Creative Thinking, How to Free up Your Brain's Idea Generator with Checklists for Atlassian Confluence and Jira - News, tips & guidance for agile, development, Atlassian-Software (JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket, ...) and Google Cloud

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In today's fast-moving business environment, we are reminded of the importance of mindfulness. Indeed, many businesses encourage meditation and time-out sessions. Many software companies employ Agile Coaches whose tasks include ensuring individual employees' well-being which helps keep teams on target. However, being overwhelmed is still a significant issue, and until Elon Musk's neural link becomes available, we need to look at existing remedies to help in the workplace.

Chinese Parable - The empty cup

According to Chinese legend, a wise man was once asked by a student to teach him about wisdom. The wise man filled a cup to the brim with hot tea and asked the student to drink from it. The student tried but could not for fear of spilling the drink. The wise man emptied the cup and once again poured fresh tea in, but this time leaving some room at the top; this time, the student could lift the cup to drink from it. The takeaway is that one must refrain from filling the mind with preconceived notions in order to succeed and generate fresh ideas.

Checklists

One time-honored method of ensuring our brains are not filled to capacity is by using checklists. They offer a simple means of verifying the steps in a project; anyone can use them. So why spend time memorizing procedures burning up precious brain real estate when you can easily document the steps in a process? This is where Checklists for Confluence and Jira comes into the story.

Checklists for Confluence & Jira

Now that we have already sold you on the idea, why spend time creating your own from scratch? Building and formatting a Confluence page is not the most efficient use of your time.
You can create stylish and incredibly useful checklists using Checklists in seconds. And as it's an app, it offers a degree of customization. This allows you to create dedicated templates for those repetitive tasks and projects ensuring you never miss a thing.

To begin

Once installed, the app is surprisingly easy to use. So when you search for the macro you will be presented with three options.

The three options:

Checklist: allows you to create a new checklist. It's intuitive, and your new list can be saved once completed.
Checklist button: allows you to insert a button into the page. When using this macro, you will be presented with a list of previously created templates. Select one to link it to this button. Thus, when clicking this button, Confluence users will immediately open the checklist you selected when you created the button.
Checklist for page templates: allows you to add a checklist template to a Confluence page template. This way, you can create custom Confluence pages that will include a pre-formatted checklist.

Using Checklists in real life

And it gets better; each item in the checklist can be assigned a checkbox, Yes/No status, or even a section for additional notes. The good ideas do not stop there; when using a Checklists in a Confluence page, when a task checkbox has been ticked, that item automatically moves to the done section. Offering clarity and listing only the tasks waiting to be addressed, thus reducing pressure.

Four weddings and a checklist

And when we speak of pressure, the one industry that stands out is hospitality. This sector has had to bear the brunt of the Covid pandemic, coping with staff shortages, covid protocols, all the wile being mindful of customer reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor. So getting it right the first time is essential. Moreover,it was not uncommon for junior staff to have to step up and take control of events. So something like a checklist is not a luxury; it's a necessity for the inexperienced. But even for experienced staff, checklists are a tool that saves time and ensures QA is maintained. It takes the stress out of trying to remember every step, especially in procedures that only occur now and then, thus mistakes are avoided.

Weddings are one-shot affairs; the reception cannot be easily repeated if a major mistake occurs. Hell hath no fury like a bride's mother whose wedding did not go to plan; if you were that unfortunate event manager, then suddenly that job opening in Antarctica looks quite appealing.

So you can see the usefulness of our wedding example in this blog. But why stop at weddings? It can help everywhere, both in Confluence and Jira. So let's use it to run through our writing checklist for this blog.

Seeking Inspiration

Creating a new checklist can be a hassle, so once again, let Checklists do the hard thinking. Ask the Checklist A.I. to come up with some suggestions and prepare to be impressed.

To end, we know the value of checklists for aviation to medical procedures; checklists are everywhere, but why waste time trying to build your own version. Formatting a table in Confluence when Checklists can create an elegant, customizable checklist. Work smarter and use Checklists in your workflow.

Try Checklists now and make repeat errors a thing of the past, getting it right every time. You will wonder how you ever survived without this app.