Check It Off Your List! How To Get Things Done – And Done Right

Is getting things done and done right at the top of your priorities list?  Then you should consider using checklists.  No matter how experienced you are or how much of an expert you may be, a well-designed checklist can improve outcomes.

In his bestseller The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande argues that the very systems designed to ensure success often fails us, because they’re just too complex.  The simple fact is that there is a limit to our memories’ capacity.  As a solution, he points to the humble checklist.  A checklist is a written guide that walks you through the key steps in a procedure or task.  Checklists are used as critical tools in disciplines as varied and demanding of expertise as aviation, surgery and building construction.  A well-crafted checklist:

• Leaves little room for error
• Sets clear expectations on ownership and deliver
• Communicates status and expectations
• Is customized for your specific business procedures and needs

Consider the housekeeping tasks that your technology staff faces in setting up a new employee on your network.  Seems simple, until you start to break it down.  Name, email address, software required, file system permissions set up, phone extension configured…and many more parameters must be captured.  That does not even begin to touch upon the steps required to set up that new employee’s computer.  And missing one of these steps can cause a fair amount of stress down the road.  Misspelling a person’s name not only annoys the new employee, but may cause more issues when fixing the error; not giving someone access to a folder means time lost until access is given.

At Insource, we are firm believers in the value of using checklists to do things more efficiently and avoid potentially costly mistakes.  We’ve linked to two (of many) checklists we use to help our clients; these tame technology onboarding complexities.  As you will see, both are quite detailed; nothing is left to chance.  We customize the checklist for each of our clients.

So resolve to use a checklist for important, recurring tasks and get things done right every time!  For more information on how our to customize your own checklist, or additional information on our technology services, please contact me at 781-374-5116.