Pilot's checklist - document and record - (Step 7 of Project Lite)

The seventh step in Project Lite is the pilot's checklist. A checklist is used to compensate for the weaknesses of human memory to help ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task. The pilot's checklist was first used and developed in 1934 when a serious accident hampered the adoption into the armed forces of a new aircraft (the predecessor to the famous Flying Fortress). The pilots sat down and put their heads together. What was needed was some way of making sure that everything was done; that nothing was overlooked. What resulted was a pilot's checklist. Actually, four checklists were developed - takeoff, flight, before landing, and after landing. The new aircraft was not "too much airplane for one man to fly", it was simply too complex for any one man's memory. These checklists for the pilot and co-pilot made sure that nothing was forgotten.

When running projects it is important to document and record dependencies. Often these are too many for a single individual to remember and thus lists capture those critical requirements that would otherwise have slipped through the cracks.