Premortem for Beginners: Imagine the Plan Failed, List Reasons, Set Prevention Tasks

Project & Development

Premortem for Beginners: Imagine the Plan Failed, List Reasons, Set Prevention Tasks

First-time leaders launching an event, a new service, or a new process use this beginner premortem template to imagine the plan failed before it starts, list every reason, and set prevention tasks. The four-page board covers the plan's name and goal, a silent five-minute reason dump, four reason clusters on a likelihood-times-pain matrix, and a prevention table with checkpoints. The task board has three columns - not started, in progress, confirmed - with four parent tasks matching the pages and three subtasks each, all starting not started. Everyone writes failure reasons silently, reads them aloud, sorts them, and agrees on preventions, making it easier to raise hard-to-voice worries. Psychologist Gary Klein popularized the method, which is not tied to any one country's system, and participants write at the same time with limited visibility. For safety- or medical-critical plans, this does not replace a formal risk assessment.

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premortem risk prevention project planning first-time leader meeting facilitation
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① Premortem Steps (how to use this bo... ② Plan Name ③ Purpose ④ Success Picture ⑤ Plan Details (decided / undecided /... ⑥ A year from now, the plan in ②-⑤ fa... ⑦ List of Reasons (read ⑥ aloud one b... ⑧ Cluster 1 (e.g. doesn't stick) ⑨ Cluster 2 (e.g. nobody reads it) ⑩ Cluster 3 (e.g. the tool doesn't work) ⑪ Cluster 4 (e.g. the message doesn't... ⑫ Likelihood × Pain (place the ⑧-⑪ re... Painful × Unlikely Painful × Likely Not Painful × Unlikely Not Painful × Likely ⑬ What to Prevent First, and What to ... ⑭ Prevention Table (one row per reaso... ⑮ Check Before Starting ⑯ Check While Running ⑰ Check After It Ends ⑱ Next Review Date Premortem Failure... How to use (all 4... Plan & Goal Decisions & F... Failure Reasons &... Checks & Insi... 1/4 Align the plan an... Ctrl+F / ⌘F : 2/4... → 2/4 2/4 List every failur... ↙ 3/4 Declare FailureOpen by stating, "A year from now, this plan failed."e.g. the facilitator reads the ⑥ prompt aloud Write Alone in SilenceFor 5 minutes, write one reason per note without discussione.g. 3 or more notes per person in frame ⑥ ShareRead aloud one by one and copy into the ⑦ listNo rebuttals - keep the ⑥ notes in place SortGroup similar reasons into 4 clusters and place them on the matrixe.g. use ⑧-⑫ PreventAdd steps and checks to the reasons you'll prevent firste.g. turn the ⑭ table into tasks e.g. starting a new internal daily-report system next month Replace the "e.g." note with your own plan Pick a name anyone would recognize as the same plan Start date: __/__ e.g. so managers learn about daily problems sooner and can help fast Write "why we're doing this" in one sentence If there's more than one goal, rank them by importance Decided by: ____ e.g. after 3 months, everyone files reports at least 4 days a week e.g. replies to problems arrive by the next day State it in numbers or events you can see This becomes the baseline for imagining failure on page 2 Decided Undecided Concerns What to do e.g. reports are answered once a day with 5 questions e.g. whether to write in chat or a dedicated screen e.g. will too many questions make it a hassle to write Deadline e.g. everyone starts on the 1st of next month e.g. whether to run a trial period first e.g. the start of the month is busy with other work Who's involved e.g. 20 people in sales and general affairs e.g. who takes the job of replying e.g. can people who work outside write from their phone Reason for failuree.g. fewer people wrote each week until no one did by month 3 Reason for failuree.g. no one read the reports, so writing them felt pointless Reason for failuree.g. it didn't open on phones, so field staff couldn't write Writing ruleOne reason per note. Don't group them yet, and don't judge good or bad What happened Why it seems likely Has something sim... Reason 1 e.g. no one filed reports after 3 months e.g. answering 5 questions every day was a hassle e.g. the old weekly report also stopped after 2 months Reason 2 e.g. no one read the reports e.g. no one was assigned to reply e.g. yes - the suggestion box never got replies either Reason 3 e.g. field staff couldn't write them e.g. never tested whether it opens on phones e.g. none (it's a new tool) Reason 4 e.g. everyone wrote it differently e.g. no writing sample was shared e.g. the same thing happened with meeting minutes Reason 5 e.g. it didn't work right on launch day e.g. never tried it with a small group first e.g. not sure Reason 6 e.g. the purpose wasn't clear and felt like surveillance e.g. explained only once, in the announcement text e.g. yes - the new attendance system faced pushback too 3/4 Choose what to pr... → 4/4 4/4 Turn fixes into t... Gather similar reasons from ⑦; name the cluster from what came up e.g. no one keeps it up after 3 months e.g. the daily questions are a hassle e.g. no one reads it or replies to it e.g. writing it changes nothing Don't put the same reason in two frames e.g. it doesn't open on phones e.g. it doesn't work right on launch day Add more notes if these aren't enough e.g. the purpose isn't clear and feels like surveillance e.g. everyone writes it differently Put any leftover reasons here and rename the cluster 縦軸: Pain (top = b... Just decide the response in advance. e.g. switch to paper reports if it breaks down Pick what to prevent first from here (up to 4). e.g. assign a reply owner before anything else if no one reads it Accept it this time. Write it on ⑬ and revisit it on the review date A quick fix is enough. e.g. hand out one writing sample Reasons to prevent first (up to 4)e.g. no one reads it / no one keeps writing by month 3 / it doesn't open on phones Reasons to accept this timee.g. inconsistent writing style (hand out a sample and watch for now) Why we decided thise.g. if no one reads it, other fixes won't work either, so assign a reply owner first Steps Pre-start check Owner Review date Reason 1 e.g. assign one reply owner per department e.g. whether the owner accepted the job e.g. the team lead e.g. 2 weeks after launch Reason 2 e.g. cut the questions from 5 to 3 e.g. 3 people test writing it in under 3 minutes e.g. prep team members e.g. 1 month after launch Reason 3 e.g. have everyone confirm it opens on phones e.g. whether 5 field staff could open it e.g. the general affairs lead e.g. 3 days before launch Reason 4 ____ ____ ____ __/__ e.g. every "pre-start check" in ⑭ is done e.g. the purpose and format were explained to everyone If not done, decide whether to push back the start date Checked by: ____ e.g. count how many people submitted every Friday e.g. whether replies arrive by the next day If the count starts dropping, revisit the ⑬ reasons Watched by: ____ e.g. compare against the ④ success picture after 3 months e.g. write down which reasons were prevented and which weren't Reuse this in the premortem for your next plan Summarized by: ____ Review dateDate: __/__ / Place: ____ What to check that daye.g. progress on the ⑭ table and the "Confirmed" column on the task board Who to share withe.g. the 20 people in sales and general affairs, and the manager (share the preventions with limited visibility) → 2/4 List every failur... ↙ 3/4 Choose what to pr... → 4/4 Turn fixes into t...
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Task board contents

Not Started 16 items

Set Plan & Steps
List All Reasons
Pick What to Prevent
Turn Fixes to Tasks
Name the Plan & Goal
Picture Success
Fill the Plan Grid
Declare the Failure
Write Reasons 5 Min
Read & List Reasons
Group 4 Clusters
Place on 4 Quadrants
Decide What to Stop
Build the Fix Table
Set 3 Checkpoints
Set & Share Review

In Progress 0 items

Confirmed 0 items

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