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Why do we waste our time and effort completing checklist after checklist for tasks that we can complete even when half awake? Do we not have better things to do than complete checklists?
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Good question! And the answer is simple: If there is a checklist, it exists for a reason, and we need to follow it diligently to complete the tasks at hand. Below are some insights about why checklists are vital and how they can save lives, improve performance, increase efficiency, and improve the bottom line.
Ten reasons why you need checklists
1. Time management. There are 24 hours in a day and 100 things to complete. Even worse, 50 of these 100 tasks have 10 steps each. We are humans and tend to forget. Having a checklist helps ensure that we have not missed any step that is essential to get desired results.
2. Consistency. It doesn’t matter whether Joe does it or Sara; you get the same product or service. In business terms, this is called consistency. Yes, using checklists provides consistent products or services, and reduces variability.
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Comments
Checklists
While I am a big fan of checklists I am not a fan of the way they are often used by managers. Too often managers want the checklist to present a record of ideal conditions and if a checklist were to indicate a problem they are inclined to punish an employee for failure. The result is that employees often take a perfunctory approach to performing the checks that underpin the checklist or they simply falsify the data to show only what the manager has implicitly said they want to see.
Checklists are valuable tools and their value should not be undermined by misuse. They should be used to prevent system failure. They should be used to identify opportunities for improvement. They should not be used to identify tergets for criticism.
Checklists
When using a checklist, one should think not of the process of checking boxes but of the process of improving the checklist itself.
If you are an expert, you may know of process improvements that should be integrated into the process and thus the checklist.
If you are a neophyte, you are likely to notice where the checklist could make the process clearer.
And if you're a manager, you should take the words of both neophyte and expert seriously as they are the keys to improvement...
One drawback to checklists
One drawback to checklists is discipline and close supervision. As a QA Supervisor, Engineer, and QMS auditor, I have occasionally found employees doing a number of steps from memory or taking short-cuts, and then later going back and checking off steps and/or filling in data.
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