Checklist

Overview

A checklist is a short written list of must-not-skip steps for a complex repeated operation. It externalizes working memory — which fails under load, ego, time pressure, and fatigue — so attention stays on the situation rather than step recall. Boeing 1935 → Pronovost ICU 2001 → WHO Surgical 2008: each produced 36-47% reductions in major adverse events at near-zero cost.

Composes with metacognition, confirmation-bias, cognitive-load-theory, premortem, inversion.

When to Use

• High-stakes repeated operations (deployments, launches, M&A close, hiring decisions, financial close)
• Multiple steps where skipping one costs far more than running the checklist
• Multi-person operations where coordination must be consistent
• New team members joining a critical workflow
• Shipping or updating an AI agent / model version in production — evals, guardrails, spend caps, rollback: known steps that skilled teams skip under deadline

Not when: operation is simple/one-off; no recurring pattern exists; checklist culture creates false confidence (mechanical checking without thought).

Coaching Novices (Adaptive Front Door)