Principlev1
Design checklists to catch the steps that competent
Design checklists to catch the steps that competent practitioners are most likely to skip under real operational conditions, not every step in the process.
Why This Is a Principle
This principle derives from axioms about memory failure (Exponential Information Decay: exponential decay, Open-Loop Cognitive Cost (Zeigarnik): cognitive commitments consume working memory, Human memory under stress and cognitive load is unreliable: memory under stress is unreliable). It prescribes how to design effective checklists: focus on high-consequence omissions, not comprehensive coverage.