Using Checklists to Boost Efficiency

#100RulesofThumb — Rule 24 A lot of experience and competence boils down to having exhaustive checklists. —— "Checklists? What? Aditya, if you're using checklist-type work, you're engaging in tedious labour." If your instinctual thought when you read 'checklists' was along the same lines, I'd ask you to reserve your judgment. Consider the medical field. Surgeons use checklists to ensure that every step, from pre-op to post-op, is followed meticulously. Atul Gawande's book "The Checklist Manifesto" delves into this. An exhaustive checklist ensures that the surgeon, no matter how experienced, doesn't overlook a step that could be the difference between life and death. The checklist is not just a reminder; it's a safeguard against your limited memory and attention. Even pilots have pre-flight checklists that are non-negotiable. These checklists distill lessons learnt from countless flight hours, accidents, and near-misses. They're not just lists; they're codified experience and rules you need to follow, whether or not you understand why you're supposed to follow them. Same goes for military ops. Or editors with their editorial checklists. Before publishing, there are checks for structure, coherence, grammar, and even legal issues. Again, this simple checklist codifies years of writing experience. In investigative journalism, especially, journalists go through a series of checks — verifying sources, cross-referencing facts to make sure nothing takes away from the veracity of their findings. ⭐ 5 reasons why checklists are so effective ⭐ 1. They externalize knowledge. You don't need to keep everything in your head. This frees up cognitive resources for creative thinking. 2. They democratize expertise. A well-crafted checklist can enable a novice to perform tasks at a level approaching that of an expert. 3. They're dynamic. As you gain more experience, your checklists evolve to include new insights or discard outdated practices. 4. They introduce accountability. When you have to physically mark off a task, you're more likely to give it the attention it deserves. 5. They instill discipline. The act of following a checklist is a ritual that conditions you to be thorough. In fact, attention to detail is primarily a result of having exhaustive checklists. In many domains, errors are expensive and irreversible. In the culinary arts, chefs use 'mise en place', a French term that essentially means "everything in its place." Before they start cooking, chefs prepare and measure all their ingredients, and have them at hand, often in the order they'll be used. This is a checklist. It ensures that in the heat of the moment — pun intended — they don't forget the salt or overlook a step in a complex recipe. The checklist enforces attention to detail by its very nature. And if you think about it, it's an elegant list of many rules of thumb, delivered in a format anyone can follow!

Most people do not fail at their goals because they lack motivation. They fail because they never turn the goal into a plan. They write down what they want, feel good about it for a day or two, and then life gets in the way because there was never a clear answer to the most important question: 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨? That is the gap Claude fills. Not vague advice or generic tips, but a specific, structured plan built around your exact goal, your schedule, and your life. Here are 7 prompts to use today: 1. The goal breakdown prompt Prompt: "Here is my goal: [describe it]. Break this down into a step-by-step action plan. Give me monthly milestones, weekly priorities, and daily actions. Be specific enough that I know exactly what to do when I wake up tomorrow." 2. The obstacle spotter Prompt: "Here is my goal and my current plan: [describe both]. What are the most likely obstacles I will hit in the first 30 days? For each one, tell me how to spot it early and what to do the moment it appears." 3. The accountability builder Prompt: "I am working toward [describe your goal]. Design a simple accountability system for me. Include daily check-ins, weekly reviews, and a way to measure progress that does not rely on how I feel on any given day." 4. The priority filter Prompt: "Here are all the tasks I think I need to reach my goal: [list them]. Prioritize these for me. Tell me what to focus on in the first two weeks, what can wait, and what I should stop doing altogether." 5. The daily plan builder Prompt: "Here is my goal: [describe it]. Here is what my typical day looks like: [describe it]. Build me a realistic daily action plan that makes progress toward this goal without requiring me to overhaul my entire life." 6. The motivation rescue prompt Prompt: "I am working toward [describe your goal]. I know at some point I will lose motivation and want to quit. Help me build a personal motivation system. What should I remind myself of, what mini rewards should I build in, and what should I do the moment I feel like giving up?" 7. The progress reviewer Prompt: "Here is my goal and the action plan I have been following: [describe both]. Act as my weekly progress reviewer. Ask me the five most important questions to assess how I am doing, identify what is working and what is not, and tell me what to adjust going into next week." ------ The goal was never the hard part. The plan was. Save this and run at least one of these prompts before the day is over. P.S. ~ For more updates like this: 1. Scroll to the top 2. Click "View my newsletter" 3. Subscribe, and you'll never miss a thing in the world of AI ever again.

This one checklist made my life 10x easier (Save hours later by following these steps now!) Over the last 22 months, I’ve attended 184 walkthrough meetings. Trial. Error. Frustration. Fixes. And through all of that, I created this simple system. A checklist that every auditor should follow after the walkthrough ends. If you’re tired of scrambling for screenshots, losing notes, and chasing follow-ups days later, Save this post. Share it with your team. Use it every time. Post-Walkthrough Checklist: The SOP I swear by 1. Segregate your screenshots (Immediately) - Use Windows + Print Screen to capture quickly. - Create a new folder right after the meeting using this format: [Date]_[Control_ID]_[ControlName]_[AuditName] - This makes it easy to find everything later. 2. Store in two places - One local folder on your laptop - One shared folder (e.g., Teams) so others don’t need to ping you 3. Summarize your notes - Right after the meeting, take 5–10 minutes to clean up your notes. - Capture who said what, any key clarifications, and system flows. 4. Save notes smartly - Again one local, one shared. - Use the same naming format for consistency. 5. List out all follow-ups in one place - Don’t rely on memory. - If something needs clarification or additional evidence, document it immediately. 6. Assign owners and due dates - Use a tracker to assign each follow-up to a control owner with a clear timeline. - This alone will save you days of back-and-forth. 7. Update your main control tracker - Capture the status of the walkthrough and all pending items. - If your team doesn’t have a control tracker, create one. (And if they do make sure you’re using it daily.) Bonus: I personally keep a tracker with separate tabs for each audit I’m working on. Every control I’m assigned gets listed with deadlines, dependencies, and current status. This isn’t just a checklist. It’s a habit. Follow it after every walkthrough and your future self will thank you during wrap-up week. Have your own post-walkthrough system? Drop it below! I’d love to see how others do it.

On the first day of each workweek, I sit down and make five simple lists. They keep me focused and organized and make tackling whatever the week throws at me easier. Here’s how they work: [ ] Top Priorities: These are the 3–5 things that need my attention this week. Having them written down keeps me clear on where to focus my time and energy. [ ] Waiting On: I keep a running list of things I’m waiting for—emails, approvals, or anything that relies on someone else. It’s a small habit that keeps me on top of follow-ups and helps me stay proactive. [ ] Wins from Last Week: Reflecting on recent wins—big or small—helps me start the week with momentum. It’s easy to forget progress when you’re already onto the next thing, so this reminder feels grounding. [ ] Learning and Growth: I choose 3 blog posts, podcasts, or articles to consume that help me make progress toward my learning goals. [ ] Nice-to-Haves: These are the low-priority tasks I’ll get to if I have the time. Having them on their own list keeps them from cluttering my brain or distracting me from what matters most. These lists don’t take long to make, but they set the tone for my week and make it easier to stay on track. Do you have any go-to strategies or routines that help you stay organized? 

Here’s something I wish I had started doing as a law firm associate: using checklists for project intake. Too often, when a project is handed over, details get missed, and questions go unanswered, leading to confusion, frustration, write-offs, and avoidable mistakes. Part of the problem is that senior lawyers usually aren’t trained in assigning work effectively. That’s how you end up with emails being forwarded with directives like: “pls handle” or "pls fix." A checklist can help a junior lawyer who is unclear on a request gain clarity. It can also help a senior lawyer become more thoughtful and consistent in how work gets delegated. Atul Gawande writes about this in The Checklist Manifesto (one of my favorite business/productivity books). Gawande is one of my favorite authors, generally. He is an orthogonal thinker in the best sense of the term—someone who looks across disciplines, borrows ideas from other fields, and applies them in practical ways. He writes as a surgeon, but his insights apply well beyond medicine. One of his core points is that in complex environments, problems arise because complexity overwhelms the human brain. Important steps get skipped, assumptions go untested, and small omissions create bigger problems downstream. That idea applies just as much to legal work as it does to surgery or aviation. A simple checklist can make legal project intake cleaner and reduce the odds that important details slip through the cracks. Here are a few helpful prompts: When? Make sure you are clear on the deadline. If there is a filing deadline or a date by which something has to go to a client, when does the assigning lawyer need to see a draft? Clarify what is meant by “ASAP” or “COB.” Who? Who is the audience? Is it an internal memo? Is it going to the client? Is the client a lawyer or a business person? This matters because it helps ensure the work product strikes the right tone and includes the right level of detail. What? What are the client’s work product preferences? Lots of detail and citations? A short list of practical conclusions? Also, what is the scope of the assignment? Spend a few hours and report back on initial findings, or go deep and try to reach a final answer? Why? Why does this matter? What is the context, and how does what I am doing fit into the bigger picture of the representation? Are there other issues I should be on the lookout for? Clarity comes from asking good questions. A checklist helps make sure those questions actually get asked. Create a checklist for the types of projects you commonly work on. It is a simple habit, but it can make a significant difference. You will feel more organized, work will move more smoothly, and fewer details will slip through the cracks.

What does an experienced CMO for an advisory firm look at monthly to see if marketing is on-track? Steal my 6-point checklist ⬇️ 1️⃣ Written Marketing Strategy (KPIs, Goals, Funnels) Who are we trying to reach, where are we trying to reach them, and what are the core metrics we’re trying to hit for our growth goals? This is a 3-5 page strategy I drafted for each of our clients. And while a few things change we’ve gotten pretty good at staying on track! (If you want to know what all goes into our written marketing strategy, let me know in the comments… I could draft a post on this too.) 2️⃣ Marketing Metrics Dashboard (Key Metrics) My team pulls all the key numbers across marketing and the sales process.* Are the website traffic, views, and overall metrics strong? How many people visit the call scheduling page? How many people booked calls? What’s the conversion rate on the sales process? All this data in a custom dashboard we build for each client and I can quickly see it for the full year by month. * Each of our clients give us the sales metrics each month. 3️⃣ Website Traffic Dashboard (Visits to Key Pages & Articles) Next, I review their website traffic more deeply. I have the overall traffic (step above) but what PAGES and POSTS (if we are doing SEO) are getting the most views? If we had a big pop of traffic, I put my nerd hat on and investigate what may have caused that. 4️⃣ Call Booking Forms We build a custom call booking flow for our clients so I can see how many prospects booked calls, their source, and their biggest 2-3 key pain points they want solved. I pay close attention to the WORDS prospects use in these forms (it informs messaging/copy later). I can also see what percent of calls are qualified too (important!) 5️⃣ Open Projects Dashboard (What Are We Building) We plan our custom projects quarterly but I do a quick review to make sure I’m aware of where everything is and what’s next in the task list for each project. Current project examples for firms look like: New website pages, an upcoming webinar, and sales assets we’re helping optimize/improve. 6️⃣ Email Metrics (Opens, Clicks, Unsubs) We split emails into two segments: Clients and prospects. I quickly review email opens, clicks, and unsubs by each segment. Are we getting good opens? If no, what emails seem to be doing better and why? What are readers clicking on? 💬 What happens after I review it all? I do this while heavily caffeinated (usually Diet Dr. Pepper) and in good energy. I just want to to know: 1. Are we on track for the goals we set? 2. What needs to change if anything? ⏳ I can knock this out in about ~45 minutes per client each month. Many months, no changes. ¯\(ツ)/¯ Some months a few changes. But this review keeps me anchored in our strategy while looking 2-steps ahead. Most firms won't have all this and that's okay. We build this overtime. Start small and review 1x a month! (With your fav caffeine choice!)

“What gets measured gets managed.” — Peter Drucker Every January we make resolutions that sound like outcomes. Lose weight. Improve relationships. Grow our career. Increase income. Reduce stress. These are not bad goals, but they are incomplete. Outcomes are lagging indicators. They tell us what already happened, not what we need to do today, this week, or this month to make progress. The real work is turning resolutions into leading indicators—specific, repeatable actions that move the outcome in the right direction. Take weight as an example. The resolution is “lose 20 pounds.” That number won’t change unless something upstream changes first. The leading indicators might be meals tracked per week, workouts completed, average daily steps, or hours of sleep. None of those guarantee success on their own, but together they create momentum. If the scale doesn’t move, the indicators tell you where the system broke down. The same logic applies to relationships. “Be more present” is vague. Leading indicators are concrete: number of intentional check-ins per week, uninterrupted time blocks with family, or difficult conversations you’ve been avoiding but finally schedule. You can’t control how someone else responds, but you can control the actions that build trust over time. Career goals follow the same pattern. “Get promoted” or “find a better role” are outcomes. Leading indicators might include new skills learned, certifications completed, network conversations scheduled, proposals written, or value delivered beyond your job description. If nothing changes in your calendar, nothing will change in your career. The mistake most people make is tracking results too infrequently and actions not at all. Annual goals reviewed once a year are almost useless. Weekly tracking of leading indicators creates feedback loops. You see what worked, what didn’t, and where to adjust. Progress becomes visible before results show up. This is where scoreboards matter. Simple, visible, and reviewed regularly. Not to judge yourself, but to learn. If you miss a target week, the question isn’t “Why did I fail?” It’s “What needs to change in the system?” Resolutions fail because they rely on motivation. Systems succeed because they rely on behavior. When you define the actions, track them consistently, and review them honestly, outcomes take care of themselves. Start small. Pick one resolution. Define three leading indicators. Track them weekly for 90 days. Let the data tell you the truth about your habits. “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” — James Clear

One of the most useful tools in my practice is also one of the least exciting: A checklist. It’s not something people usually associate with forensic accounting or expert witness work, and yet its utility is so obvious, It can play a big role in managing cases. When I'm handling multiple matters at once, each with its own set of documents, deadlines, and issues, it’s very easy for something small to slip through the cracks. And in this line of work, the “small” things have a way of turning into big problems later. Every case has a series of steps that need to happen. (Of course each case is different, so those steps are going to vary.) I'm gathering records, reviewing transactions, tracing funds, preparing schedules, drafting reports, and eventually getting ready for testimony. The steps themselves aren’t complicated, but the challenge is keeping everything moving in the right order and making sure nothing gets missed along the way. That’s where the checklist comes in. For each case, I build out a set of tasks that reflects the specific work I'm doing. It’s not a generic list. Rather, it’s tied to the facts of the case, the accounts involved, the time periods, and the deliverables in that case. As the work progresses, I can see exactly what has been completed and what still needs attention. What I like about this approach is the certainty it gives me. When something is marked complete, I know it has actually been done. I’m not relying on my memory or hoping I’ll circle back to something later, which is great because I'm always working under deadlines. The checklist also impacts how I use my time. Instead of trying to keep track of everything in my head, I can focus on the analysis itself. I get to pay attention to the numbers, the patterns, and the story they tell, not whether I followed up on a document request three days ago. There’s nothing groundbreaking about using a checklist. It’s just a simple system that keeps the work organized and reduces the chance of missing something important. In a field where accuracy and consistency matter as much as they do here, that’s enough of a reason to keep using it. #forensicaccounting #casemanagement #expertwitness #litigationsupport #accountingpractice #legalindustry

Business development can feel overwhelming. It's a massive investment of time and energy that often takes years to pay off. Which means it's easy to get frustrated, especially when you'd much prefer instant gratification. And what lawyer doesn't love that?! But what if you tracked your progress like you would a workout or a case file? It doesn't need to be fancy. A notebook, a spreadsheet, or even a notes app will work. The goal is to build awareness, momentum, and accountability. Track things like: 💎Who you reached out to this week 💎Who you owe a follow-up 💎What ideas or opportunities came up during conversations 💎Articles or insights you might want to share 💎New contacts from events or conferences Keeping a log helps you stay intentional. It creates a record of your efforts and reminds you that BD is not about one big moment. It is about small, consistent steps. And when you are short on time or energy, flipping through your journal gives you a quick way to re-engage. It keeps your pipeline warm and your confidence high. Trust me, your future self will thank you for writing it down. Fractional Law Firm CMO Katherine Wilson, JD 💡Stacey McReynolds