The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

by Atul Gawande

the major advance in the science of construction over the last few decades has been the perfection of tracking and communication.

In response to risk, most authorities tend to centralize power and decision making. That’s usually what checklists are about—dictating instructions to the workers below to ensure they do things the way we want.

The philosophy is that you push the power of decision making out to the periphery and away from the center. You give people the room to adapt, based on their experience and expertise. All you ask is that they talk to one another and take responsibility. That is what works.

When a local hospital told her it was running short of drugs, she went back in and broke into the store’s pharmacy—and was lauded by upper management for it.

“Anyone who understands systems will know immediately that optimizing parts is not a good route to system excellence,”