> Good checklist design is not trivial, however.

I understand you're saying, but this statement exemplifies so well something I think I have gotten worse at since becoming a software engineer.

In my previous life, if I tried to apply checklists to my life, I would have taken a naive approach, applied my best effort, and that would be the end of it.

Now I would be much more likely to consider edge cases and counter-examples, compare my checklists to the "optimal checklist", and as a result I might fall into a checklist-design rabbit hole, or else constantly question the efficacy of my checklists in knowledge of the true complexity of the problem.

I don't think it's always beneficial to think in those terms.