How to run a pre-mortem

30-Second Version

• Many of us run post-mortems or retrospectives at the end of a project to reflect on things that could be improved
• A pre-mortem is a powerful way to surface predictable potential problems with a project before they arise, and prevent otherwise inevitable issues
• Use the following format individually or with your team to set your next project up for far greater success

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The Full Read

Picture this: you’re with your team, in front of a whiteboard, reflecting on a project that didn’t hit its potential. You’re analysing what went wrong, contemplating simple course corrections that could have made a difference, and trying to ensure it doesn’t descend into a blame-game. This is the classic project post-mortem, and while it’s useful for drawing out lessons, it’s too late to influence the outcome. But what if you could flip the script? What if instead, you could identify and address predictable pathways to an undesirable future outcome before the project even kicks off? To pressure-test everything from roles and responsibilities, to resourcing, to ways of working to ensure you’re pre-empting issues before they can arise? That’s the essence of a pre-mortem, and it’s an invaluable tool for teams to use.

A pre-mortem is an upfront session designed to anticipate and mitigate issues before they arise – rather than just crossing your fingers and hoping that things that have led to failure in the past will not play out this time. The idea is to gather the project team, and ask them to imagine that the project has not been a success at a specific future time, e.g. six months from now. Each team member then hypothesises as to why it may have gone wrong and tells a logical story about what happened and in what order. What you hear back will be fascinating – the insights you’ll gain from this exercise might transform your project. Unlike traditional critiquing sessions, a pre-mortem helps you identify predictable pathways to undesired outcomes so you can pre-empt and respond to them before they happen.

How to run a pre-mortem:

1. Assemble the crew: Gather everyone involved in the project.
2. Envision predictable pathways to failure: Ask each team member to imagine a specific future date at which the project did not go as planned. Then, get them to describe what this undesirable outcome looks, sounds, and feels like.?
3. Identify reasons and tell the story: Have them write down the most likely reasons for the project’s derailment. Shape these reasons into a logical story of how you might arrive at this undesirable outcome, really telling the story to yourselves.
4. Discuss and strategise: Facilitate an open discussion on how the project might be strengthened before it begins, focusing on preventing or mitigating each of the key potential pitfalls. This can be best done by listing out the pitfalls in a table and generating practical ideas to prevent or mitigate each of them.?

Examples of some of the common pathways to failure:

• Procrastination and delay.
• Responding to the urgent and letting the strategic fall behind.
• Not having the challenging accountability conversation about who specifically is responsible to deliver something.
• Inadequate allocation of time or personnel at the critical points of the project.
• Ineffective communication with key stakeholders, resulting in misunderstanding and pushback.
• Unrealistic deadlines that are not based on pragmatic assessments of what else is going on, resulting in increased stress and dampened morale.
• Scope creep and adjustments throughout the project that lead to confusion and timeline blowouts (just as you might find in a house renovation!).
• Poor project management practices leading to disorganisation, a lack of role clarity for execution and general inefficiencies.
• Insufficient training and capabilities development resulting in poor-quality implementation.?

Running a pre-mortem not only surfaces valid concerns and reservations from team members, but also enhances your team’s psychological safety by encouraging open communication about sources of delay, procrastination and confusion in project execution. This proactive approach builds a stronger, more resilient team and sets the stage for a successful project.

Give it a try ahead of your next project kick-off. I’d love to hear how it works for you!

Read more → Want more? Harvard Business Review has a great read on running pre-mortems here.