Free your mind: Aviation-Style Checklists

“Free your mind.”

— Morpheus

Without a checklist you are using unneccessary brainpower. Free your mind for more productive tasks.

I’m disorganised. So I’ve learned to use other tried and tested systems like checklists and runbooks.

In my previous post on runbooks, I discussed structured plain-text documentation over MS Word. But documentation alone isn’t sufficient.

Enter the aviation-style checklist.

The topic has been discussed elsehwere in the tech world, notably SQLite ships with a checklist SQLite checklist and at Pycon Talk.

Trained People Still Forget

We aren’t robots, and I’d argue the more skilled the task, the easier it is to miss a crucial step.

Without a checklist to ensure the sequence was done correctly, you will forget. If you think otherwise then you’re naive.

This is exactly why checklists are a fundamental skill for pilots and surgeons. That 47% reduction in surgical deaths came from hospitals in Canada, Britain, and the US — places with highly trained staff.

So yes - your office environment IS going to benefit from properly curated runbooks and checklists.

Make a Great Checklist

The most important — and often overlooked — feature of a checklist is sequence. Each action must be performed in turn before the next. This is the main feature that separates it from a random To-Do list.

The checklist must be complted in order, doing so gives the user confidence and de-stresses the task at hand. The author of the checklist is therefore forced to curating the sequence properly, rather than cobbling together random actions.

Implementation

Aviation checklists follow a simple pattern: OBJECT → ACTION

Store your checklists as simple YAML files - easy to version control, easy to parse. Here is an example YAML file parsed into an image. The parsing code can be found and used here: Python Checklist Parser

# client-presentation.yaml
title: Client Presentation
phase: Pre-Meeting
items:
  Speaker Notes: REVIEW
  Manager Review: APPROVE
  Web Screen Share: TESTED
  Backup PDF: SAVE

---
title: Client Presentation
phase: One Hour Before
items:
  Meeting Room: CHECK
  Web Conference: CHECK

Why These Work in an Office

Don’t you need to know what version of the document you’re looking at?

Opening documentation written in MS Word, whether that be checklists or runbooks has issues like inability to search the document without opening it, large file size, unstructured and poor version tracking support.

Wrap up

Checklists don’t make you less skilled, they free you to focus on the work that actually requires thought.

Pick one recurring task and think carefully about breaking the steps down into a single noun and action. Leave the detailed instructions for a different runbook. If you’re like me and pilots all over the world - you’ll notice how it de-stresses situations.

The Parser Tool

I’ve created a small python CLI tool that converts yaml checklists into cool looking checklists - professional look and feel.

You can add your own styles using the css in the app, there are a handful of styles already out the box, e.g.

Boeing - traditional blue/white: