Here, then, is our situation at the start of the
twenty-first century: We have accumulated stupendous know-how. We have put it
in the hands of some of the most highly trained, highly skilled, and
hardworking people in our society. And, with it, they have indeed accomplished
extraordinary things. Nonetheless, that know-how is often unmanageable. Avoidable
failures are common and persistent, not to mention demoralizing and
frustrating, across many fields—from medicine to finance, business to
government. And the reason is increasingly evident: the volume and complexity
of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits
correctly, safely, or reliably. Knowledge has both saved us and burdened us.
That means we need a different strategy for overcoming
failure, one that builds on experience and takes advantage of the knowledge
people have but somehow also makes up for our inevitable human inadequacies.
And there is such a strategy—though it will seem almost ridiculous in its
simplicity, maybe even crazy to those of us who have spent years carefully
developing ever more advanced skills and technologies.
It
is a checklist.