“On October 30, 1935, at Wright Air Field in Dayton, Ohio, the U.S. Army Air Corps held a competition for airplane manufacturers vying to build the next-generation of the long-range bomber. Only it wasn't supposed to be much of a competition at all. The Boeing Corporation's gleaming aluminum-alloy Model 299 was expected to steal the show, its design far superior to those of the competition. In other words, it was just a formality. As the Model 299 test plane taxied onto the runway, a small group of army brass and manufacturing executives watched. The plane took off without a hitch. Then suddenly, at about 300 feet, it stalled, turned on one wing, and crashed, killing two of the five crew members, including the pilot Major Hill.

…the cause of the crash was identified: the pilot had forgotten to release a new locking mechanism on the elevator and rudder controls. The plane was, in fact, too much airplane for one man to fly. Instead of giving up, the army test pilots came together and produced an ingeniously simple solution: a pilot's checklist. The pilots made the list simple and short. It fit on an index card with step-by-step instructions for takeoff, flying, landing, and taxiing. There was nothing on the checklist they didn't know. Basics. That checklist changed the course of history and quite possibly the war. The pilots went on to fly the Model 299 a total of 1.8 million miles without a single accident and as a result the army ordered over 13,000 of them.”

• Checklists should be short & focused - 5 to 9 items (this range matches human working memory capacity), including only the most critical, high-risk, or commonly missed steps (these are called “killer items”), and avoid including things that are obvious or routinely never missed.
• A checklist should aid, not replace, professional expertise - they are frameworks for consistency, while still letting skilled users adapt to unique circumstances as needed.
• Checklists should be clear & simple - steps should be in everyday, familiar language and instructions must be precise, free of jargon, & immediately actionable.

• Choose the right checklist type - Do/Confirm (perform the task from memory or experience, then stop and review the checklist to confirm everything was done) or Read/Do (read each checklist item, then perform and check it off as you go).
• Define a clear pause point - specify exactly when in the workflow the checklist should be used (e.g. “project handoff”) & make this usage predictable so you remember to engage with the checklist at the right time.
• Make it practical & easy to use - the checklist should be one page at most & be free of clutter or distracting colors, items should be in logical order (matching the actual workflow or environment), using bullet points or short phrases (not paragraphs).
• Collaborate on checklist creation - everyone involved in using the checklist should collaborate in its design & refinement (this ensures buy-in and completeness, and uncovers hidden steps or pain points).
• Test the checklist in real situations - get feedback, revise, and retest. Continual improvement is key.
• Support communication & teamwork - use checklists to build shared accountability and clarify roles within the team. Anyone should feel empowered to halt the process if an item is missed. Additionally, checklists should foster a brief conversation or confirmation for steps that involve handoff or team coordination.
• Monitor, track & update regularly - track the effectiveness of each checklist and update it as processes evolve or new risks are identified. Also, discard or revise items that are no longer needed, keeping the list relevant.

• Action Items - this is by far the best use I have found for checklists. Nowadays communication happens through many channels (emails, messages, texts, calls, meetings & more), it can be overwhelming to keep track of action items that pop up along the way. Funnel ALL action items received through ALL these channels into a single task list to offload the follow up to a central place & time.
• Prioritization - once all action items are being tracked centrally, this allows for prioritizing them all within the context of each other to focus on the most important priorities first (there's only ever ONE priority 1). This avoid getting into a LIFO scenario, or dropping the ball on some action items.
• Scheduling Tasks - having a central place for all your tasks also means you can now schedule them across your calendar based on your meeting workload & general availability. Find 5 minutes, 3 times a day (I recommend the start/middle/end of the workday) to prioritize new tasks & re-prioritize existing tasks. Avoid over-scheduling tasks, it is better to underestimate & over-deliver.
• Breaking Down Large Problems - We frequently work on large problems or tasks that require research, discovery & breakdown as we proceed. Utilizing checklists that grow, shrink or flex in size are very helpful in this scenario. Start with just the first task you can think of, and as you work on that task continue adding more tasks to the checklist based on your research & discovery. There's no need to worry about ensuring the checklist is comprehensive, it should just have enough tasks on there to keep you moving towards the eventual goal.
• 1:1 Conversations - keep separate, repeating, checklists for regular individual 1:1s. These checklists can be utilized to store key information about people, context from previous 1:1s, and action items that need follow up between meetings. This ensures that you're never walking into a 1:1 cold & without context, allowing for more productive conversations.