Editor’s note: Occasionally we post legacy content that is still relevant today. Enjoy this piece By Kelly Schrank.

Before I get started, I want to offer this disclaimer: I know that lots of people like checklists! People have TO-DO lists for daily tasks, they have packing lists for travel, they use grocery lists. But Atul Gawande, a well-known staff writer for The New Yorker and author of four bestsellers, wrote a whole book, The Checklist Manifesto, on how checklists are used by people in a variety of industries to save lives, fly planes, and manage large-scale construction projects. His book covers checklists as people use them in the workplace, and much of the motivation behind how I approach checklists comes from his discussion of why and how professionals use checklists in their work lives.