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It is very interesting to read two books like Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, by Sam Carpenter, and The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande, back to back because what strikes you is how similar their message is.

Work the System details the long, hard trip Sam Carpenter took through his business and personal life, and how he found himself at the brink of collapse when, almost by epiphany (it seems a divine inspiration the way he describes it), he realizes he needs to create “systems”. These systems turn out to be basically numbered bullet points that are followed to the letter and that are never wavered from. He runs Centratel, whose objective is to provide the “highest quality telephone answering services in the United States”. If you wish to get hired by the company, you must fit certain specifications, adhere to certain principles and pass certain steps, all listed word for word in his “systems”.

I must confess I almost gave up on this book when he was talking about how he realized systems governed everything in this world and we were all part of one big system. It was eerily reminiscent of “The Secret” or some other form of New age fan-dangle. The more I read, however, the more I became convinced of his methods. If a method works, why not write down the steps needed so it is followed each time? Why not let people improve on this? Then, when he starts talking about how to maximize productivity when your brain is at its peak capacity, as well as how to avoid striving for perfection, I started thoroughly enjoying the information offered. If you deal with any form of operations or systems management, try to make it past the first chapter or two regarding his “epiphany”. It will be worth it.

The Checklist Manifesto is pretty much exactly what you expect it to be. It is, however, more convincing than you’d expect not only due to the fact that Atul Gawande is a surgeon, but that he is complaining at the lack of checklists in his profession and praising them in others. On the other hand, those of us who do not know much of the profession might wonder if he is keeping anything from us. Sure, checklists might help, but maybe expertise, resources, luck of the draw, etc. have much more to do with it (his examples of how great doctors can make seemingly elementary mistakes is rather harrowing). He then goes on to talk about other professions. His most convincing examples are in the airline industry. What you realize here is that no mistake has been made in this industry twice. If a crash happens due to a water leak in the fuel tank, you can be sure that same water leak will never happen again for any airline anywhere. Your second realization will be that this is indeed due to checklists. He seals the deal by detailing famous recent landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson, pulled off to perfection, it turns out, thanks to a checklist.

Just another short point. Once you have read one or both of these books, you start noticing “systems’, “checklists”, “bullet points”, “flow charts” in all operations everywhere. Nick Sarillo, who runs Nick’s Pizza & Pub in Illinois, possibly the most successful independent pizza restaurant in the country, detailed in a recent edition of Inc. Magazine, how he turned his company around:

So what did he do? “I built a system to replace me,” Sarillo says. “I put together a checklist of things that had to be done by 4 p.m., so we could handle the volume. It took about four weeks until it could work without me. Now we’re nailing it.”

Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, by Sam Carpenter
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande