The checklist manifesto

I'm not ususally impressed by self-help books of any kind. But I had this recommended to me by several people and so decided to give it a go.

It's a fairly slim volume, and easy to read. In it the author (who is a surgeon in the USA) discusses how the simple use of checklists can vastly improve correctness and compensate for human fallibility. Starting with the example of example of aircraft safety, he then moves on to large scale construction projects and then the majority of the book examines his attempts to introduce the idea of checklists to surgical operating theatres worldwide.

In essence his argument is that in many lines of work, people need to become ever more specialised in very specific areas. However complex tasks require many specialisms, and so teams of people (who may never have met before) often need to be able to understand each other's thought processes and concerns, often at quite short notice for very critical - sometimes literally life-or-death - scenarios. And the use of a humble checklist can make an enormous difference as to their success rates.

The evidence he presents seems compelling and it has certainly made me think about the multitude of tasks I do at work. I'd recommend it to anyone who has to manage their way through complicated systems, especially if it involves working with other people.