Pre-Mortem
Prospective failure analysis: What could go wrong before it happens.
PURPOSE
Teams tend to ignore risks and potential problems, especially when they're excited about a project. A Pre-Mortem uncovers possible causes of failure before the project starts and enables preventive countermeasures. It leverages the team's collective intelligence and gives even reserved members a voice for their concerns.
HOW TO USE
The team imagines that the project has already failed and individually writes down what might have caused the failure. The causes are then collected, clustered, and evaluated by likelihood and impact. For the most critical risks, specific countermeasures are defined and incorporated into the project plan.
WHAT IT IS
The Pre-Mortem is a prospective analysis method attributed to psychologist Gary Klein. Unlike the post-mortem (analysis after failure), the failure is hypothetically anticipated in advance. The method combines mental simulation with group intelligence and is freely available as an Atlassian Team Playbook exercise.
EXAMPLE
Example: Your team is planning the launch of a new e-commerce platform in 3 months and everyone is euphoric. During the Pre-Mortem, you deliberately say: 'Imagine it's October and the launch has failed — why?' Suddenly risks surface: payment provider integration not tested, load testing missing, no rollback plan. Now you can take countermeasures.