Premortem: Whodunnit, before Theydunnit
Jace Brown
On-the-Job Training Solutions for Small Businesses: Customized, Professional Training Without the Overhead
“Don’t ask Sarah to come. She always talks about how it can fail!”
Is Sarah just negative or is she playing an important role to ensure that the project is successful?
Without knowing the situation we really can’t say, but what I can say is that “negativity” can be channeled into driving successes throughout the business.
Let’s talk about a Premortem.
We have all heard about a post mortem. That is when an autopsy is performed to determine what killed a person. Reactivity at it’s best. But what about a premortem; pre-death?
Before there was such a professional term many called it playing the devil’s advocate. You might say something like “what if…”
Premortems are another way of error proofing a process, system, project, or problem solution.
Bill has worked on a problem that the production line has had for a while and is sure that he has the solution.
Bill has a vested interest in the results of the problem being solved with his solution. As they say, “he has put in his blood, sweat, and tears”. He knows why he went one way versus another or used one material over the other. He has boxed himself into a belief system.
This happens to teams of people as well. Everyone becomes part of a “group think”.
To get past this there has to be a challenge to the “group think”. There are at least two ways to break the barrier of group think and move toward systems or solutions thinking, pilot or premortem.
Pilot: Take the solution and use it. Perhaps in a limited exposure, but use it in real time in the real world.
Premortem: Conduct a simulated implementation. As a group, formally ask the questions that would play out in real life if you used it in real life.
If doing something will destroy a piece of equipment if implemented in reality, implementing it in theory in a premortem saves the piece of equipment.
Outside the group
Using people that are knowledgeable of the process or system that you are working on, but not a part of the group trying to solve it, is the best way of conducting a premortem. Those people will ask the questions that the solution group might not think of because they are too close or vested in the effort.
Premortem is just another way of proving something out before implementation actually happens.
Jace, you are singing my song!?I don’t think of uncovering flaws as negativity, but as driving improvement.?It is much easier to revise an early draft than to make big changes in the final stretch.? Also, everyone has blind spots.?Seeking feedback from my customers and target audience helps me avoid downstream surprises.??? Instruction designers use cycles of plan, develop, use and improvement to put together good learning/training resources.?There’s different methodologies that companies apply, but the core for all of them is evaluation based on real use and then improvement. Thanks for the great article!
On-the-Job Training Solutions for Small Businesses: Customized, Professional Training Without the Overhead
4 年Laura Wolf what do you think? Do you see much of this going on?