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Pre-mortem sheet
It is six months from now and the project failed. Why?
everyone writes, nobody debates yetThe causes that matter most
vote, then keep the top threeWhat we do now so it does not happen
each action has an owner and a dateWhy imagining failure works
Prospective hindsight loosens tongues. "It failed, why?" surfaces concerns people would soften as "risks I see."
Research puts the gain around 30 percent. Imagining an outcome as certain improves the ability to identify its reasons, which is why this beats a generic risk brainstorm.
The quiet person goes first. The concern most worth hearing is usually held by the person least likely to volunteer it.
End in actions, not vibes. A pre-mortem that produces a mood instead of owned actions was a campfire story.
Run it after the plan exists and before work starts. Too early and there is nothing to critique; too late and the answers are expensive. It pairs with the retro sheet, which looks backward; this one looks forward.
Based on Gary Klein’s pre-mortem method. Everything saves in this browser only.
Prefer paper? Download the blank sheet as a PDF. The thinking behind it, and the nine tools it works with, is in The Project.
General guidance from practice, not legal, HR, or financial advice. Everything you type stays in this browser and is never sent to a server.