Narrative:

Departed ZZZ (runway xxl) in VNAV/hdg sel when we should have been in LNAV/VNAV for the zzzzz 4 departure. Improperly interpreted the SID (primarily due to rushing) and believed it to be a vectored SID (the zzzzz 4 departure for xxl reads: climb heading 330 deg to intercept course 313 deg; to zzzzx; then on depicted route to zzzzz.) on climbout (I was pm [pilot monitoring] and on the radios); when I expected to be given a left turn and did not get one; I queried ATC and informed them that we were 'runway heading'; ATC then gave us a left turn to intercept the departure and asked us if we were assigned runway heading. I replied 'I think so' and then asked 'do you need me to call you?' reply from ATC was 'no; no; it's ok'; important to note that I called ATC before they noticed anything wrong and had to call us. We made the left turn; joined the departure and the rest of the flight was uneventful. There were several contributing factors to this error. At the end of the day; I mis-read the departure instructions and assumed a vectored departure and the MCP [mode control panel] was set up for VNAV/hdg sel on departure. This was an error; and in re-reading the departure instructions the SID should clearly have been flown in LNAV. I believe the fact that we were rushing and had a last minute distraction contributed to this. We were rushed because we were late arriving to the aircraft (no fault of our own) and got to the jet 30 minutes prior to push. We were actually ready in time and then got a last minute distraction because a ramp agent was confused about a lithium ion battery on an electric scooter that was about to be loaded into the cargo bay. He seemed quite sure that there was a battery still connected to the scooter. I informed him that we could not load that into the cargo bay. While he was searching for screwdriver to remove the battery; we called ops to get the jet bridge to return so the battery could be safely stowed in the cabin. It turns out that the passenger had indeed removed the battery and had it on their person. This distraction caused us to push over 20 minutes late and contributed to our rushing; even though I articulated that we didn't want to rush and to slow down. Taxi out was also distracting with ATC comms being super busy (arriving xy; departing xxl; crossing 3 runways to get to xxl; etc). Result: the error was not caught and/or corrected. Although I mis-read the SID instructions; I was correctly expecting to turn left; and when I didn't get this instruction; I appropriately queried ATC in a timely enough fashion that it was never a safely issue or deviation (again I called them before they called me); so the error was identified and repaired quickly.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported a communications breakdown between flight crew and ramp personnel regarding Lithium Ion battery powered scooter loaded in cargo compartment. Reporter added the Hazmat distraction item affected crew focus on departure routing adherence.

Narrative: Departed ZZZ (RWY XXL) in VNAV/Hdg Sel when we should have been in LNAV/VNAV for the ZZZZZ 4 Departure. Improperly interpreted the SID (primarily due to rushing) and believed it to be a vectored SID (the ZZZZZ 4 Departure for XXL reads: Climb heading 330 deg to intercept course 313 deg; to ZZZZX; then on depicted route to ZZZZZ.) On climbout (I was PM [Pilot Monitoring] and on the radios); when I expected to be given a left turn and did not get one; I queried ATC and informed them that we were 'runway heading'; ATC then gave us a left turn to intercept the departure and asked us if we were assigned runway heading. I replied 'I think so' and then asked 'do you need me to call you?' Reply from ATC was 'no; no; it's ok'; important to note that I called ATC before they noticed anything wrong and had to call us. We made the left turn; joined the departure and the rest of the flight was uneventful. There were several contributing factors to this error. At the end of the day; I mis-read the departure instructions and assumed a vectored departure and the MCP [Mode Control Panel] was set up for VNAV/Hdg Sel on departure. This was an error; and in re-reading the departure instructions the SID should clearly have been flown in LNAV. I believe the fact that we were rushing and had a last minute distraction contributed to this. We were rushed because we were late arriving to the aircraft (no fault of our own) and got to the jet 30 minutes prior to push. We were actually ready in time and then got a last minute distraction because a ramp agent was confused about a lithium ion battery on an electric scooter that was about to be loaded into the cargo bay. He seemed quite sure that there was a battery still connected to the scooter. I informed him that we could not load that into the cargo bay. While he was searching for screwdriver to remove the battery; we called Ops to get the jet bridge to return so the battery could be safely stowed in the cabin. It turns out that the passenger had indeed removed the battery and had it on their person. This distraction caused us to push over 20 minutes late and contributed to our rushing; even though I articulated that we didn't want to rush and to slow down. Taxi out was also distracting with ATC comms being super busy (arriving XY; departing XXL; crossing 3 runways to get to XXL; etc). Result: the error was not caught and/or corrected. Although I mis-read the SID instructions; I was correctly expecting to turn left; and when I didn't get this instruction; I appropriately queried ATC in a timely enough fashion that it was never a safely issue or deviation (again I called them before they called me); so the error was identified and repaired quickly.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.