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What the Pre-mortem is, how to fill it in and what happens next.
What this guide covers
What this guide covers
What it is
Picture the failure, then prevent it
You imagine your plan failed a year from now and write down why.
- Users stopped after week one
- The money ran out
- The lead developer left
- A rival launched first
- Store review took weeks
Why it helps
Hard reasons get easier to say
Once failure is treated as a fact, its reasons are easier to name.
- Not a forecast a way to think ahead
- Your own list nobody grades it
- Three plans for the worst risks
Filling it in
Fifteen minutes, in four steps
Write the plan and the reasons, rate them, then plan for three.
Write why it failed
Write as if it already happened, one reason per line.
Rate and place each reason
Top right on the grid means likely and damaging.
Plan for the top three
Say what you will do and the early warning sign.
Write why it failed
Write as if it already happened, one reason per line.
- Users stopped after week one
- The money ran out
- The lead developer left
- A rival launched first
- Store review took weeks
Rate and place each reason
Top right on the grid means likely and damaging.
- Users stopped after week one
- The money ran out
- The lead developer left
- A rival launched first
- Store review took weeks
Plan for the top three
Say what you will do and the early warning sign.
- Users stopped after week one
- The money ran out
- The lead developer left
- A rival launched first
- Store review took weeks
- Users stopped after week one
- The money ran out
- The lead developer left
- A rival launched first
- Store review took weeks
On Mentornity
Find it, fill it in, send it
Your mentor’s tool waits on your home page until you send it.
Find it on your home page
Tools to fill in shows what was sent, and by whom.
Stop whenever you like
Your answers are saved as you go.
Check, then send
Before you send, you see any step left empty.
Find it on your home page
Tools to fill in shows what was sent, and by whom.
Pre-mortemFrom Rachel Bennett To do See all Stop whenever you like
Your answers are saved as you go.
Check, then send
Before you send, you see any step left empty.
Pre-mortemFrom Rachel Bennett To do See all What happens next
You talk it through together
Your mentor reads your risks, comments and agrees next steps with you.
- Only you two program admins do not see the answers
- Comments on any part of it
- Next steps who does what, by when
- Still editable change answers after sending
Fill it in before you commit
Bring your top-right risks to the meeting and talk them through.