Dr. Atul Gawande encourages the use of checklists for many reasons, including: Checklists mitigate the impact of poorly-qualified employees Checklists increase communication on teams where members may be unfamiliar to one another Checklists are readily accepted by highly skilled professionals like surgeons and pilots Checklists are simple to create and can be put together without many resources (time, access to subject-matter experts, etc)