A creative, attentive and serious attitude to work is an important component of modern business. However, creativity has always been closely related to unforeseen costs of working time, uncertainty in the assessment of labor, and the need to clarify the cost of the work performed.
There are a large number of tasks that do not require high qualifications and can be solved by accurately and efficiently performing a sequence of simple actions. A checklist is just such a solution to the problem.
Scope of the idea
The sequence of simple operations is used both for solving critical tasks that are performed by qualified specialists, and for other tasks that an ordinary worker, student or schoolchild can handle.
A checklist is a sample of the correct ones written down in the form of a sequence of the simplest, most accurate and concise, but complete actions that need to be performed, for example, in order to:
- the plane took off;
- go to the store and buy what mom asked for;
- build a business;
- achieve some goal;
- check or do something for something.
The conveyor once revolutionized industry, and was useful in the production of not only simple parts, but also complex machines, mechanisms, food, sporting goods, clothing, and shoes.
Ideally, the checklist consists of a dozen minimally necessary, simple actions:
- ideal simple action - a simple, unconditional command to do something;
- an ideal instruction does not create options, but the next action is performed strictly in order;
- no random movements, everything is done strictly according to plan and according to the content of each item on the sheet.
The goal (task) can be large, and not every solution can fit on one sheet of paper. However, nothing prevents you from creating several checklists, which are executed sequentially by different workers at certain intervals.
Planning to solve a problem
Planning is an important component of any business. A checklist is also a plan, and not just a solution to a problem. You can draw up an action plan in the event of an unforeseen situation, a plan for behavior in the event of an accident or natural disaster, or a daily routine at a children's holiday camp. A class schedule at an institute or school is also a test product for “simple intelligence”, since this kind of checklist has conditions. For example, even or odd days, weeks.
Man always planned everything he did, but did it unconsciously. The emergence of the concept of “checklist” is an example of how the ordinary and familiar unconscious enters into the competence of the conscious, receives a new meaning and a radically new quality.
The term itself is relatively young, but the history of its idea and its application goes back hundreds of years. Most likely, the first papyri with the regulation of the sequence of simple actions were used in ancient times, otherwise it is difficult to explain the moments of the heyday of ancient civilizations, as well as the reasons for their fall.
Sample: FTP Daemon Installation Checklist
This is a pattern written once and used for many years. Nothing here is beautifully designed, written in Unixoid style, but practical.
Generally speaking, such checklists are born as a result of lengthy administration performed by the system administrator. As a rule, after two or three years, after hundreds of installations, the administrator writes such a memo to himself and his colleagues. This is a real checklist: ugly, but practical.
Sample of a beautiful, impractical checklist
Everything is written here correctly, but this is not a checklist. In particular, “Logo” is primarily verbs:
- create;
- how to create;
- what to consider;
- what to discard.
Each such verb should be followed by several recommendations.
An appeal to a slogan is reasonable, but creating a slogan is creativity, and checking it is a long-term practice (on a real live Internet with a massive influx of visitors), neither of which relates to the checklist in any way.
And so on for each point.
Really “flying” checklist (fragment) for Boeing 737
This is exactly how a checklist should be formatted. The phrase is a simple answer. That is, a simple action and a simple result.
This is only a fragment of a document, written in English, but in this particular case it is not the language that is important, but the accuracy of the declaration of the action and the verification of the result of its execution.
Test applications
Practical applications of a clear action plan:
- sports competitions;
- Accounting;
- checking the company's products;
- company audit;
- investigative activities;
- launch of a spaceship, etc.
Almost any area of human life and activity can be determined by an assortment of various small plans: inspection checklist No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, etc.
Strict regulation of actions is of particular importance in critical areas of activity, for example, in preparing a surgeon for an operation, when medical personnel, all participating doctors and nurses - each within their competence - perform a strictly regulated list of actions. Usually everything is done “automatically,” but professional ethics requires that all actions be performed “on paper.”
A checklist is an indispensable document for certifying and regulating the production and testing of food products, children's products, and checking the operation of machines and mechanisms.
Internet technologies and simple operations
Any surgical intervention requires a highly qualified surgeon. But it also requires proper execution of simple operations. In particular, all instruments on the operating table must be placed strictly in certain places, the patient must be prepared for the operation not only physiologically, but also morally.
A checklist (a sample sequence of actions) is not a program, not an algorithm, and it is difficult to attribute it to programming in the literal sense of the word, but Internet technologies have led to the need to create and perform many routine, but very important operations.
Creating a web resource requires at least the triplet of Apache, PHP and MySQL or its equivalent based on another server, another interpreter and database. Installing this trinity is the minimum required clear sequence of actions.
A mistake here can lead to the impossibility of working at all. Modern Internet programming is characterized by the fact that the algorithms of the server, interpreter and browser programming language “don’t think,” but if they “don’t understand” something, then they definitely “don’t do it”!
An error entry in the log must be declared, but often what is written in the log is not enough to find the problem.
Internet Programming: Simple Solutions to Complex Problems
A checklist is a solution to a problem. The practice of Internet programming in JavaScript and PHP, in particular, with an object-oriented writing style, allows only two options for solving the problem:
- Professional intuition.
- Test case.
There is no third. Testing tools in programming have long been very developed. There are also a lot of additional tools for checking code, and programming language developers devote a lot of time and effort to creating debugging and error-finding tools.
But only the creator (author) of the code, or an advanced test case, to the creation of which an experienced master had a hand, can determine in what place, at what level, in what subsystem of objects of the overall system the incident occurred.
The ideal solution is to make a checklist at the code level, when not a person, but the object created by him takes care of the execution of its own functionality, and also controls its state and its relationships with other objects.
Internet promotion, SEO
Since the Internet became accessible to the masses (and the topic “checklist as a test product” has always been accessible to the masses), a stream of monotonous ideas has poured into the SEO field. Absolutely trivial sequences were offered, and completely real money was extorted from gullible buyers on empty and groundless grounds.
- technical component;
- internal idealization of content;
- semantic content of the resource core;
- content: how it is and how it should become;
- commercial moment, resource monetization;
- external circumstances;
- promotion region;
- behavioral moment in the image of a visitor, etc.
But the purpose of the smart words was money. Trusting buyers, by paying for the “labor” of checklist authors, stimulated the production of such products, which is not at all good. But this process led to the fact that the topic of promotion expanded to the maximum possible limit and created conditions for generalizing information.
Reproduction in the field of information is a natural process, and today anyone can get real promotion of their own resource in any way:
- minimal costs through own potential;
- maximum costs, through a qualified craftsman.
A checklist today is a real and effective tool for achieving what you want in its formal part and absolutely complete freedom in the creative aspect of the goal being achieved.
Virtual space of simple ideas
The material component in life, at work, and in the socio-economic sphere as a whole has acquired stability. The fundamental foundations for successfully achieving what you want became obvious. The checklist is an example of how the creative component has gone into virtual space.
The level of qualification of consumers and authors of ideas has moved to a new quality. This reset positions and led to the formation of an assortment of new tasks and the need for new solutions. The world again became more perfect, and again a new quality was due to a simple and natural step forward.
Have you ever caught yourself thinking that this is not the first time you are repeating something to an employee?
Or notice that when performing a familiar task, employees make the same annoying mistakes, wasting time?
If yes, then it’s time to instruct employees to draw up checklists.
Check list(Check list) - a list containing a number of necessary checks for any work. By marking items on the list, an employee can find out about the status/correctness of this work.
The importance of checklists cannot be overestimated. No matter how experienced an employee is, in a hurry he can easily forget an important detail. Let's take, for example, a common situation - preparing to participate in an exhibition. This is a very expensive undertaking. One missed detail - flyers not printed on time - can cost half the budget.
Checklists may be used in various fields: there are checklists for waiters, for pilots, for marketers, for web designers.
Below are the rules for creating checklists that will help your employees create a useful and high-quality tool.
Rules for drawing up checklists
1. One point - one operation
The checklist items are the minimum complete operations. What does it mean?
Ordering the production of business cards and delivering business cards to the office are 2 different operations.
Therefore, in the checklist they are displayed as separate items:
business cards have been ordered
business cards delivered to the office
2. Points are written in an affirmative form
The purpose of the checklist is to check readiness, so it is better to compose the items in an affirmative form - “ordered, delivered.” Compare the wording:
“order business cards” and “business cards are ordered.” The second option requires more responsibility.
3. The optimal number of points is up to 20
Checklists should not be long. The optimal number of points is up to 20. If necessary, it is better to break the task into several stages and create a separate checklist for each stage.
Checklist example:
Effective implementation of checklists
1. Testing
After drawing up the checklist, mentally go through all the points together with the employee. Write down what was missed. Place the points in the correct order. Make edits.
2. Design
The checklist should look aesthetically pleasing - then it will be more pleasant to work with it.
3. Convenient access
Organize shared access to documents for employees so that they can be easily printed at the right time. Print the resulting list in the form of a table (if the check sheet is filled out every day).
Benefits of using checklists
- Structuring information in the employee’s head. When writing down the necessary actions, the employee clearly understands the required sequence of tasks.
- Increasing the speed of training of new employees. There is no need to repeat the sequence of operations for the hundredth time. It is enough to give a short briefing and give a checklist for independent work.
- High results, reduced number of errors. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, checklists help to avoid punctures and careless mistakes.
- Interchangeability of employees.
- — employees will spend significantly less time redoing tasks.
Examples of useful checklists for online business
When creating a checklist, remember: you are creating it primarily for the employee, he must intuitively understand what’s what and not get lost among all the points you have written down. And it is better to analyze the execution of tasks using specialized programs. For example, Yaware.TimeTracker, which allows you not only to create and delegate projects and tasks, but also to control them at all stages of implementation, analyze statistics and productivity of each employee. You can try new functionality. Or sign up and get 14 days free - test before you buy!
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Control of accounting, as well as other areas of economic activity, must be carried out at all commercial enterprises without exception.
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It should be remembered that there are a large number of different features of such procedures. They must be ordered, follow each other in a certain order.
Since this is precisely one of the reasons for the absence of problems of all kinds during inspections by regulatory authorities.
A special checklist can significantly simplify this kind of work. Its importance is quite difficult to overestimate. There are many variations of the formats of such a document.
If possible, you should familiarize yourself with its properties and the nuances of its composition in advance. This way you can avoid many difficulties in the future.
General information
This document contains the most detailed information about the list of questions for the audit. The type of sheet in question does not have a format established by law.
But at the same time, certain rules must be followed when forming it. This will reduce the likelihood of complications during the procedure.
Before you begin compiling such a sheet, you need to consider the following questions:
- what it is?
- purpose of the document;
- legal framework.
What it is?
The checklist itself is a special document that allows you to simultaneously solve a fairly large number of different tasks.
The document can be used by various institutions, regulatory organizations and officials. It is only important to remember the legal norms that apply when drawing up a document of this type.
The document itself reflects the following questions:
The use of this kind of documents has both its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantages include the following:
| List of issues identified in the document | May be too narrow, resulting in an insufficiently comprehensive inspection |
| The checklist can be restraining in some cases | The limiting factor for the auditor is that he simply will not go beyond the questions posed. |
| The document cannot replace | Standard audit plan |
| An inexperienced auditor may have some difficulties | With an understanding of the questions formulated on the sheet, he simply will not be able to clearly and clearly explain what exactly he is looking for in a particular case |
| The document must be prepared as well as possible | Duplication of questions can cause serious confusion |
In most cases, both the advantages and disadvantages of a document depend on many different factors.
First of all, this concerns the following points:
The checklist is a universal tool for implementing tasks related to auditing and some other procedures that must be regularly carried out at the enterprise.
Such documents may include the following:
Purpose of the document
Users of this type of document today can be:
This sheet allows you to simultaneously or sequentially solve the following list of tasks:
- correctly, in accordance with legal regulations, plan the audit itself;
- carry out selective control, plan all your time as efficiently as possible;
- allows you to avoid missing any important stages of the audit;
- used as a memory aid;
- significantly simplifies the audit itself;
- the audit is carried out in a structured, holistic manner;
- With the help of a checklist, it will be possible to communicate between different institutions, as well as the employees conducting the inspection.
Also, such documents are often used to solve other problems. It is worth familiarizing yourself with all the main properties of such documents in advance. This will make it possible to avoid a large number of different difficulties.
Legal basis
The main legislative act in accordance with which a document of this type must be drawn up is.
This regulatory document includes the following main sections:
| Auditing activities | |
| List of main NAPs that also regulate this type of activity | |
| What is an audit organization | |
| What is meant by the term “auditor” | |
| What does mandatory audit mean? | |
| Audit report | |
| List of basic rules, standards of actions carried out by auditors | |
| Denotes complete independence of various audit organizations | |
| Auditor confidentiality | |
| How is the quality of the inspection monitored? | |
| Auditor qualification certificate | |
| The procedure and grounds for revocation of an auditor’s certificate | |
| Conducting state control in the considered field of activity of the enterprise |
If possible, you should carefully familiarize yourself with all the nuances of the legislation regulating auditing activities. Since it is these regulatory documents that must be complied with.
Example of filling out a checklist for internal audit
The process of compiling this type of sheet is quite simple, but has its own nuances. This kind of procedure can be significantly simplified by considering an example of a QMS internal audit checklist.
The compilation process itself can be carried out in various ways. First of all, you will need to consider the following fundamental questions:
- where to get the form;
- order of filling;
- completed sample.
Where to get the form
An Excel example for internal audit can be easily downloaded from the Internet. If possible, you should use only well-proven and proven resources.
Today there are quite a large number of private institutions engaged in auditing. Such enterprises can provide a sample of this document free of charge, as a consultation. Or for an additional fee.
Filling procedure
The procedure for completing the audit is not reflected in the legislation. But it is necessary, if possible, to adhere to the following algorithm:
Typically, an Excel sheet is used as the main format. The reason for this is the ease of compilation and printing. Quite often checklists are needed in paper format.
If necessary, an electronic document can be easily sent via the Internet. You should remember some important nuances in the formation of this kind of sheet.
Completed sample
The only sure way to avoid various kinds of difficulties when drawing up such a document is to use an already completed sample.
Thus, it will also be possible to significantly speed up the procedure for carrying out such procedures. This is especially true for the question writing part. It is often at this stage that all sorts of difficulties arise.
The checklist itself is a table with six different columns. Their list:
Basic list of requirements for
The proposed checklist will be useful to a business coach for implementing post-training activities and for individual support of managers.
And for managers themselves, this checklist can become a tool for both self-education and self-examination.
It is filled out quite simply: “+” - executed in full, “-” - executed with errors.
The "Comments" block displays explanations of the shortcomings and/or recommendations (how to do it right).
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Criterion |
+/ - |
Comments |
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Specificity |
The leader designates the sequence of actions. |
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The leader identifies priorities - where to start, what must be done. |
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The manager discusses possible risks and options for preventing them. |
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The manager uses understandable terminology, monitoring the employee’s reaction (if he sees a misunderstanding, he immediately gives an explanation of his words). |
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When explaining the algorithm, the leader builds his speech competently, systematically, and as easily as possible for understanding. |
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Measurability |
The manager sets clear and transparent evaluation criteria. |
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Where necessary, the manager identifies both quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria. |
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The employee understands how his task will be assessed: the manager provides analogies for qualitative criteria, and comparative characteristics for quantitative criteria to increase the level of perception. |
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Reachability |
The manager takes into account the level of the employee, his experience, knowledge and skills. |
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The manager designates the resources that the employee can use (both material and human). |
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Feasibility |
The manager uses a link that shows the value of this task: “importance for the company/branch + importance for MM + importance for this employee.” |
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When indicating expediency for the employee himself, the manager necessarily uses non-material motivation (he talks about material rewards without placing emphasis on it, and only if it directly depends on the completion of this task). |
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In non-material motivation, the manager uses an individual approach, taking into account the leading needs of the employee. |
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Limited time |
The manager sets a deadline for completing the task. |
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The manager states who will exercise control and in what form (both final and intermediate). |
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Checking understanding |
Before an employee begins a task, the manager checks for understanding using open-ended questions. |
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When checking for understanding, the manager takes into account the level of the employee. That is, the experienced person is asked the question not: “Repeat, what will you do?”, but: “What other solution options, in your opinion, could there be?” |