Do you use a checklist? If so, you are utilizing one of the oldest productivity tools in existence. Did you know that there is a National Checklist Day? (October 30th) Checklists are used extensively by Pilots, Doctors and many Property Managers. Even construction crews use checklists for building skyscrapers. A checklist is a simple system for dealing with the limitations of our brains. They are a helpful tool when working as a team. I love checklists and I have used them all of my adult life. I wanted to research this topic further and I found the history interesting and thought I would share what I have learned.
As a property manager I had over 30 checklists, one for every major task – from Application Screening to Move Out Assessment and Security Deposit decisions. As a Real Estate Sales agent, I still utilize checklists for tasks such as putting a new listing on the market and items to verify on a Closing Statement.
In the 1930’s, a devastating crash of the Boeing’s “flying fortress” (B-17) lead to the military implementing detailed lists for all the pre-flight tasks and to ensure flight crews observed equipment settings so they would not overlook anything before, during and after a flight. Thus, the checklist was born! It is thought that the use of checklists in WW II helped pilots avoid hundreds of deadly mistakes when they were exhausted from flying missions. (1)
Checklists are highly effective for complex tasks. Astronauts in the Apollo program were trained on not only using them but also on how to write a checklist. They were so integral to the success of the Apollo moon landing that astronaut Michael Collins coined them “the fourth crew member.”(2)
Surgeons began developing and using checklists because occasionally an error was made that could have been prevented; basic steps were overlooked and some patients were getting infections and even dying. Surgical checklists are now a standard around the world. Doctors found that checklists need to be understood by the teams that are using them so there is a sense of shared purpose. In multiple trials around the world, it was found that when the checklist was not customized for a specific group or culture or there were too many things added by hospital administrators, the checklist would not be effective and the staff would ignore them, causing more errors to occur again. (1)
One of the more unusual examples of a checklist came from the band, Van Halen, who used their concert contract rider as a checklist of sorts. In order to produce their shows and to keep everyone safe, the contract rider outlined technical requirements for the stage and equipment to be provided at the venue. Buried deep in the list of specifications, it stated, “There will be no brown M&M’s in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation.” If the band arrived and saw brown M & M’s backstage, they knew that their contract rider had not been thoroughly read and this would trigger a full systems check in order to avoid a possible life-threatening error. (3)
Have you ever created a “To Do” list? If so, you have used a checklist! It’s simple, highly personalized and effective – don’t you just love crossing things off the list once they are accomplished? I know that I do. Our lives keep getting busier, a checklist can help us to stay focused and prevent errors.
Speaking of Checklists….
It’s Spring – test your smoke detectors and change the 9 Volt battery if you did not do so at the beginning of the year.
Sources:
(1) Hidden Brain podcast “The Trick To Surviving A High-Stakes, High-Pressure Job? Try a Checklist” narrator Shankar Vedantam
(2) Errors in Veterinary Anesthesia Appendix E, John W. Ludders and Matthew McMillan
(3) Snopes.com
