Checklists and complexity - IT tech guy Tom Graves on Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto ,
There has been some discussion here about the use and value of checklist. I thought this article was interesting. At least there were some interesting nuggets here and there. Not sure how the whole post hangs together.
Anyway this is what caught my eye, I’m a sucker for this type of graphic.
From the post:
The classic procedure-manuals and 200-page ‘best-practice guidelines’ are of little use there – or rather, they don’t get used, because there’s no time to use them. Yet we still need something to provide some kind of guidance there – otherwise we risk collapsing into the wrong kind of chaos. This is where checklists come into their own:
In effect, checklists help to pull us back over to the left-side of the SCAN frame, providing a kind of anchor in the midst of uncertainty. Checklists help to reduce the cognitive load, by reminding us of concerns that must not be forgotten – concerns which, if they are forgotten, are likely to increase the potential variety (and hence potential risk) in the context. And by providing a clear, explicit structure and sequence, checklists also help to keep the panic at bay when the variety-weather suddenly turns stormy.
Of course YMMV as they say.