[MaulingMonkey]

> People too often get used to the routine and will end up skipping bits from checklists, or even outright missing stuff.

This depends on the person and their approach.

If I understand the need for each checklist step as a means of avoiding future hassle/work or outright danger of some sort, and I'm buying into the concept that I actually need to reference the checklist (perhaps even going so far as to print out a copy and actually physically check things off), and being properly conservative (no "I think I did that...", only "I know I did that" or "I double checked and yes I did that"), checklists stay very effective.

In other words, it's not enough to have a checklist, you need checklist discipline, the kind of discipline that can only be accomplished through buy-in to the concept. The same checklist approached with two different mindsets can range from a damn-near error free way to accomplish something, to a piece of scrap paper that would be worth more blank.

This does sometimes make checklist handoff problematic.

And your discipline might depend on the checklist. I'm way more disciplined about a release checklist than I am about a weekend chores checklist - and this is perfectly fine.