Good checklists enable managers to “push the power of decision making out to the periphery and away from the center,” Gawande says. Checklists mean managers can focus less on strict forms of behavior control. “They supply a set of checks to ensure the stupid but critical stuff is not over-looked, and they supply another set of checks to ensure people talk and coordinate and accept responsibility while none the less being left the power to manage the nuances and unpredictability the best they know how.” The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande, is published by Metropolitan Books.