I’ve been talking about automating things lately, with the goal of reducing human error.

But not everything can be automated. Or at least not yet.

What can you do?

Use a checklist!

In his book The Checklist Manifest: How to Get Things Right, author Atul Gawande talks about the prodigious use of checklists in certain industries, such as commercial aviation, and medicine.

Until AI advances to the point it can do fully autonomous heart surgery, every surgeon follows a meticulous pre-op checklist, to ensure that no detail, no matter how mundane or obvious, is overlooked, potentially leading to a catastrophic outcome.

If a checklist is good enough for your doctor, or the pilot on your last flight, it’s good enough for you.

Next time you notice an error in some process you’re involved with, consider creating a checklist. Don’t let “perfect” automation be the enemy of “good enough” checklists!

Here are just a few examples where I’ve personally seen checklists help ensure against human error, when automation either isn’t possible, or just hasn’t been implemented yet.

• Manual software testing plans
• Pull request approval
• Definition of Ready and Definition of Done
• Software deployment guides
• Meeting or interview preparation