Use free templates or create your own checklists online. Learn about the advantages of digitalizing your documentation process, and how to write and structure your checklists so no detail is left out. Optimize your workflow now!
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Many people use checklists to help remind them of important things they need to do. But a to-do list isn’t their only purpose. They can act as instruction manuals, so employees don’t forget vital steps in an important task. This not only makes employee onboarding simpler and faster, but it also reduces the number of resources expended on each employee, saving the company time and money. In addition, the use of checklists provides daily structure and allows employers to plan days, months, years, and more in advance while outlining company goals and otherwise maintaining organizational methods that are critical to realizing corporate success. In this way, checklists increase productivity and efficiency.
At home or work, checklists only offer advantages. With the use of online checklists, you can eliminate paper-based problems and move to a more efficient digital system. Create an online checklist to save time by reducing time-consuming handwritten tasks and streamlining assessments, inspections, and audits.
1. Advantages and benefits of a free checklist maker
2. The different types of checklists and their purposes
3. 7 steps to creating your very own checklist
4. How a digital checklist application can make life easier
Checklists can provide your company with some much-needed structure and organization, as well as a high degree of security. Making mistakes is not only annoying, but in many professions, it can also lead to damages or even danger. However, a digital organizational system can help eliminate human error. Step-by-step checklists guide you through daily tasks and provide a point of orientation. The following are 4 additional advantages of creating online checklists:
Creating a digital checklist doesn’t take nearly as much time as a handwritten one. And in the long run, the time and costs savings are going to be indisputable. Because online checklists are reusable, they save paper and eliminate the need for printers and their corresponding operational costs.
Online checklists also frees up mental space to do other, more important things. Gone are the days of feeling like you’ve forgotten something important. A digital app like Lumiform guides you through the audit, inspection, or task. You no longer have to remember every nuance of the job off the top of your head. Need a quick refresher? Just pull up the search function in-app.
Your daily work schedule becomes more structured with the help of an online checklist. You can work through your checklist step by step without forgetting any important steps or tasks.
Online checklists facilitate the assignment and delegation of tasks. The recipient knows exactly what to do and when to do it.
To-do list, planner, calendar, schedule, inventory, directory, agenda, ballot, bill - these are all names that represent the organizational activity that break down the overwhelming and oftentimes chaotic hubbub of everyday life into smaller, more manageable chunks, all of which are synonyms for the beloved checklist.
There are effectively three main types of checklists: Daily, route memory, and informative. Which one you decide to use will largely depend on your goals and how you want to structure an action plan.
A lot of us are already familiar with the purpose of a daily checklist, but most of us don’t notice how widely used they are in our everyday lives. Nor do we realize the full extent of their applicability in our personal as well as our business endeavors. Speaking of which, the daily checklist has often been mislabeled as a solely personal tool of organization and planning, under-credited, and serving no other purpose than to remind its creator of the trivial pursuits of the upcoming hours and days. But this goes far beyond your basic grocery store/planner to-do list. Many businesses already employ daily checklists as a marker of productivity, without which they would undoubtedly unravel into bankruptcy and unemployment.
Examples of Ready-Made Daily Checklists and Their Uses:
A route memory checklist means that you are performing a task primarily from memory, but a checklist is still used on a “just in case” basis. A lot of businesses will use these types of to-do lists for heavily involved, detail-oriented tasks where small, in-between steps are often overlooked.
You might be wondering how necessary a checklist like this is. Won’t employees eventually “think they know it” enough to perform the tasks without a memory aid? That's a possibility, however, in the automotive and aviation industries, these checklists are not optional.
Examples of Ready-Made Route Memory Checklists and Their Uses:
Informative checklists are especially applicable to businesses because they can also act as how-to guides for new tasks or as onboarding documents, among other uses. Companies also don’t need to spend as many resources on training because, unlike courses and seminars, digital checklists can be used again and again.
Examples of Ready-Made Informative Checklists and Their Uses:
An online checklist maker is a cutting-edge tool that can help you plan your day as well as your business ventures on the go. Seeing that scheduling, planning, and documenting are a necessary evil in the business world, having the ability to assign, track, and analyze daily tasks and assignments are pivotal to success. A checklist app where you can use pre-made templates or create your own tailored-made ones can assist in virtually every avenue of your business enterprise. Whether that be attendance sheets, temperature logs, cleaning schedules, or all of the above, you can keep them organized all in one place.
Not everyone is a pro at creating checklists right off the bat. That’s because, in order to create a checklist, you have to think of every eventuality by breaking down tasks into individual steps and dividing the day into small, time-allotted sections.
Imagine reading a how-to guide on oil changes where the writer assumes their audience is already familiar with which type of oil to use for their vehicle. The results could be thousands of dollars worth of damages. In this case, no detail is too small.
Below are 7 basic steps to creating a checklist. The rule of thumb is to be specific as possible.
Think of what type of checklist you want to write: daily, route memory, or informational. Sometimes the answer is self-explanatory, but sometimes it requires a little additional thought. By asking yourself these three questions: What topic am I writing about? Who is my audience? And how do I want to present the information? You can almost always narrow your choice down to one of these three categories of checklists.
Now that you’ve picked your topic, make a list of the tasks required to complete the job. Usually, each step has a set of its own steps, so it will be important to list those down here, too. You can start by jotting down the major ones that jump out at you right away and then filling the rest out from there.
Step two and three go hand and hand. If you’ve thought of every step, you should be well on your way to writing a complete and comprehensive guide so that even an amateur could complete the job like a trained professional. Think of every eventuality. No detail is too small. If a problem could occur while performing the task, write it down. Your readers will thank you later.
Be careful with this bullet point. Although a good rule of thumb is to write at an eighth-grade reading level, it’s also very important to know your audience. For example, if you’re writing a pharmaceutical checklist, you don’t have to stick to this rule because all pharmacists have to have a minimum of eight years of higher education.
Put like categories together. For example, if you’re writing a security checklist, stay away from blanket statements such as, “Check to make sure all entry and exit doors are locked.” One reason for this is that not all buildings have entry and exit points that are all on the same floor. In these cases, it makes more sense to write the checklist organized by floor instead of by task. Using free, premade templates provides a great foundation, but be sure to go through and edit them to match your own set of needs. As with the case for security checklists, each building is different, as are their security needs.
Just because you’ve finished writing the checklist doesn’t mean you’re done. How do you know if what you wrote is actually helpful if you don’t measure the results? This could look like conducting a survey to gauge its effectiveness. Or, you might choose to write two or more checklists with the same content but in different formats and styles to see which one users respond to the most.
There’s always room for improvements, and that will always hold true for every writing endeavor. Use the results of your analysis to make meaningful, and result-driven changes. Maybe that looks like improving the language so that it is more understandable to readers. Or perhaps your survey revealed the opposite. Maybe the checklist users are already industry professionals and don’t need as much handholding. Whatever changes you make, ensure that you have data that backs up your decisions.
With Lumiform's mobile app, you can easily use any kind of checklist via tablet or smartphone - online or offline. With the desktop software, you can create checklists and evaluate the data collected in the field. This significantly reduces the risk of quality loss, accidents at work, documentation errors, and damage to your reputation.
