Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

I was on a non-stop flight to US last week. Giving me good company on the long flight was Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. Wonderful book!

Captivating from beginning to finish with excellent stories through out, it was a great read. Atul has an easy way of narrating his stories. The arguments are supported by sound data and coherent logic. It is simply not only about check lists. It goes in to the roots of how excellence can be achieved in different settings. How do you achieve consistent results in repeatable processes when all knowledge to perform the process is available? by avoiding all stupid mistakes, by involving all people who have the knowledge and by communicating clearly. All simple things but very hard to achieve in practice, going by the results. Building a check list is not as easy as it sounds. I frequently forgot one thing or the other on my travels so I made a check list. Either that checklist was not available right before the travel or it was too long or was not practical to check. Hence it is very important to design the check list with the critical things that one is likely to miss, making the check a mandatory part of the over all process each and every time avoids the stupid mistakes.
The aviation industry is a wonderful example. I can't imagine pilots being able to fly without the check list.
The check list is just a visible symbol of inherent discipline. Discipline is more difficult to achieve than being skillful and even selflessness. Because it goes against the nature and habits. That's why it is harder to achieve discipline. It is the adherence to this process discipline that is critical for consistent results once all the knowledge and tools are available to do the job.

It is really a thought provoking book. I can't help thinking about different settings- personal and professional - that this checklist led discipline can help to achieve excellence.