The Case for the Short Checklist

Operations teams sometimes mistake length for thoroughness. A checklist with three items that everyone follows beats a twelve-item document that no one opens. The instinct to laminate—to make something physical and finished—reflects something genuine: short documents disappear precisely because they feel disposable. The counter-argument worth holding: lamination preserves a document, not its usefulness. A checklist earns permanence by surviving contact with the work, not by being printed.