A cake wouldn't be as delicious if you missed a few ingredients, would it? Checklists are the same way. Think of the tasks in your checklist as ingredients in a recipe for success. Each has its place, and each is important for a great result.

Before you create checklists, it helps to know what makes a good checklist. After all, you want it to be useful and save you time in the long run. Just ticking off boxes is not the ultimate goal of your checklist.

The suggested best practices below can help you create the best checklist for your procedure and gives you ownership over the process.

Take a good, hard look at what hasn't worked in the past. Were there steps missed? Were the steps completed out of order? Find out where the process has fallen down and identify failure points in a task you do frequently. Identifying these roadblocks will serve as your building blocks for a successful checklist.

With most types of work, there are other people in your organization who either do similar work or who use the results of your work. Ask these people for their ideas on the common causes of failure or what they would suggest checking. Many people are willing to offer some thoughts and observations, especially if they are impacted by your work.

Describing every single step to complete a task essentially renders a checklist useless. Just list the key steps identified in Step 1 that you frequently miss. Think of a checklist step as a headline 'Complete installation', you could then link to an SOP that has more detail that is required for completing that task. Your checklist should have no more than 9 items on it. The shorter the better.

Do steps are exactly what they sound like – reminders to do a specific action. In the case of onboarding a new employee, you could check what software and licenses they may need to complete their daily responsibilities, using previous onboarding experiences as a baseline.

Most people build checklists as a way to ensure a procedure or task is carried out to the letter. However, the task may be quite large and communication is essential to keep things on track. In this case, creating a communication checklist can be extremely helpful. Make sure it includes who needs to talk to whom, by when, and about what.

The next action is to ensure the checklist, or specific steps within it, are assigned to the right person. Now, anyone accessing the checklist knows who is responsible for what, enhancing the efficiency of the process. Once you assign the checklist or steps, each new owner will automatically receive an email notification for it. This allows them to easily view and assess their new assignments directly from their email inbox.

Need a reminder? We’ve got you covered. Owners will also receive an email reminder notification at 7 days before the assigned due date and again 1 day before the due date.

You've followed the five steps above, now's the time to put your checklist into action. Expect that your first checklist will have some gaps. Simply take note of those gaps and continue working through the process.

After testing your checklist in Step 5, it's time to refine and improve the checklist. Continuous improvement is the name of the game in checklist development. As you improve the quality of your work with checklists, consider sharing your findings with other professionals.

Ready to build your own checklist? Read our Create a basic checklist KB article for a step-by-step walkthrough.