One of the most brilliant cognitive aids devised by some very smart humans is the checklist. Hidden in this deceptively simple format is a type of performance support that has saved lives in the air and on the operating room table. Forward-thinking hospitals use checklists to stop the spread of hospital-based infections. Human factors engineers use them to design and develop products. Recruiters use them to evaluate candidates.
Checklists Are a Cognitive Aid
Checklists, as you know, are predefined lists of tasks or behaviors. People use checklists as a guide when an activity has too many elements or is too intricate to remember. This qualifies it as a cognitive aid.
The first checklist was created in 1935 by a group of pilots in the aftermath of a fatal plane crash caused by pilot error. At that time, a highly experienced pilot was flying a new plane with a more complex system than anyone had previously used. The required tasks for take-off outstripped the capabilities of human memory, causing the pilot to forget one critical task. After this episode, the checklist was born to prevent a similar fatal mistake from happening again.
Checklists work well for both novices and experts because they free up brain resources, sparing the user from having to remember every element of a process or every item to verify. The more complex the task, the more important it is to have a checklist for reducing errors.
Benefits of Checklists
Checklists have a lot of value. See if you know of another format that matches these benefits outlined by Stanton & Salmon (2013):
- Inexpensive to create
- Easy to use
- Easy to apply
- Easy to adapt for another purpose
- Reduces errors
- Provides immediate benefits during use
Checklists can be created and used on paper or online. They are as good for making time-critical decisions as they are for methodically going through a step-by-step procedure. They can work in any field that requires more working memory than humans possess—from customer support to auto repair to the practice of medicine.
Disadvantages of Checklists
- Checklists can be incomplete
- They may be difficult to use in some situations
- There is a risk of simplification
- Experts may be offended at the thought of needing a checklist
Types of Checklists
If you’re not sure whether a checklist will improve the performance results of your current or future projects, look at the different purposes they can have. This list was modified from human factor engineering checklists.
- Step-by-step Procedures: These take a person through a complex procedure in order to minimize errors.
- Verification and Inspection: These allow someone to check that a task has been done correctly for inspection purposes.
- Evaluation: An Evaluation checklist allows the user to assess a person or a product. For example, whether someone is a good match for a particular job. Or whether a product has all the components and functions for which you are looking.
- Troubleshooting: A checklist can be used for finding a technical or mechanical error when it lists ways to troubleshoot common problems.
- Observation: This checklist delineates a set of possible behaviors an observer can check off when trying to understand how someone does a task or reacts to certain situations.
Read Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right to better understand the value of all types of checlists.
Checklists for Performance Support
Using checklists for performance support is not a new concept. In her book, Job Aids and Performance Support, Allison Rossett explains that for a job aid to qualify as performance support, it must “…house valued information, processes or perspectives that target a need or task.” A simple ‘To-Do’ list may not qualify as performance support, but guiding a worker through a process or helping an analyst evaluate a product to make a decision, will qualify.
Checklists for Replacing Courses
- How to do a simple step-by-step procedure
- How to do an inspection (you may need to add images)
- How to observe and assess behaviors
If the tasks are straightforward or if your audience has enough expertise to view a checklist and understand it, consider replacing the course with a checklist. You could start the checklist with a one-page explanation to add clarification.
Five Resources for Creating Online Checklists
There are many online tools dedicated to creating checklists. Here are a few:
References:
- Brykczynski B. A survey of software inspection checklists. SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes. 1999;24(1):82.
- Christov, C. et. al. Smart Checklists to Improve Healthcare Outcomes. 2016 International Workshop on Software Engineering in Healthcare Systems
- Gawande, A. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. Picador; Reprint edition, 2011.
- Stanton, N & Salmon, P. Human Factors Method: A Practical Guide for Engineering and Design. CRC Press; 2nd edition, 2013)
- Wilson, C. Credible Checklists and Quality Questionnaires: A User-centered Design Method. Morgan Kaufmann, 2013.
This is a great article. I use checklists frequently in my courses, especially if I am training a proficiency course. Often, I will allow someone to “CLEP” out of a course if they can complete certain functions. Checklists are valuable tools if made correctly.
This is a great article. I’ve seen many ways that checklists are beneficial to the individual as well as the organization. In my current role, we are constantly looking for ways to utilize interactive job aids/pdfs for performance improvement initiatives. We also use general checklists to help our instructional designers remember complex information or new processes. They have been very helpful during needs analysis sessions with SMEs and with stakeholders. I have seen a sharp increase in the amount of requests desiring a checklist for their employees. Currently, we find ourselves creating elaborate ones to improve learner engagement. Thanks for posting the links to the software programs. I plan on checking those out.
You have some great ideas here, Ian. Thanks for sharing them and for letting us know what pilots use
Best,
Connie
Great article, glad to see I’m not alone with my checklistophilia. I love them both within the development process and within the content:
In the process: I find collectively creating checklists with a team (id’s, developers, QA etc.) ends up being a larger conversation about our expectations for quality, standards, roles and sequences. I often start with a base, but by inviting everyone to participate, everyone becomes a stakeholder and every lesson learned ends up being an edited or new entry in a list that we live by.
In the content: we often try to find the existing one(s) or develop them before even creating instruction. It’s a great way to focus SMEs attention without too much talk about media/methods. As you mention Connie, sometimes that is enough. When more context is needed, we might create a video overview of how to use it, expanding on it’s contents. Where more is needed, we then go onto integrate it into a scenario where using the checklist guides you. For instance, the process for de-escalating a conflict can be boiled down to a process flow. A screencast (with a little zooming for focus) might provide some broader context. Then, a scenario where you have constant access to the flow (a button, a printable), but work through a conversation with an irate customer.
Btw – many pilots today have their checklists on pads, can even tap-off the items to confirm they are done.
Hi Jay,
I haven’t had enough opportunities to know the best ways to distribute. Typically I put checklists as part of an attachment to be downloaded in an eLearning course. But you might get ideas from reading the book, The Checklist Manifesto, which is oriented toward the practice of medicine. It seems as though when the checklist is part of a kit, it works well (which isn’t applicable to all situations). At hospitals, they might have a checklist as part of a kit for inserting a venous access device. And I’ve read that in airplanes, pilots have a checklist as part of a binder (not sure if this is in a digital form now). Let us know if you discover other ideas.
Best,
Connie
Thanks for the app recommendation, Mary. You sound like you’re doing a great job as a teacher.
Connie
I use Google Keep for checklists. I can use it across devices, set reminders–either by time or location, archive lists, color code lists, etc. After reading The Checklist Manifesto, I find myself making lists much more often! I work with middle school students, and recommend that they create a digital toolbox of resources they frequently use. A checklist app is definitely one of the tools I suggest.
Love it! At our organization, I can see many situations where a checklist would much more useful “in the field” than the tedious (and certain to be forgotten) e-learning modules we sometimes use. In your experience, have you found certain ways of distributing checklists that are more effective than others for making sure that they are accessed, used, and followed?