Life Is a Box of Checklists
May 28, 09:39 AM
I realized that there was a great sense of purpose and accomplishment in beginning the day with a checklist and going to bed at night with check marks for most, if not all, items on the day’s checklist.
Even the most disciplined of people will fail to accomplish everything they put on their checklist. Unexpected events occur, and they must be dealt with.
And you can bet that in the most regulated of industries, such as life sciences or where people’s lives are at stake, there is a checklist for that too. A set of policies and procedures is nothing more than an elaborate set of documents that list rules, exceptions, and steps that must be followed – for expected and unexpected events.
This writing is inspired by yet another viewing of the movie Apollo 13. Things went horribly wrong. But multiple checklists, carefully created and refined over many, many reviews and rehearsals, ultimately brought the astronauts home. Those checklists weren’t there just for emergencies, but to ensure consistency between the ideal, the practice, and the real thing. And be a safety net in high stress situations.
You’d think that after a while you wouldn’t need checklists for routine procedures that you perform everyday, right? (Read this: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all and tell me if it doesn’t change your thinking about checklists)
Checklists and procedures are there to ensure consistency in operations and to eliminate even the “possibility” of human error especially in highly repetitive procedures.
No matter what your industry, you too can ensure consistency and reliability in your operations and delivery of your products and services with a robust system for policies and procedures. With a few checklists to boot.
Add that to your checklist.
As for me, I’ve just checked off one more item on mine!