Atul Gawande Checklist Manifesto

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande speaks to the bare essentials, the simple nature of applying what is operations management. He writes about how a checklist, a simple checklist, can be used to effectively reduce mistakes especially pertaining to experts if well designed and properly implemented. He particularly stresses the successful applications of checklists in medicine, aviation, construction and finance, but makes clear that it is not just in these fields, but in any and every component of our lives wherein there lies room for improvement of efficiency and reduction of error. It must be known that the goal, however, is not to check boxes off a checklist as this diminishes the very purpose it serves; it is a step, a process, to
Gawande, however, makes clear that the volume and complexity of what we know (e.g. data facts and know-how) in this day and age are long past exceeding our individual ability to deliver them and apply them correctly, safely, or reliably.
For these reasons, checklists offer a possibility of additional and crucial verification, instill discipline, and even cause behavior changes. It can be used to ‘force’ people to talk, communicate, learn the names of their coworkers—which clearly induce the fostering of teamwork. This can lead to a concept in psychology referred to as the “activation phenomenon” wherein an opportunity to say something at the beginning of a procedure or project (group work), may activate a sense of participation and thereby increase sense of responsibility and ownership, and further encourages their willingness to speak
The author, Jim Collins, came to recognize that most of the ‘great’ companies had already been pre-established by previous generations as great. And it was not very often that a good company became a great and highly distinct company, just because they were already qualified as good and it is so easy to linger and maintain that status rather than to try to move beyond their comfortable standards and habits. Jim Collins bases this book off of his observations on 1,435 good companies. He examined their performance over the span of 40 years, out of which only 11 companies became great and deduced some conclusions on how a good company can become a great one. He defines these converted ‘great’ companies as those that generated cumulative stock returns exceeding the general stock market by at least three times over 15 years, and had to be a leap independent of its industry. The 11 ultimate ‘good to great’ companies averaged returns 6.9 times greater than the market’s. He challenges the general ideas and thoughts we somehow gather on ‘how to change’ for the better—there must be a crisis, monetary gratuities, breakthrough, and large changes for these innovations into great