The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
Ratings68
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings68
Average rating3.9
Today we find ourselves in possession of stupendous know-how, which we willingly place in the hands of the most highly skilled people. But avoidable failures are common, and the reason is simple: the volume and complexity of our knowledge has exceeded our ability to consistently deliver it - correctly, safely or efficiently. In this groundbreaking book, Atul Gawande makes a compelling argument for the checklist, which he believes to be the most promising method available in surmounting failure. Whether you're following a recipe, investing millions of dollars in a company or building a skyscraper, the checklist is an essential tool in virtually every area of our lives, and Gawande explains how breaking down complex, high pressure tasks into small steps can radically improve everything from airline safety to heart surgery survival rates. Fascinating and enlightening, The Checklist Manifesto shows how the simplest of ideas could transform how we operate in almost any field.
Reviews with the most likes.
If, God forbid, you or a loved one ever need surgery, and you have an opportunity to ask questions before the operation, ask the surgeon whether he or she uses the WHO Safe Surgery Checklist. If you don't think this sounds like a big deal one way or the other, please read this book.
My former law firm's IP department used a variety of checklists to great effect. If you're not using checklists in your job, consider reading this book to understand how nearly every industry and profession can benefit.
Quick read on the benefits of checklists
This is a good read which correlated to other topics such as the Power of Habit and Getting Things Done in its philosophy of keystone habits and making lists to keep reminders of what needs to be done. It also adds some design tips taken from the aviation community in making better checklists.
Fantastic real world account of how checklists have directly saved lives. Saved a lot of notes.
Made me rethink how I conduct my own work in order to codify it. Aviation has used it since the 1930's with far lower incident rates than software (that I work in), so why not use a checklist?
Dr. Gawande's reputation proceeded him, meaning that much of the medical community had already read the NEJM article on the same topic, considered how it applied to subfields of medicine, personal practices, etc. and the reforms espoused had largely been adopted, at least by the American medical community by the time of publication.
Nonetheless, Dr. Gawande's journey to discover why checklists matter, the subtle ways in which they matter and the fields that have instituted them was an interesting, if slightly shallow read.
