Almost every serious mistake at work is a step that someone knew about and forgot under pressure. Checklists exist for exactly that, and they are used in surgery and aviation for the same reason.
A good checklist is short, five to nine items, and covers only the steps that are easy to forget and expensive to miss. Listing every obvious step guarantees nobody reads it.
Write it after doing the task once, while the mistakes are fresh. Then improve it every time something goes wrong, so it gets stronger with use rather than going stale.
You are writing a checklist for opening the shop.
What happens: Nobody reads to the end. Within a week people tick it without looking, which is worse than having no checklist because it creates false confidence.
What happens: Short enough to be read properly every time, and it catches the failures that matter. Length is what kills checklists.
Is a checklist not treating people as stupid?
No, and this is worth saying clearly. Surgeons and pilots use them, and they are neither careless nor unskilled. Checklists exist because memory fails under pressure and when you are tired, which happens to everyone. Using one is a sign of professionalism.
Where should I keep it?
Where the work happens, not in a folder somewhere. On the wall, on the till, in your phone notes. A checklist you have to go and find is a checklist you will not use on the day it mattered.
Before you move on
- Keep it to five to nine items
- Include only what is easy to forget
- Update it whenever something goes wrong
Check what you know
3 questions. Have a look at what this lesson asks.
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