A Simple Tool: Extraordinary Difference
If you consider the negative impact of mistakes, you will quickly see how a small investment in making and using checklists will save you time, money, and reputation...
“Embracing Failure,” “Learning from our Failures,” “Fail Fast, Fail Cheap”—these, and others, are pieces of read lately, all of which make the point that failure is a good thing from which we grow and learn. We are often encouraged to fail more, not less, and in turn, are called to extract great wisdom and insight from these failures making us better at what we do. More is better. Right? Well, yes, but . . . that’s only half the picture.
In his book The Checklist Manifesto—How to Get Things Right, Atul Gawande, a surgeon, states that we have only two reasons that we may fail: ignorance and ineptitude. Ignorance says that we didn’t have the knowledge or skill available. Ineptitude says we didn’t apply the knowledge and skill we had correctly. So for those on a learning curve or those working in research and development, where knowledge and skill have yet to be gained, failure can be a great teacher provided those failures are low enough risk. But for those who are trained and competent in a specific area, like surgery or flying, then failure in those activities is unacceptable. It will not be embraced. It will not be a good thing. And this mind-set is not just with high risk tasks like surgery and flying, where peoples’ lives are at stake, but also with our tasks as designers and engineers, where failure to execute on our expertise may ruin reputations or create unnecessary expenses and time delays. Failure, in these cases, is avoidable, yet, we continue to make mistakes. Even our gurus, master craftsmen and specialists are subject to them. The difficulty is that the complexity of a task can grow beyond a person’s ability to remember all the detail and to remember them at the right time. Gawande writes,
“Avoidable Failures are common and persistent, not to mention demoralizing and frustrating, across many fields—from medicine to finance, business to government. And the reason is increasingly evident: the volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely, or reliably. Knowledge has both saved us and burdened us.”
Relying on our ability to remember is a bad strategy. Enter . . . the Checklist.
In all my years in product development—spanning from the design studio to the manufacturing floor and everything in between—I have found no better tool to assure accuracy and diligence than the ordinary checklist. Checklists provide the chance to remember everything and get it right. They can bring a culture of discipline and excellence to your group: a higher standard. They are essentially bulletproof when used.
Even when tasks are few and easy, a step will be forgotten. Gawande writes of five simple and routine steps that all doctors need to do to prevent infection when putting in a central line. These steps range from hand washing with soap to putting a sterile dressing over the insertion site once the line is in. When this simple five-step checklist was put in place at one hospital, the 10-day line-infection rate went from 11% to zero. Over a 15-month period, they estimated they’d prevented 43 infections and 8 deaths while saving $2-million dollars in cost. All from a checklist.
So why are checklists not used more if they can be so effective? Two reasons top the list: effort and pride.
Checklists require extra effort. They require time to create and time to use. I am a culprit myself. One time my wife asked me to pick up four basic items from the grocery store. Of course I didn’t write them down because, come on, it is only four things and, for cryin’ out loud, I would have to find a pen and slip of paper! At the store, I thought I would surprise my wife and pick up a few extra treats. When I got home and proudly showed her I went above and beyond, she looked over the contents and asked, “Where are the eggs?” I was back in the car 30 seconds later. Even when a list is available, we will take short cuts to save time by skipping steps we assume will not apply. You know the ending to that story too. There’s much truth to the cliché, “If you have time to do it a second time later, you have time to do it right the first time now.” Using checklists are an investment in the avoidance of grief later on. In our professional lives, the cost of that grief is often much bigger than we think and the impact much more than just financial.
Checklists are also humbling. One big reason people don’t use checklists when presented with the opportunity is pride. “Checklists are fine for others but I don’t need them. I’m an expert. I can remember.” It is like the rock climber who scales the face of a cliff without ropes or belay. He is seen as skilled, courageous and daring when he makes it. But that is not what your manager or customer will think of you when you try to explain why the wrong revision level of data was used to cut the tool or a standard clearance requirement was overlooked in the studio causing a human factors issue once first parts were made. You won’t look like an expert then.
Here are a few tips that will help:
• Determine the activities in which you need to reduce or eliminate errors and implement a checklist for them
• Keep your checklist focused by making it a single document that includes only the minimum necessary steps in a process
• Keep your checklist updated with new information you gain after each use
• Take notes during meetings and create actionable checklists following them
If you consider the negative impact of mistakes, you will quickly see how a small investment in making and using checklists will save you time, money, and reputation. It is a great investment to make!
