The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
As I'm mid-Getting Things Done, was in need of a new audiobook and was listening to (as I always do) the Book Riot podcast, I decided that I would download The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (author of Being Mortal). I had been listening to a lot of fiction on audiobook lately so it was about time for some non-fiction. And given my recent thoughts about organizing my life and the power of getting to-do items out of your brain and onto a piece of paper/app/some sort of system (thank you David Allen), I was so excited to begin this book.
It's an incredible feat to make a topic as dry as a checklist seem riveting and make you wish you had a slightly longer commute. Gawande's book had me understanding the importance of the checklist and how I can apply it to my own life. I may not be a doctor or a pilot (aint nobody want that), but my own life could definitely be improved by the practice of keeping and modifying a checklist. I received some great tips about how to make a more effective checklist I would actually employ and how it could be used to prioritize my day.
And there's talk about a guy getting skewered by a bayonet and a 747 landing on the Hudson. So, no... not boring at all.
Synopsis:
A New York Times Bestseller
In latest bestseller, Atul Gawande shows what the simple idea of the checklist reveals about the complexity of our lives and how we can deal with it.
The modern world has given us stupendous know-how. Yet avoidable failures continue to plague us in health care, government, the law, the financial industry--in almost every realm of organized activity. And the reason is simple: the volume and complexity of knowledge today has exceeded our ability as individuals to properly deliver it to people--consistently, correctly, safely. We train longer, specialize more, use ever-advancing technologies, and still we fail. Atul Gawande makes a compelling argument that we can do better, using the simplest of methods: the checklist. In riveting stories, he reveals what checklists can do, what they can't, and how they could bring about striking improvements in a variety of fields, from medicine and disaster recovery to professions and businesses of all kinds. And the insights are making a difference. Already, a simple surgical checklist from the World Health Organization designed by following the ideas described here has been adopted in more than twenty countries as a standard for care and has been heralded as "the biggest clinical invention in thirty years" (The Independent).