
Ask HN: What are your go-to checklists? - KennyFromIT
People use checklists all the time. What are some examples of checklists that you find extremely helpful&#x2F;useful?
======
muzani
I've tried to checklist my life for years after reading The Checklist
Manifesto. I later learned that the best checklists are not in the form of
checklists.

Development checklists are often in the form of templates. E.g.
[https://html5boilerplate.com/](https://html5boilerplate.com/)

Life checklists are in the form of routines and rituals. For example, brush
teeth, shower, put on clothes, comb hair every morning. These should actually
be sorted out and optimized. I have a basket for "smart casual" clothes, a
basket for simply "casual" clothes, a place to dump dirty clothes, and things
like toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo go into the exact same location every
day. Instead of boxes you tick off, you optimize a route. I'd recommend doing
one for all the major things in life - shopping for food, locking up the
office, laundry, taking care of the cats, exercise, and so on. If you tend to
forget something, label things. Like sometimes the comb is not enough reminder
to comb my hair, so I put capital letter "COMB" at eye level.

I teach classes too. I used to keep a checklist of what to teach, but it's
easier to have PowerPoint slides instead. This is obvious to most people, but
took me months to figure out.

For my checklist apps I keep only two lists: Things to do ASAP ("today") and
things to do later/backlog. This is the technique Marc Andreessen recommends.

~~~
mickelsen
This! I call this following a "sequence" of tasks, and whenever I get
distracted -which happens a lot as I have ADHD-, the phrase "follow the
sequence" pops up in my head (sometimes also using alarms on the phone), then
I do whatever task/ritual I usually do at that time of the day. I have this
list in the Notes app, so whenever I'm lost or overwhelmed on what to do next,
I just check the phone. It works to clear my anxiety too.

------
henrikeh
I made [http://pcbchecklist.com](http://pcbchecklist.com)

For electronics there are a lot of small things which should be considered in
each design. The must-haves are covered by standards and regulation, but there
are many many other considerations which makes life easier or catches errors:
checklists are an obvious choice.

So to make it easy for myself I bought
[http://pcbchecklist.com](http://pcbchecklist.com)

It is mostly focused on being comprehensive, but every now and then I have
some free time to expand on it.

~~~
ChrisGammell
Love it! Glad you listed the various sources as well. I had been looking for
something similar a few years back when I was writing about this topic, but it
was pretty scattered. Seems like a good idea to have it all in one place (esp
with the community contribution possible)

~~~
henrikeh
Thanks. The idea started since my co-workers each had their own private lists
and it sure worked, but I figured that it would be much easier if I could just
go to one website and have one solid list.

A bit challenge, I think, is that the current list is overwhelmingly big and
it would really benefit from being more digestible/navigable. But there is
only so much time in the world...

------
fernandokokocha
In personal life, I find checklist useful to:

* not forget small tasks that if piled up, eventually become too big or annoying to tackle (daily budget update, email zero-inbox, browser bookmarks cleanup). I group such repeating tasks in daily routines (morning routine, evening routine) or periodical reviews (weekly, monthly etc.)

* keep up the habits (flossing, weighing myself)

* keep up with events rare enough to forget some pieces of it (weedings - tie a tie, give the shirt to the laundry)

Similarly, in software development. I've realized recently that things get
less cluttered if you have a process (a checklist, basically) with steps to
cover in particular activities.

Examples:

* work shutdown routine (put a work log to Jira, reply all remaining emails, git push everything).

* Definition of Done (DoD): code delivered, tests written, docs updated, etc. That is useful if you (or your team) want up-to-date README but keep forgetting to update it.

* topics to cover on project kick-off, here's mine if anyone's interested: [http://bartoszkrajka.com/2018/12/28/kick-off-dev-related-top...](http://bartoszkrajka.com/2018/12/28/kick-off-dev-related-topics-to-cover/)

------
inceptivecss
Much like @muzani below, I've tried to apply checklists at much as possible
after reading The Checklist Manifesto. It's a solid book with actionable
advice and examples.

For business, I have multiple SOPs, which are all effectively checklists:

* My daily marketing routine, with what to do and links directly to where I need to go.

* Monthly invoicing procedures.

* How to perform my roadmapping service (send this, update that, schedule this, etc.)

* Every README I write for dev projects will include a checklist of deployment procedures and how to update critical things.

I'll also occasionally write down a physical "ToDo" list, which ends up being
a checklist that I just go down. This is more for reducing executive function
in the mornings, and making sure I don't forget anything.

For my personal life, I don't operate off of a specific checklist day to day.
Instead, I have an alarm app with absolutely everything I need to do each day,
and when it needs to be done. I also rely on my Google Calendar for reminders.

Ultimately, knowing what to do is important, but knowing _when_ to do it is
also important.

------
wingerlang
I wrote up a checklist for the release procedure of the app I work on at my
company. I cannot stress how much it made my life easier.

There were a few (too many) manual steps, like updating websites XYZ with
release notes, and using this checklist made it all so much simpler to keep
track of what I had done / need to do. I also added direct links, removing
much friction.

Other than that I don't really use checklists.

------
DanBC
I use this in my suicide prevention work.

10 ways to improve safety:
[https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/ncish/](https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/ncish/)

[https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=40697](https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=40697)

------
perilunar
Wallet, keys, card, coins, hanky, phone, glasses. (my version of "spectacles
testicles wallet and watch")

~~~
lfx
Not a native English speaker here, what is hanky?

~~~
hcho
Handkerchief

------
justaguyhere
I am also interested in the same. Also, any suggestions for good checklist
apps?

~~~
muzani
Rule of thumb IMO is as simple as possible.

GTasks works fine for me for Android. They upgraded it but I still prefer the
older one.

For web, I use plaintext or a plugin for Sublime Text (PlainTasks).

Asana was awesome at one point, but they added too many features and it became
cumbersome.

Workflowy is good too but doesn't click with me for some reason.

~~~
davidhehehe
Would love to hear more of your thoughts on WorkFlowy. I’m a current user but
there are some things that are just subconsciously bothering me yet I can’t
find better alternatives.

