An interesting read

[Maribeth]

I'm reading a great book- it's called The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right by Atul Gawande. He's a surgeon who written a couple of books about the medical profession in this country (all decent non-fiction reads). The Checklist Manifesto delves deeper into something he talks about in his other books- the use of checklists in managing complex situations and maintaining a low level of error in work situations.

The book uses examples from medical situations in hospitals, flight procedures for pilots, and formulas for structural engineering, but it is easily applied to stage management and reducing mistakes and keeping safety at a premium. Definitely worth a look.

[BLee]

Thank you for the recommendation! This looks like a perfect resource for my thesis on safety procedures in show business. :-)

[Maribeth]

You're welcome. There were a lot of interesting aspects to it- what a checklist can do and what it can't, what makes such a list useful (ideal length, specificity, ease of use, type of list, etc), and what types of things they can be the most useful for. It also brings up a lot of interesting points about not having redundant, useless checklists that are 8 miles long that people aren't going to use- but making a list that is tailored to the situation.

One of the things that I have been thinking about the most since I finished it was the differences between a more comprehensive, long term checklist used in the planning process (like we might use during prep week), and a shorter, more immediate checklist designed to be used quickly and in the moment (like an emergency procedure sheet). I'd love to start a discussion on this topic- if you read it and have thoughts about the book, let me know.