Use a premortem before you commit
A premortem invites you to imagine that a plan has already failed and work backward to plausible explanations. The exercise creates a concrete opening for doubts that might otherwise remain unspoken.
This worksheet adds practical follow-through: an early warning, a preventive action, an owner and a check-in date for each scenario. Those fields are Mindtiller’s implementation choices, not a validated assessment scale.
- Describe the plan and horizon. State what you are trying to achieve and when you will know whether it worked.
- Imagine a specific failure. Replace “things went badly” with an observable result, such as customers abandoning setup.
- List plausible causes. In a team, write independently before discussing so one person’s explanation does not set the whole agenda.
- Identify an early warning. What would you observe before the failure becomes expensive or difficult to reverse?
- Choose a response. Give the action an owner and a date. Use priority labels to organize discussion; they do not calculate risk probabilities.
- Revisit the plan. Decide what to change, what to monitor and which uncertainty to accept.
A worked project example
Suppose a team plans to introduce a new onboarding process in four weeks. Imagine that, one month after launch, customers are still requesting manual help. One explanation is that a critical setup step was clear to the designers but confusing to new users.
An early warning might be repeated hesitation in a trial session. A preventive action is to run a small observed pilot before release and revise the step based on what participants actually do. Assign someone to arrange the pilot and a date to review its findings.
Keep the exercise proportionate
A long list of remote possibilities can obscure the important ones. Focus on failures with plausible mechanisms, meaningful consequences and useful responses. If the group cannot agree, record the disagreement and identify what evidence would help.
A premortem does not estimate the probability of failure and cannot guarantee safety or success. Pair it with relevant domain expertise and the normal checks required for the decision.
How long should a premortem take?
Match the effort to the stakes. A short individual reflection may suit a reversible personal choice. Complex team plans need more time to investigate assumptions and agree on owners.
What should I do after completing it?
Download or print the action summary, confirm ownership with the people involved and set your own review reminders. Mindtiller does not contact owners or send notifications.
Explore Gary Klein’s original explanation of the premortem. Then record your decision with the changes you made.