Project Management: Checklists

Project managers have a checklist for just about everything. There may even be checklists for making sure all of the checklists are done. The point of this is not to slam the use of checklists. My parents used checklists to pack for vacations, there are checklists for our cars servicing and I’m sure we all have started hundreds of checklists to remember our list of weekend “To Dos”. Checklists are a good tool and like other tools, we tend to over use them until we learn the strength and weakness of the tool. So it is for checklists in managing projects.

When I first took the Motorcycle Foundation Safety course we were first taught using a couple of checklists. The key ingredient to teaching the use of the checklist was to help us understand the purpose of each component so that when it was checked we had knowledge behind why it was on the list. Having a checklist isn’t the key, having an understanding of what is getting checked, the purpose of the action item, is the key. Knowing why an item is on the checklist will help determine whether or not the work is actually completed and completed at the right time.

I actually like checklists, checklists give me a sense of security. Being able to check off a list of actions can give a sense of accomplishment. The sense of security and sense of accomplishment can be deceiving. Just because it has been checked off doesn’t mean that the appropriate work has been done. We had pre-defined checklists when starting our motorcycles, these pre-defined checklists are what cause problems for projects and project managers. Learning to manage a project through the use of checklists is helpful but, checklists won’t be the answer to managing projects. It is like doing risk identification once in a project, you can check it off your list when you finish the risk identification, the problem is that risk identification is never “done” and is needed throughout the project life cycle.

Checklists are designed to help reduce risk, the risk of missing something that is important to a project. That makes a checklist a useful tool. I’ve been most successful with a checklist when I’ve used a pre-defined checklist as a starting point and addressed each item on the list in some way. I’ve asked the simple questions of who, what, when, where, and how to each item so that each item was well defined, was questioned each time and then addressed as part of the project. Checklists don’t replace knowledge, experience or understanding. Using them blindly will not improve delivery, it will hinder delivery.

Checklists are friend and foe, strength and weakness, useful tool and an anchor around the neck of the project manager. They should be used wisely. If you are new to project management be aware that every problem is not a nail and a checklist is not a hammer. It is simply a tool to walk through the questions of who, what, when, where, and how for an item that must be done. Remember that many of the tasks that are part of managing a project are recurring and on-going. Many of the project management activities aren’t complete until the project is closed. Rely on the project team to build checklists and use them to ensure the completion of agreed upon work that is to occur once in a project. Otherwise, everything will be a checklist.

Ride On, Manage On.