Pre-Mortem
Gary Klein · 2007
"Imagine the failure has already happened. Then explain why."
Before starting a project, gather the team and say: 'It's a year from now and this project has failed catastrophically. Write down why.' The prospective hindsight unlocks concerns people wouldn't otherwise raise, because it feels safe to describe a failure that has already occurred.
Post-mortems teach you about a project that already failed. Pre-mortems try to fix it in advance. Klein's research showed prospective hindsight increases the ability to identify reasons for future outcomes by around 30%. The technique also gives permission — junior people can criticize without seeming disloyal, because it's framed as a story about a hypothetical failure.
Why does a pre-mortem surface more failure modes than a normal risk review?
Read more about the topic
The explanation above is written with AI assistance. These are the originals — go to them to check it.
- Performing a Project Pre-MortemHBR
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