

How to use checklists effectively in your tech company - filozynka
http://blog.netguru.co/post/56407614152/how-to-use-checklists-effectively-in-your-tech-company

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3amOpsGuy
It's kinda cliched for someone with a username containing "ops" to come out
and say "i love checklists", but i do!

I've never found a better tool for communicating what to do and in what order.
Everyone just understands them, with zero training. You can even play with the
format slightly and people still get it, e.g. break out a formal time column?
Sure! People just start using it.

I especially like them for high pressure situations. E.g. for handling prod
outages i've consistently found checklists work better in practice than flow
charts, knowledge bases, call trees... etc.

I use them for many things, from the fairly benign (releases?) to the
relatively rare (new joiners).

I recommend, just based on my experiences so may not apply in all
environments, using a simple web based app to handle all your check lists.
It'll be accessible from any device, without installing anything up front.

A couple of small extra features will make it infinitely more useful:

1) Allow for both a "ticked" / done status and a "working on" / "i've grabbed
this one" status. Display the user who's grabbed it and the time they grabbed
it.

2) Allow for checklists to have all their boxes reset on a schedule, e.g.
daily reset of the "start of day" check list.

3) Archive completed checklists - they capture useful information about who
and when, so I don't bin them when they're completed

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lasonrisa
Can you recommend any those web tools please?

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MortenK
A checklist can be as simple as an spread sheet, so you could use:

-A shared network- or Dropbox folder containing Excel sheets

-A google docs account with check list spreadsheets

-Smartsheet.com

-Any wiki software, self-hosted or managed, i.e. wikidot etc.

-Any of the myriad of todo-list apps, just be sure the todo-lists (actually checklists) can be re-used as templates.

~~~
filozynka
I also think in this case the simpler the better. GitHub pages is pretty nice
solution. +100 to Google Docs too!

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helipad
From experience, a checklist should be exactly that: a way of checking this
off a list once complete. "Did I do this?" \- "Yes". Check.

But for me a checklist should never be a step-by-step guide. "Do this, then do
this." People are reluctant to be told how to do things that can easily take
more than one path.

~~~
spc476
I handle that by doing stuff like:

    
    
        [ ] Copy foo data file to foo server
            [ ] "scp foo.dat server:/path/to/foo.dat"
        [ ] Copy bar data file to bar server
            [ ] "scp bar.dat server:/path/to/bat.dat"
    

It's a reminder of one way to do it, but it's not necessarily the only way of
doing it.

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mathattack
I'm a big fan of checklists too. I find juniors don't like using them until
they've made the same mistake many times, and then eventually they swear by
them.

It's not a manual, it's not a process, it's just a checklist.

~~~
tomjen3
What about people who have done the same task many times? I imagine that they
would also be reluctant to follow it closely enough.

~~~
mathattack
Yes. There is resistance from the "I've been here for XXX years crowd" but
they can be co-opted into helping write the checklists. Especially if the
existence of the checklist allows them to pawn off the grunt work to juniors.

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ColinWright
So as soon as I start scrolling down to the article I get a bloody great pop-
up obscuring most of the text, making it impossible to read.

Checklist item:

* Make sure your web site is actually usable.

Funny, for a company called "Net Guru."

 _Added in edit:_ Looking at the posting history, I'd guess filozynka is
associated with the company. So, if you read this, it would take me time and
effort to take screenshots of the multiple problems and issues I have with
your web site. Do you want me to do that?

~~~
iktorn
Colin,

which browser are you using? Looks good here.

~~~
ColinWright
FireFox 11.0 on Ubuntu 10.10. Screen size 1024x768.

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greenyoda
At the end, this article mentions Atul Gawande's book, _The Checklist
Manifesto_ (although the title is mangled in the link). Gawande's 2007 New
Yorker article that was the basis for that book can be read here:

[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/12/10/071210fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all)

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aymeric
What tools do people use to manage the checklists? (some features I am looking
for: easy to write new checklists, view history, allow to discuss them, ...)

I know about [http://howtracker.com](http://howtracker.com) is there anything
else out there?

~~~
iktorn
I'm testing [http://launchlist.net/](http://launchlist.net/) right now. Looks
solid

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michuk
A TODO.txt file shared over dropbox has worked for me for the lsst 4 years
(yes, i keep the whole history in a DONE.txt file!)

~~~
iktorn
I think that's a bit different. Checklists are reusable and shared. It's not a
one-time todolist

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kubaf
are you using "checklists" internally? how do encourage people to use them?

