceable), to any sort of reasonable footwear (more a problem), to swim trunks (which is actually on purpose because swimming is for suckers). In my personal life, the closest thing I have to flying a bomber is passengering on a commercial flight. Basically, the new planes were complicated enough that they kept crashing until a pre-flight checklist was instituted, and then everything was rad. The best example related to flying bombers in the 30's. Rather than count on simplification or drilling in knowledge, a checklist can be a really great solution. AND processes have become not only long, but very complex in some cases. Humans are to the point where we've uncovered so much knowledge that human minds can't hold all of it. I just.I feel like I got the idea pretty early on. It's not like there was anything terribly wrong with the book or anything. Or, alternatively, you can look at it and say, 'Man, fuck this book.' Well, at some point you have to look at them and say, 'I may not be finishing that one.' We all have those books that sit on a nightstand, half-finished for weeks, right? Months? Maybe a year? And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.Īn intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety-second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.

Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mind-boggling sophistication. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies-neither seems to prevent grievous errors. We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. The New York Times bestselling author of Better and Complications reveals the surprising power of the ordinary checklist

Checklist for my family book