I’m working with a tech coach who is helping me simplify my work life by automating procedures. It turns out that simplifying things is very complicated. She’s talking to me about SOPs – Standard Operating Procedures. These are really kind of checklists.
I remember being very impressed by Dr. Atul Gawande’s book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right when it came out in 2011. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon. You (or at least I) kind of hope that surgeons have a checklist, and that they follow it to the T with every operation. Right?? But do we all need checklists for everything?
Well, apparently, I do! The checklist helps make sure that I don’t miss steps, that I remember to take care of business, and that clients have what they need when they need it. But boy, is it tedious to create. And following it, I must say, it is really against my nature. I want to rebel! I can’t even follow a recipe without being a little creative. (I could never be a computer programmer!!)
All this to say, that I thought you’d get a kick out of this video, which shows a Dad following his kids’ SOPs to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s kind of hilarious.