I love checklists. Like really freaking love checklists. I use them when I travel, shop, and workout. Professionally, I use them for check-ins, coaching, and getting shit done.
In 2019 I read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. It revealed the power of checklists, yes, but also the formats of checklists.
See, there’s two main types: do-confirm and read-do.
Do-confirm checklists involve doing a thing, or several things, and then confirming you’ve done all the things. These work well for packing lists or requirements. The order doesn’t matter but completeness does. They’re excellent sidekicks for those areas you consider yourself an expert. Do-confirm are the bulleted lists of our world.
Read-do checklists involve reading the step you need to do, doing that one thing, and repeating this until finished. These work well for process or dependency focused work. They benefit from sequence or certainty. This form excels during the new, rare, or risky activities. Read-do are the numbered lists of our world.
Checklists are simple. That’s their power. But first think about how your checklist will be used and you’ll find you can craft something more targeted and useful for you, your team, or even an LLM agent.