The Checklist Manifesto- Book Review

Atul Gawande is a surgeon in the US and has written a few books too. This one talks about a simple way to improve processes. That is through a simple checklist.

The average air passenger may be familiar with the fact that we have a survival checklist or two in case of disasters- how to open the emergency door and what to do-or not. There is also a similar one that pilots use to make sure a few things are done in sequence before taking off. They have several others for different kinds of emergencies.

How the humble checklist can reduce errors in surgery-the patient's life may depend on it-is what the book is about, essentially. But along the way, it provides other examples of its use, potentially successfully-in investing, for instance.

Intriguingly, resistance to using one is universal, and among surgeons, investment analysts, and others. The hero who can single-handedly win against all odds, and who knows everything (without checklists)- is an idea that is strongly ingrained in all professions, and stops most from even trying to use a checklist. But it has many dimensions, and there are many types of checklists (builders use several). A good one can help in most situations that are complex, or require quick reaction, or both. They improve communication-in fact checklists can mandate some forms of discussion in medicine, or other complex areas. Painstaking research stories to prove their usefulness permeate the book.

A good read, and (maybe) an even better implement, if you are so inclined.

Guide to Management Core Subjects-Statistics

It's one of the most misunderstood subjects in the world. Usually because (pardon me teachers) it is taught badly. With no appreciation that it can do wonders for you, if you don't seek perfection from it (like with most things in life, I might add).

Statistics is the art or science of estimating things, and sometimes calling these predictions- they are still estimates, and can be wrong to varying degrees. But within its limitations, you can estimate a lot of things using simple statistics. For instance, people visiting a store on a given day, or time of the day, can be observed, mapped, and used to determine how many staff would be needed, for example, at what times.

Or, you can look at purchase patterns and send out promotional offers to customers most likely to buy. Online marketers seem to have cottoned on to this, coz I am flooded with pop up ads for air tickets, if I have just browsed for a particular sector on yatra, without buying the ticket.

The trouble is, teaching starts at the wrong end- the theory, which is worse than nuclear physics, and hardly anyone understands it. Practice or application might be the place to start, and present a practical problem, and then go back to how statistics could help solve it (with a margin of error, naturally). And the discussion of errors of all kinds (Type 1, Type 2 are the least of them) goes on and on, that by the time you are done listing all of them you forget what problem it was you were trying to solve.

The other extreme is trying to fit a problem to a technique. As in, I want to use Regression (or Multidimensional Scaling, or whatever). How do I use it in my research? Or, after a questionnaire for a survey has been filled up, saying I want to use x,y,z, technique for analysis. That is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, surely? The scale of measurement determines what analysis can be performed. QED.

I will not even talk about probability, until I have understood how to make it better understood.