We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, more advanced technologies: neither seems to prevent grievous errors. There is a remedy in the most humble and simple of all techniques: the checklist. We can identify successful people in many fields who turn to checklists to pull off some of the most difficult tasks, and places where the impact of the checklist is huge: -in the complex world of surgery, a simple ninety second checklist has cut the rate of fatalities by a third -a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units that has virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection -a restaurant where checklists allow a kitchen and dining room to run like a finely tuned symphony Aside from the great successes there is an inevitable resistance to accepting the discipline of a checklist-a tension between the autonomy experts want and the sense of discipline success actually requires.
Originally published on Aug 17, 2016by Microsoft Research
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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