pre-mortems
Imagining future failures
Pre-mortems are exercises in imagining failure before it happens.
A team planning a project assumes it has already failed, then works backward to identify what went wrong.
The technique surfaces risks and blind spots that optimism might otherwise obscure: We ran a pre-mortem on the product launch and realized our timeline was unrealistic.
Contrast with postmortems, which analyze failures after the fact.
Something that extends outward
- forecastingEstimating future conditions
- predictionForecast of coming events
- foresightAbility to anticipate futures
- forethoughtPlanning before acting
prospection · expectation · prognostication · extrapolation · speculation · conjecture · outlook · imagination
Openness to harm
- threatIndication of potential harm
- likelihoodChance something will occur
- severityIntensity of sternness
- impactForceful contact or consequence
hazard · exposure · uncertainty · consequence · probability · scenario · evaluation · mitigation
Hypothetical scenario query
- brainstormingGenerating many ideas freely
- roadmapDetailed plan forward
- milestonesNotable points of progress
- timelineOrdered display of events
prioritization · deliverables · workflow · backcasting · feasibility · preparation · readiness · safeguards
Preventing harm or loss
- protectionGuarding against harm
- defensesMeans of protection
- barriersThings blocking access
- bufferProtective intermediate space
backstop · early-warning · intervention · avoidance · circumvention · contingency · insurance · redundancy
Authorized adversarial assessors
- facilitationMaking tasks easier
- simulationImitation of real processes
projection
Something that extends outward
- forecastingEstimating future conditions
- predictionForecast of coming events
- foresightAbility to anticipate futures
forethought · prospection · expectation · prognostication · extrapolation · speculation · conjecture · outlook · imagination · visualization
vulnerability
Openness to harm
- threatIndication of potential harm
- likelihoodChance something will occur
- severityIntensity of sternness
impact · hazard · exposure · uncertainty · consequence · probability · scenario · evaluation · mitigation · assessment
what-if
Hypothetical scenario query
- brainstormingGenerating many ideas freely
- roadmapDetailed plan forward
- milestonesNotable points of progress
timeline · prioritization · deliverables · workflow · backcasting · feasibility · preparation · readiness · safeguards · fallback
safeguarding
Preventing harm or loss
- protectionGuarding against harm
- defensesMeans of protection
- barriersThings blocking access
buffer · backstop · early-warning · intervention · avoidance · circumvention · contingency · insurance · redundancy · resilience
red-team
Authorized adversarial assessors
- facilitationMaking tasks easier
- simulationImitation of real processes
pre-mortemspost-mortems
Examinations after death
postmortems · retrospectives · lessons learned · autopsies · debriefs
pre-mortem, mortem, mortal, mortals, mortality, immortal, immortals, immortality, mortally