| name | pre-mortem |
| description | Use before launching a plan, project, deal, or change when failure modes should be surfaced early. Use when applying the Pre Mortem consulting method and when a user asks for Pre Mortem, method execution, structured diagnosis, or action planning. |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
Pre Mortem
Use this skill to run Pre Mortem as a practical consulting method, not as a generic framework explanation.
Method Notes
- Use prospective hindsight: assume the plan failed, then explain why.
- Convert failure causes into prevention actions and early warnings.
Required Inputs
Collect or infer these inputs before execution:
- planned action
- success criteria
- timeline
- stakeholders
- known risks
If an input is missing, do not block automatically. Mark it as missing, state the assumption used, and add a validation action.
When Not To Use
Do not use after a failure has already occurred; use root-cause analysis instead. A pre-mortem requires a specific plan and time horizon, not a generic list of things that might go wrong.
Adjacent Methods
risk-matrix: prioritize known risk events after they are identified.scenario-planning: compare plausible external futures, not failure causes of one plan.
Step-by-Step Execution
| Step | Required input | How to execute | Output |
|---|
| Describe plan | Plan, launch date, success criteria. | State the plan as if the team believes it will work. | Plan frame. |
| Assume failure | Future date and failed outcome. | Write a short future failure narrative. | Failure scenario. |
| Generate causes | Team concerns, dependencies, assumptions. | List plausible reasons the plan failed. | Failure cause list. |
| Prioritize preventable causes | Cause list, likelihood, impact, controllability. | Pick the causes worth preventing now. | Priority failure modes. |
| Design prevention | Priority causes. | Define prevention actions, early warnings, owners, and contingencies. | Pre-mortem action plan. |
Output Template
### 1. Plan And Failure Horizon
Plan:
Launch / decision date:
Assumed failure date:
Success definition:
### 2. Failure Narrative
The plan failed because:
Observed consequences:
Earliest warning:
### 3. Failure Modes
| Failure mode | Cause | Preventability | Evidence | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
### 4. Prevention Plan
| Prevention / contingency | Owner | Timing | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |
### Evidence And Next Decision
- Confirmed facts:
- Assumptions:
- Missing evidence:
- Next action, owner, and timing:
- Expected signal and decision threshold:
Quality Gate
- Produce the method-specific outputs for Plan And Failure Horizon, Failure Narrative, Failure Modes; do not substitute a generic framework summary.
- Tie every material score, causal claim, or stakeholder judgment to evidence or label it as an assumption.
- Include at least one disconfirming check, sensitivity, alternative explanation, or failure condition appropriate to the method.
- Convert the result into a named action or decision with an owner or stakeholder, timing, and observable signal.
- State missing inputs and the smallest validation action instead of inventing precision.
- Keep wording professional and plain enough that a smart non-specialist can use the output directly.
