Why do you want to make a checklist? What problem is it going to solve? What purpose does it serve?

You can make a checklist for any situation, but it’s important to answer these questions as specifically as possible before you start developing one. Is it for making sure you’re not forgetting any steps in a process? For avoiding bias when interviewing someone? For resetting a room after a meeting or presentation?

It’s a simple step, but an important one. Understanding the purpose of the checklist gives you a metric for its success so you can improve and adapt it down the line, and helps shed some light on the next step too.

In Gawande’s own words "When you’re making a checklist — you must define a clear point at which the checklist is supposed to be used." This is what he calls a ‘pause point,' the moment where there’s a natural pause in action before the checklist can be used and the job can be done.

For the British Airways flight that was forced to make an emergency landing, referenced in the book, the pause point before their checklist was used was when the crisis lights started blinking in the plane’s cockpit. It’ll certainly be less dramatic for you, but finding that moment to pause, make a mental switch and say to yourself ‘time to turn to the checklist,’ is still important.

There are two kinds of checklists, ‘Do-Confirm’ and ‘Read-Do’, and each has a unique purpose.

A Do-Confirm checklist means performing each job from memory and experience then reaching a pause, referring to the checklist, and confirming each and every action has been completed. Think of it a little like a way to jog your memory so nothing has been overlooked.

A Read-Do is more like a recipe. You read a step, do it, then move on to the next.

For new checklists created from scratch, think about the kind of context it’s going to be read in. If the situation the checklist calls for is more ‘think on your feet,’ or ‘act first, ask questions later,’ then a Do-Confirm is better. But if the situation needs precision and care, and time is less of a concern, then a Read-Do is better.

A bad checklist is complicated, convoluted, overly long. A good checklist, by comparison, is precise, practical and efficient.

You can make multiple checklists tailored to different parts of your day, or of specific steps in a process, but limit each one to between five and nine actions; the limit, as Gawande points out, of working memory.

The simplicity of a checklist needs to be reflected in the way it’s formatted. The best checklists fit entirely on one side of paper, printed in plain black and white with no unnecessary colours, bells or whistles. They stay true to uppercase and lowercase lettering with correct grammar and spelling, they use exact language that is familiar to the reader, and the font and word size stays consistent across the whole thing.

Simply put: Don’t overcomplicate.

Not all the points on your checklist will be equally important. Some, as Gawande calls them, are ‘killer steps,’ i.e. actions that are often forgotten about but are crucial to the situation the checklist calls for.

In the book, Gawande mentions how a long process of fact finding and research led to the discovery of the ‘killer steps’ for Boeing aircraft take-offs and landings. Be sure to do the same. For example, if you’re putting together a Do-confirm checklist as a reference point during a presentation, ask around for others' opinions on the ‘killer steps,’ people often miss.

When you’ve found them, find a way to prioritise them on paper. It could be as simple as placing them at the top of the page.