I think it is a completely  personality issue.  Just like their desk, some people like to keep things tidy and organized and know whats next all the time, while some people seem to thrive in a bit of messiness, creativity and improvisation and getting things done first.<p>When it comes to jobs that require originality and creativity, a checklist is not going to be productive.  In a job that is more operational, predictive and repetitive, then a checklist would help.<p>When it comes to software engineering, the job is semi-structural  (you are bound by certain conventions, languages, computer science principles), and semi-creative (you can use your imagination in a lot of places).<p>For QA types, a checklist is a must.
For pure new feature programing, a step by step checklist is basically a creativity killer.  Crap in, crap out.<p>I personally distaste checklist, and try to avoid artificial constrains as much as I can.