There are two forces that are important today that seem to be opposed to each other. I don't mean politics, I mean ideas, fashions, practices. One of these forces is routines. We work out a good procedure. We check it for completeness and correctness and we follow it. The other force is innovation. We experiment with changes, partly because we know we have not tried every method and every approach. We may find a better procedure, a safer, less costly, more convenient way to produce a better result.
I have paid attention to Dr. Atul Gawande for quite a while. His most recent book, "Being Mortal", is characteristically sensible in its discussion of death, dying and attitudes toward the end of life. Some years back, we read his "Checklist Manifesto". That book discusses accidents and oversight that caused problems, damage and death when someone, such as a pilot, failed to take an important step in a procedure he was supposed to complete. The book discusses improvements in safety and such when a careful execution of the steps in a procedure are each checked and verified as they are completed. Having a checklist and using it to document each required step in an operation is what the book is about.
As we lead our lives and live out our days, we all have certain procedures we carry out. Doing the laundry, making coffee, paying bills - things like that. We can get bored with doing the steps yet again, we can get distracted, we can try some innovation or attempt some variety. Just as keeping in mind which day of the week we are on, or what today's date is can be a challenge to properly update, yet again filling the coffee decanter with water can drift into a memory of filling it yesterday. There has been only one time that I turned on the coffee machine without filling it with water. I didn't start a fire and I didn't destroy the glass pot but I might have done so.
Eventually, I may make a bad misstep and cause some trouble. I have been finding that memorizing the number of steps in a well-done procedure helps me make a quick check as I end a procedure. I do four things preparing for bed. I do three things preparing coffee. Running through that number of steps and quickly checking that they have all been completed may help me avoid doing some damage.
