Bahareh Kamranzad
PhD, Coastal Engineering

July 2020

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I was listening to an episode of BPlus podcast that introduces the book "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right" by Atul Gawande.

In this book, the author mentions that the problems are usually caused by: Lack of knowledge, and ineptitude, and this book is about the second one, and how checklists can reduce mistakes caused by ineptitude.

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According to this book, there are three types of problems:

- Simple: Like baking a cake, there is simple instruction and it can be guaranteed that the cake will be fine if the instructions are followed.

- Complicated: Like constructing a skyscraper or a surgery, composed of various simple problems and can be broken down into many simple problems. There might be also unexpected incidents.

- Complex: Like raising children. There is no guarantee that previous experiences can be helpful. There is no instruction, and the result is affected by uncertainties.

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The checklists can be very influential when solving complicated problems. Of course, there are uncertainties in complicated problems, as well. But, using checklists can set the problem-solver's mind free to deal with the unexpected issue.

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