The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right

I always thought checklists were very helpful in organizing things, and have sometimes prepared a checklist myself, but never had i thought that a checklist would have such a wider benefit. Although the author is a surgeon himself, he has not stuck to the use of checklists in his field, but has taken pains to point out the benefit of a checklists in even the most mundane fields like investment analysis. The presence of various anecdotes at regular intervals, combined with the small size of the book, make it a very interesting read. Truly awesome!!

This is a great book and it came highly recommended by an IPS officer who has adopted the checklist method into his lifestyle. And of course thanks flipkart for selling it at such a great price with shipping included.

I recently read the book ‘The Checklist Manifesto’ by Dr. Atul Gawande. A manifesto? A manifesto by a doctor??? I know answering a question in response to a question is not acceptable!
Manifesto by definition ‘means concept of a public declaration of policy’ and presenting this by a doctor seemed to be a bit skeptical…But I got the answers to my questions when I started reading the book. In this book he has discussed a solution to prevent simple mistakes to handle complexity, A CHECKLIST. Dr. Gawande learned the key to checklist from Boeing that how a checklist saved the life of B-17 flying fortress and its crews.
The Checklist Manifesto explores various situations where a ‘simple’ list could do wonders. Dr. Gawande provides countless examples of success of checklist and problems when they were not used. As he is a doctor, many of these examples focused on medical field but healthcare providers are not the primary audience; however he does provide examples related to aviation, construction, finance and many more.
A checklist should be efficient, precise and easy to use. A one page list is enough to avoid distractions. He says that a medical checklist offers an alternative, nontraditional strategy to overcome failures of healthcare system and related complications.
Every once in a while running across the book made me think ‘why am I not doing this’? What really hit me was the statistics he presents to prove his observations showing effectiveness of checklist implemented in several professions.
Why is it important? In this complex world, we might easily overlook some routine matters which may lead us into difficult situations .Breaking down our tasks into a list may eliminate errors and prevent us from making dumb mistakes.
It may seem childish to use simple list but Dr. Gawande has proved the effectiveness of checklist around the globe and this publication as a manifesto may provoke people from different arenas to adopt this way.
I have suggested to several people I know that they should read it and preparing a checklist for our tasks is worth giving a try!
I feel its essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

A well written book with plenty of examples on the use of checklists in modern life. Gives a solution, to the problem of making sure that routine complex tasks are carried out, without being forgotten. The scenarios in which checklists are most effective are elaborated.