Concept
A pre mortem is a planning tool that involves imagining that a project or decision has already failed, and then working backwards to identify the potential causes of this failure. The goal of a pre mortem is to anticipate and mitigate potential risks or challenges before they occur, rather than reacting to problems after they have happened.
The term “pre mortem” was coined by organizational psychologist Gary Klein, who used the technique as a way of encouraging teams to think more critically about potential risks and challenges. Klein argued that the pre mortem approach was more effective than traditional risk assessment techniques, which tend to focus on identifying and addressing known risks rather than anticipating and preparing for unknown risks.
Other terms that relate to the same concept include “anticipatory failure analysis,” “prediction of failure,” and “reverse scenario planning.” These approaches all involve imagining a negative outcome and working backwards to identify the potential causes and ways to prevent it.
Examples of companies that use the pre mortem concept
Google: Google has a long history of using the pre mortem technique as a way of encouraging employees to think critically about potential risks and challenges. According to Google’s former SVP of People Operations, Laszlo Bock, the company uses the pre mortem approach to “think about the things that could go wrong before they do, and to come up with contingency plans for those things.”
Procter & Gamble: Procter & Gamble is another corporation that is known to use the pre mortem technique as a way of identifying and mitigating potential risks. The company has a structured approach to risk assessment that involves identifying and evaluating potential risks, developing contingency plans, and regularly reviewing and updating these plans.
Goldman Sachs: Goldman Sachs is another corporation that is known to use the pre mortem technique as a way of anticipating potential failures and mitigating them. According to former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn, the company uses the pre mortem approach to “anticipate and prepare for a wide range of possible outcomes.”
Application
Project planning: A professional might use the pre mortem approach to anticipate and prepare for potential risks or challenges during the planning phase of a project. By imagining that the project has already failed and working backwards to identify the potential causes, the professional can develop contingency plans and take proactive steps to mitigate these risks.
Decision-making: A professional might use the pre mortem approach to evaluate potential risks and challenges associated with a particular decision. By imagining that the decision has already resulted in failure, the professional can anticipate and prepare for potential negative outcomes.
Risk assessment: A professional might use the pre mortem approach to identify and evaluate potential risks and challenges in a particular business environment. By imagining that a particular risk or challenge has already materialized, the professional can develop contingency plans and take proactive steps to mitigate these risks.
Team discussions: A professional might use the pre mortem approach to facilitate more productive and constructive discussions within a team. By encouraging team members to imagine that a particular project or decision has already failed, the professional can help the team to identify and evaluate potential risks and challenges and develop contingency plans.
Further reading:
- “Performing a Project Premortem” by Gary Klein
Contributor:
Will Bachman
