TIL a younger operator's pre-shift checklist made me rethink my whole routine

Honestly, I've been running cranes for 18 years, mostly out of the Houston ship channels. Last Tuesday, this kid fresh out of the union hall, maybe 24 years old, asked if he could run his finger along my boom cable before we started the lift. I thought he was being weird. Then he showed me his phone, he had a 12 point inspection list he pulled off some crane podcast, and one item was checking for rust pits smaller than a pencil tip. I used to just eyeball the cable and trust the last guy. He found a tiny nick I would've missed completely. We spent an extra 20 minutes and I ended up replacing a 40 foot section before the job. It hit different because I realized I've been relying on muscle memory and not actually looking. Has anyone else had a younger guy at the yard teach them something that simple? How do you balance speed with a checklist like that without slowing down every crew?

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