Getting Things Right the First Time
Sure, for the sake of productivity, perfection has to take a back seat to creativity. Create first, and correct later. But what if you’re required to accomplish a complicated task ASAP—while getting things right the first time? Take medicine for instance, which requires a certain kind of creativity to accurately pinpoint and fix the problems of the complex human body. The New Yorker relates the story of a girl who made a full recovery despite spending half an hour underwater:
To save this one child, scores of people had to carry out thousands of steps correctly: placing the heart-pump tubing into her without letting in air bubbles; maintaining the sterility of her lines, her open chest, the burr hole in her skull; keeping a temperamental battery of machines up and running. The degree of difficulty in any one of these steps is substantial. Then you must add the difficulties of orchestrating them in the right sequence, with nothing dropped, leaving some room for improvisation, but not too much.
So what kept everything going smoothly? Aside from the doctors’ experience and expertise, the availability of standard checklists. If checklists can make the execution of complicated medical procedures more reliable and consistent (and thus more effective), imagine what it can do for a freelancer or contract worker who needs to get that hard job done quickly.
Thanks to Wellington Grey for the heads-up!
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POSTED IN: Useful Tools, Ways to Work Faster
2 opinions for Getting Things Right the First Time
Bob Turek
Dec 28, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Interesting story. I think a lot of it has to do with standardized procedures performed by many people plus willingness to adopt new ones plus a lot of good fortune. My brother recently had a heart attack due to a fibrillation problem. Prior to fainting in the car, he argued with his wife about calling an ambulance. She just happened to be passing her beauty shop in the boonies of northeastern Oklahoma when he “went down”. There happened to be two large men, one a volunteer firefighter, who immediately did some rather violent CPR on him. His wife screamed “he’s having a heart attack” as she jumped from the car causing the beauty shop owner to dial 911. They got there 8 minutes later and took him to a hospital that refused him thinking, correctly, it better to air transport him to another hospital with more resources and experience. Doctors made a decision to hold off, correctly, on induced hypothermia until the next morning. He was drugged silly for four days. He is now almost 100% with a defribrillator implant. Truly amazing set of events, with many people involved, doing standardized and accepted practices plus a lot of prayer.
Rico
Dec 28, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Your story also shows the beauty of people working together towards a common goal Bob. Here’s to your brother’s recovery!
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