The current issue of Fast Company had an interesting article on checklist, see it here. Their argument was that checklists aren't just for the kid at the fast food place making burgers, but can help in all types of situations.
Checklists are often sited as a quality assurance tools, but how many of us really use them? When I'm preparing a customer deliverable (typically a Word document), I have a simple checklist so that I don't forget anything in the last minute rush. The checklist includes conducting a review for grammar, having someone else review the document, incorporating their feedback, checking all diagrams, running spell-check one last time, making sure page layouts/fonts etc are correct and finally checking the document properties.
This might sound pretty simple, but when things get rushed at the end of the project, my checklist keeps me from forgetting anything.
Ah, the humble yet powerful checklist. We us them extensively for many operational task, since repetition tends to create carelessness and oversight. Like your example, we also use them on projects to validate/QA deliverables. Good post!
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