The Checklist Manifesto is good, but it was a little confused over what checklists are. Almost all of the examples discussed are actually checklists: before yo

The Checklist Manifesto is good, but it was a little confused over what checklists are. Almost all of the examples discussed are actually checklists: before you do something, you go over the checklist and make sure whatever it says to do has been covered. But the example of soap distribution in India isn't like that at all. The notional "checklist" was a list of several circumstances in which you should use soap: 1. Before preparing food. 2. After using the bathroom. 3. After wiping an infant. 4. [There were others; I don't remember them.] This is a good and valuable set of information to publicize. But it isn't a checklist. Interpreted as a checklist, you would need to check it before and after every action you ever take. That is obviously not something people can do. You use this list by doing the work of modifying your relevant habits to include "wash with soap" at an appropriate stage, which is exactly the kind of approach to doing things that the rest of the book is telling you doesn't work.