How checklists work and how to use them productively

Atul Gawande tells a nice story from the history of checklists in his Checklist Manifesto:

On October 30, 1935, U.S. Army Air Corps held a flight competition for airplane manufacturers vying to build the military’s next-generation long-range bomber. A small crowd of army brass and manufacturing executives watched as the Model 299 test plane started its flight, then stalled, turned on the one wing and crashed in a fiery explosion. Two of the crew members died. The investigation report said it was due to a pilot error. The pilot had forgotten to release a new locking mechanism on the elevator and rudder controls.

Still, the army purchased a few aircrafts as test planes. The Model 299 pilots, however, did not undergo a longer training. Instead, a pilot’s checklist was created. The list was simple, brief and to the point. With the checklist in hand, the pilots went on to fly the Model 299 a total of 1.8 million miles without one accident.

As Gawande says, checklists remind us of the minimum necessary steps and make them explicit. They provide a kind of cognitive net. They catch mental flaws inherent in all of us — flaws of memory, attention, and thoroughness. Gawande talks about an aviation handbooks he had once seen. It was a large volume, spiral bound, with numerous yellow tabs. It included scores of checklists. Each one was remarkably brief, usually just a few lines on a page in a big, easy-to-read type. Each applied to a different situation, both routine and for emergency situations.

It’s important, says Gawande, to define a clear pause point at which the checklist is supposed to be used. Is it do-confirm or read-do checklist?

• Do-confirm checklist means that the team members perform their jobs from memory and experience, often separately. Then they pause to run the checklist and confirm they did everything they were supposed to do.
• Read-do checklists are more like recipes: a person checks the tasks off as they do them. A rule of thumb is to have between 5 to 9 items — the killer items that are dangerous to skip and sometimes overlooked nonetheless.

Gawande also talks about the characteristics of good and bad checklists:

• Bad ones are vague and imprecise. They are too long, hard to use and impractical. They are made by people with no awareness of the situations in which they are going to be deployed. They treat the people using the tools and dumb and try to spell out every single detail. They turn people’s brains off rather than turn them on.
• Good ones are precise. Efficient, to the point, and easy to use even in the most difficult situations. They provide reminders of only the most critical and important steps — the ones that even the highly skilled professionals using them could miss. Good checklists are, in a word, practical.

However, no matter how careful you might be, a checklist has to be tested in the real world. First drafts always fall apart. Keep testing, make changes, listen to the feedback you get from people who use the list in different situations.

A few words about memory

Your short-term memory is able to hold a small amount of information (around 7 items) in mind in a readily available state for a short period of time (usually about 10–15 seconds). George Miller experimented with this and suggested that a person can hold in memory 7 ± 2 items. I’m sure everyone has experienced how difficult it is to keep some information in mind longer than that without constantly repeating it or writing it down. Not everything is worth remembering longer than that but if it is, don’t trust your memory. Furthermore, your memory only holds things like keywords or a few numbers rather than complete concepts. I’m sure you have come in contact with some of your own notes holding seemingly random words that make no sense.

So, if you don’t want your information to disappear from your mind, you have to put some effort to remembering it. These could be repeating the information, writing it down, giving it a meaning or associating it with other information you already have. You can also make up a story about the bits and pieces of information: while not necessarily logical, the story format might really help you to remember the information until you can write it down somewhere or happily forget it.

You can also try “chunking” of information where you organize the material into smaller groups to make them more manageable. A hyphenated phone number is one example of this kind of chunking. Herbert Simon’s experiments show that the ideal size of chunking letters or numbers is three. (However, sometimes it might be better to make it to four numbers, when it’s about a year or a date.) When you chunk the information this way, each chunk becomes one of the 5–9 items that the short-term memory can hold.

As any outside interference tends to disturb your short-term memory, many people feel the need to complete the task held in short-term memory as soon as possible. However, if you write down the task as soon as you can, you can look at it from a distance. How important and/or urgent the task really is?

I also used this article as a source for this section:

Short-term (working) memory by The Human Memory

Goals motivate us

Fred C. Lunenburg writes about motivation theories and the role of goals in his article in International Journal of Management, business and administration (2011) (PDF). As the article says:

“Based on hundreds of studies, the major finding of goal setting is that individuals who are provided with specific, difficult but attainable goals perform better than those given easy, nonspecific, or no goals at all.”

Lunenburg sets his article in a work environment while Dale Schunk talks about goals in schools and education in his article published in 2009 on education.com.

They both list the building blocks of good goals. In order to motivate, the goal has to be:

• Specific, telling exactly what to reach for. This helps people to measure their own progress. Goals are more effective when they are used to evaluate performance (how well the goals were attained). As Locke & Latham found on their studies, with general goals the motivational benefits are not great because almost any level of performance satisfies the standard.
• Difficult but attainable. If the goal is too difficult to reach, it will look unreasonable and will not motivate. If the goal is difficult but a person believes (s)he’s able to attain it, it will motivate and drive to results. This is also one of the findings by Locke & Latham.
• Accepted. One way to get acceptance is to include people in the goal-setting process, which will also help them to better understand the goal. When a person feels the enthusiasm and is committed to the goal, they are more determined to achieve it.

It is also important to:

• Provide feedback on goal attainment. Feedback helps people to determine how well they’re doing and what they should do in order to improve.
• Use deadlines. They give extra motivation and serve as a time-control mechanism. It’s important to keep the right balance with deadlines, though. If plenty of time remains, people might intentionally slow down their progress but if the deadline is too tight, the quality of work may suffer. The ability to better evaluate the time needed for different projects comes with time and experience.
• Have a learning goal orientation instead of performance goal orientation. A learning goal refers to what knowledge, skill or behavior or strategy the person is trying to acquire. The focus is on learning and developing. A performance goal focuses on what task the person is trying to complete, which may lead to the person comparing their works to others, which can lower motivation, depending on how the others are progressing.

Today, working in groups, teams or committees is more a rule than an exception. Lunenburg writes that having employees work as teams with a specific team goals, rather than as individuals with only individual goals, increases productivity. However, he reminds of a few limitations Locke & Latham found on their studies. First, combining goals with monetary rewards motivates many members to set easy rather than difficult goals. Second, goal setting focuses on a narrow subset of measurable performance indicators, ignoring the aspects that are difficult to measure. Third, setting performance goals may not be effective when the members still learning a new, complex job.

Schunk mentions Bandura, who noticed in his studies that proximal (close at hand) goals lead to higher motivation than do long-term goals. Bandura also studied efficacy expectations, which refers to personal beliefs about one’s capabilities to learn or perform actions at designated levels. Bandura noted that people base their self-efficacy on their performances, observations of models, forms of social persuasion and physiological indexes (for example their heart rate). Bandura’s social cognitive theory states that learners set goals that they feel self-efficacious about attaining and believe that when attained will result in positiv outcomes.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were introduced by Ryan & Deci in their Self-Determination Theory in 1985. Intrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it is inherently interesting or enjoyable, and extrinsic motivation refers to doing something because it leads to a separate outcome. In 2000, they published an article in Contemporary Educational Psychology (PDF) where they revisited their classic definitions and talked about new directions.

The Cognitive Evaluation Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), which is considered a sub-theory of Self-Determination Theory, states that feeling of competence (caused by rewards, feedback, etc.) during action can enhance intrinsic motivation. Deci and Ryan mention several studies which show that positive performance feedback enhanced intrinsic motivation, but negative feedback diminished it. However, perceived competence mediated these effects. However, this must be accompanied by a sense of autonomy. Several studies, as Deci and Ryan show, show that threats, deadlines, directives and competition pressure diminish intrinsic motivation because people experience them as controllers. On the other hand, choice and the opportunity for self-direction appear to enhance the intrinsic motivation.

Organismic Integration Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) is also considered a sub-theory of Self-Determination Theory. It focuses on different forms of extrinsic motivation. The first one is amotivation, meaning a state of lacking an intention to act. Amotivation results from not valuing an activity, not feeling competent to do it, or not believing it will yield the desired outcome. The second type of extrinsic motivation is introjected regulation. It describes a type of internal regulation that is still quite controlling because people perform such actions with the feeling of pressure in order to avoid guilt or anxiety or to attain ego-enhancements or pride. The third and most autonomous form of extrinsic motivation is integrated regulation. The more one internalizes the reasons for an action and assimilates them to the self, the more one’s extrinsically motivated actions become self-determined. It shares many qualities with intrinsic motivation, but the behavior is motivated by its presumed instrumental value.

As Deci and Ryan note, a person might originally get exposed to an activity because of an external regulation (like a reward), and such exposure might allow the person to experience the activity’s intrinsically interesting properties, resulting in an orientation shift. This also works another way around. A person might lose the sense of the value of an activity (for example, under a controlling mentor) and move “backward” into an external regulatory mode. There are plenty of studies that show the pros and cons of both types of motivation. In one study (by Ryan & Connell, 1989) a group of students who were more externally regulated showed less interest, value or effort and had a tendency of blaming others for negative outcomes. Intrinsic motivation correlated with interest, enjoyment, felt of confidence and positive coping. That being said, other studies have shown that more autonomous extrinsic motivation is associated with greater engagement, better performance, higher quality learning and greater psychological well-being.

There is also an interesting phenomenon called overjustification effect, which Kendra Cherry briefly introduces in her article. This effect occurs when an external incentive decreases a person’s intrinsic motivation to perform a behavior or participate in an activity. Researchers have found that when extrinsic rewards are given for actions that people already find intrinsically rewarding, they will become less internally motivated to pursue those activities in the future. People might feel like they are being “bribed” into performing the behavior. However, Cherry refers to Griggs (2010) who reminds that the extrinsic reinforcement is not likely to impact intrinsic motivation if the extrinsic reinforcement (for example, good grades) is dependent upon doing something well versus just doing it.

Create right kinds of tasks

Once you’ve found the platform where you want to record your tasks, remember to be very precise. Break bigger projects down to smaller tasks, starting from the very first step. Make sure these tasks can be done in just a few minutes. Phrase your task in a form like: [verb] the [noun] with the [object]. Don’t say “write my thesis”. Say “outline the first chapter of my thesis” or “take 30 minutes to revise the first chapter of my thesis”. Remember to have a task with clear edges: a beginning and an end. This way your conscious brain is satisfied because it knows that you’ll get the task at some point and we know exactly what to do when it happens. This will tame the Zeigarnik effect, where your mind is constantly nagging you about unfinished tasks.

Adding any necessary information like links, attachments or phone numbers will help you jump on the task immediately, even if you only have a few minutes of time. This Lifehacker article provides a great idea of thinking your to-do list as an instruction set your boss self gives to your assistant self. If the instructions are clear, specific, and easily carried out, you’re good. If not, you’ll get fear, procrastination and self-loathing. It’s up to you to write down instructions in such a way that your assistant self can “just do them”.

Separate work, personal and other tasks. This way you can view just your work to-dos and projects when you’re actually working. This will also help you to keep the list short as too many tasks will easily overwhelm you. Your future obligations, someday/maybe projects, and tasks will go somewhere else, preferably to a separate space you create for them. When you have time, you can look into there but otherwise focus on the present, only on the next action.

Unlock your productivity powers

You have secret productivity powers inside you and this Fast Company article teaches you to unlock them.

• What helped you to succeed? Focus on the thought process, the planning, and other little things.
• Keep in mind how you felt in the different stages of the process. Learn to anticipate that emotional state and then alter it through simple pleasures.
• Don’t try to be productive before you need to be. Don’t hustle trying to answer as many emails as possible 15 minutes before a big meeting. Instead, think how you can be amazing on that meeting.
• Know the simple effects food and water has on you. Don’t get dehydrated and maintain a stable blood sugar.
• Become an effective reader. Be more deliberate and strategic about what you’re reading. You can test and train your reading speed here.
• When you are done, say it out loud. The simple word “done” creates a psychological response. This can shift your brain from a heightened state to a more mindful, relaxed one. When this happens, a “feel-good chemical” is released.
• Always look for growth opportunities. Experience as many things as possible. Learn to overcome obstacles. Things will always change, no matter what.

6 lists that help you be more productive

Fast Company lists the lists you need to make every day productive.

• A specific and targeted daily to-do list. Write it at the end of the day so you have a roadmap for tomorrow.
• And outsource list. “Am I the only person who can do this?” Know how to best use your time and talents.
• A long-term goals list. Re-evaluate and review it periodically.

When you write something down, studies say you’ll be 33% more likely to do it because it sets an intention and puts a goal into motion. (Paula Rizzo)

• A pros and cons list. Write it down and then leave it alone. Come back to it the next day with a fresh perspective. If possible, share it with somebody to brainstorm and gather feedback.
• A project list. Detail tasks and assign responsibilities. Make sure everyone can see all the team members’ progress and to-do lists.
• A talking-points list. For an upcoming meeting or important phone call, create a list of things you want to discuss. Keep the list handy so when things pop in your mind you can jot them down. This makes meetings more efficient and ensures you cover everything you need to.