Get It Right With Checklists - RD277

<h2>The reason to use checklists.</h2> <p>I first talked about checklists way back in <a href= "https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode89">episode 89 of Resourceful Designer</a>. In it, I shared various types of checklists you can use for your business. I even shared my now outdated <a href= "https://resourcefuldesigner.com/wpchecklist">checklist for starting a new WordPress website</a>.</p> <p class="p1">Today, I’m not going to share checklist ideas with you. Instead, I want to talk about the importance of using checklists. To emphasize their importance, I want to start by telling you a story.</p> <p class="p1">I heard this story while listening to an audiobook called <a href="https://amzn.to/3Fd1ZsL" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">My Best Mistake, Epic Fails and Silver Linings</a> written by Terry O’Reilly. It’s a great book of stories about failures that led to amazing things. Check it out if you have the chance. One of the stories O’Reilly tells in the book inspired is what inspired what you’re reading here.</p> <p class="p1">It’s estimated that the average American undergoes seven surgeries in a lifetime, and surgeons perform over 50 million surgeries annually. That’s a lot of operations.</p> <p class="p1">In 2009, roughly 150,000 patients died immediately after surgery—3 times the number of fatalities from road accidents. What’s scary about that number is that half of those deaths were completely avoidable. That number caught the attention of Doctor Atul Gawande, a Boston surgeon and professor at Harvard Medical School.</p> <p class="p1">It’s the 21st century. How can all these complications happen despite the accumulated knowledge of professionals? Gawande wondered if there was a way to reduce the number of operating room errors that resulted in these deaths. To find an answer, Gawande looked at other fields for ideas.</p> <p class="p1">Back in 1935, The U.S. Army was looking for the next generation of long-range bombers. They held a competition between top airplane manufacturers to come up with a new des