I've been using https://buckaroosoftware.com/ChecklistWrangler.html for years now on my phone for my personal checklists. It's got way more features than I need (and hasn't been updated in years) honestly even checking things off the list is probably overkill and I could just use a text file, but its the only thing I found on the App Store that actually did a checklist instead of a task list. I've got drawings for a very simple checklist app but it's not become a side project yet.
Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
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Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#22Gawande mentions the checklist libraries of different manufacturers. I've checked the references (and parts of the citation graph) but didn't find anything about them. The closest were NASA's standards about the typography and structure of flight deck checklist. Does anybody know about how are checklists managed in the real word? How are they stored, retrieved and most importantly updated, when something changes? Not…
Not manufacturers, but here's the USAF's collection of checklists (not complete, bases and smaller units will have their own libraries that may not make it into this):
https://www.e-publishing.af.mil/Product-Index/#/?view=search...
The guidelines for updating are in there, as well, I believe.
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#23Gawande mentions the checklist libraries of different manufacturers. I've checked the references (and parts of the citation graph) but didn't find anything about them. The closest were NASA's standards about the typography and structure of flight deck checklist. Does anybody know about how are checklists managed in the real word? How are they stored, retrieved and most importantly updated, when something changes? Not…
A better example is aviation, especially commercial. Planes come with Pilot Operating Handbooks (POHs) that contain checklists specific to the aircraft for preflight, inspection and failure scenarios (eg loss of engine power). Manufacturers periodically update these by issuing advisories and addendums to POHs. The FAA also publishes such advisories.
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#24> Making a good human-usable checklist takes a lot of workshopping. Airlines are still constantly revising their 200-page manual of individually optimized checklists for every possible emergency, as plane designs change and new safety data rolls in. When I first read the book a couple years ago, and introduced checklists into my team, I found that there was no great tool to manage and create checklists and share it w…
obsidian is great for both notes and checklists. It allows you to have a simple checklist up front, but with clickable links that hide as much (multimedia) information, internal and external links as you need.
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#25The best thing in this book is all the information on how pilots have checklists for everything. The plane that landed in the Hudson is used as an example and the checklist for total engine failure used in the book is one of my favorites.
In big bold letters at the top is "FLY THE AIRPLANE" along with each of the things the pilot should check.
Takeaway is the reminder in the moment that you are trained for this and the checklist itself is exactly what checklists are for -- don't miss a step. Nothing more, nothing less.
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#26I liked this book, but it’s a prime example of an article or blog post that gets turned into a book by adding a bunch of things that don’t really provide more useful information, but seem to serve as filler to make it book-length. I read the book, and I read the article that the book was based on. I don’t recall learning anything from the book that I hadn’t already learned from the article.
Why is that a negative? If a book has interesting, engaging content why is it bad that it has 200 pages instead of 20?
Books like this, IMO, are generally better when split into 2 pieces:
1. A "core" that describes the motivation for the ideas and then the ideas (as in, what makes a checklist, how comprehensive do they need to be, basic ideas on how to store and maintain them).
2. An expanded form, providing more detail on the motivation (issues that could have been mitigated if not eliminated with checklists, areas where checklists have succeeded, more specific practices around checklists that worked for some people, for the reader's consideration).
This lets you skip the fluff if you've already been persuaded by going with (1), or if you need to be persuaded or want ideas on how to persuade others going with (2). A lot of useful material ends up suffering from self-obfuscation by only providing or too strongly pushing (2) and not (1).
Since there is the New Yorker article, in this case both (1) and (2) exist (after a fashion, it's been a few years since I read that article so I'm not sure anymore what's in it but it is much briefer than the book).
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#27I liked this book, but it’s a prime example of an article or blog post that gets turned into a book by adding a bunch of things that don’t really provide more useful information, but seem to serve as filler to make it book-length. I read the book, and I read the article that the book was based on. I don’t recall learning anything from the book that I hadn’t already learned from the article.
Why is that a negative? If a book has interesting, engaging content why is it bad that it has 200 pages instead of 20?
Because with less padding, people could spend the other 180 pages reading about 9 other ideas.
Naturally, I know that's not so simple, but it is one of the key issues I have with books that say the same thing over and over again — lack of respect for the reader.
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#28Gawande mentions the checklist libraries of different manufacturers. I've checked the references (and parts of the citation graph) but didn't find anything about them. The closest were NASA's standards about the typography and structure of flight deck checklist. Does anybody know about how are checklists managed in the real word? How are they stored, retrieved and most importantly updated, when something changes? Not…
Nuclear industry here.
In the fanciest systems, checklists live in a computerized procedure system tied into the plant process computer, so the plant state and procedures can be kept in sync and mistakes can be avoided when the software can see if you didn’t actually do the step you were supposed to.
A more conventional approach is a document management system and controlled binders in the control room with the latest procedures, often laminated so they can be marked up and wiped off.
When working procedures on paper, we always use a circle-slash system for place-keeping: circle the step number when starting it, and slash through the circle when completed.
Finally, key procedures should have a separate document documenting the bases of the procedure—-why key values were chosen or what other documents they were taken from or depend on. That document becomes the key in change management—-if a dependency changes, or you want to change the procedure, you can use the bases document to ensure side-effects are considered.
Finally, procedures still have programmed regular reviews.
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, I always wondered how those “Top 100 business books summarized!” books fit all that “content” into one book, then I read Checklist Manifesto…
It’s certainly not the only book I’ve read like that in the last few years. It’s maddening - I value conciseness in a book, not length.
I find myself wavering back and forth. Great fiction? Give me a big cinderblock of a book please. Full of world building and chapters dedicated to a single thread of thought going through a character's mind. Even to the point of sometimes when reading short fiction novels getting anxious towards the end, just knowing the ride is almost over.
Non-fiction/fact-based/instructional books I flip-flop hard between enjoying a brief enchiridion on leadership and management styles one moment while cradling a tome of a physics text book the next.
Such indecisiveness heh.
Re: Book review: The Checklist Manifesto
#30I liked this book, but it’s a prime example of an article or blog post that gets turned into a book by adding a bunch of things that don’t really provide more useful information, but seem to serve as filler to make it book-length. I read the book, and I read the article that the book was based on. I don’t recall learning anything from the book that I hadn’t already learned from the article.
Welcome to the genre of self-help books. I can't recall the last one I read that couldn't have just as easily been a long essay. "Here's a few good points and ideas, surrounded by a fuck-ton of anecdotes and proverbs, because you're not going to pay $20 for a magazine article."
> "Here's a few good points and ideas, surrounded by a fuck-ton of anecdotes and proverbs, because you're not going to pay $20 for a magazine article."
Though to be fair, sometimes those anecdotes are useful. I like examples, especially ones where an idea is applied to a situation that resembles my own. Also repetition is helpful to actually have a concept sink in.
Also, what's filler for you may be the most relevant section for someone else (e.g. an anecdote that matches their situation but not yours, or necessary repetition).
Also, I think software engineers, at least, have a bias to optimize for concision that can sometimes be counterproductive. For instance, I doubt a moderately long article that fully explains the core concept of cognitive behavior therapy would be as successful at actually changing the behavior of a depressed person than a more "redundant" book-length version. Maybe the short version would still work for some people, but that doesn't mean that's the best version for the majority of people.