“Much of the world and universe is – and will remain – outside our understanding and control.”

This killer quote is from the Checklist Manifesto by Dr. Awal Gawande.  Problem solving or your health solving is one of the most impotant issues you may face – especially if the physician is problem solving over your health.  And, the most critical takeaway from this book is that when doctor’s differ or can’t decide, what do you do?  And oh by the way, docs and hospitals make mistakes and lots of them.

And in fairness, all professionals make even the simplest mistakes.

So, why do we make mistakes?  Two reasons according to Dr. Gawande:

First is ignorance.  There are too many things that are either unknown or unknowable.  Science and engineering give us the abiliity to ask a lot more questions to which we don’t know the full answers.

Second is ineptitude.  We may know the scope of the real problem.  But, we don’t know how to apply the appropriate solution the right way.  “Science has filled in enough knowledge to make ineptitude as much a struggle as ignorance.”

So, what’s the solution.  You can get an idea from the title of this great book: Make Checklists’

Appropriate checklists ensure that things are not missed.  Checklists make sure that things are done in the right order.  Checklists make sure everyone is on the same page.  Checklists ensure validation and verification to make sure that all critical things get done.  Checklists enforce consitency of application.  Checklists ensure accountabiltiy, when they are signed off.

So,, next time you’re in doubt about solving a problem, try a checklist.

Bio:

Greg Hutchins PE and CERM (503.233.101 & GregH@QualityPlusEngineering.com)  is the founder of:

CERMAcademy.com
800Compete.com
QualityPlusEngineering.com
WorkingIt.com

He is the evangelist behind Future of Quality: Risk®.  He is currently working on the Future of Work and machine learning projects.

He is a frequent speaker and expert on Supply Chain Risk Management and cyber security.  His current books available on all platform are shown below: