S&L,
I see your point. I knew the reasoning behind it prior to your reply.
When I was still in the RH seat, I also flew with different types of commanders, displaying all sorts of different behaviours. As an FO you can learn al lot from these different approaches to various situations. Then you can decide which you want to adopt as yours when the time comes to move to the left seat.
One of the first things I decided to do is: Stick to the SOP`s. Not necessarilly because they are always the best in every situation, but mainly because that way you keep your FO in the loop. He knows what you`re doing, instead of constantly having to think by himself: "what the *** is he doing now again?" This improves the safety of the flight more than a couple of extra checks here and there. However harmless your excursions from the SOP`s might be, you force the guy in the seat next to you to spend energy to adapt to your way of doing things as opposed to the last commander he flew with and the next one.
On top of that: if you really feel strongly about certain checks; get your company to incorporate them in the cockpit prearation procedure. That way everyone can benefit from your ideas.
Ofcourse as a captain you should always feel free to do things outside the book/rules/law, whenever the situation asks for it. However in my opinion cockpit preparation doesn`t fit into this category.
Regards,
Static