Strategise method guide
Pre-mortem
Imagine an initiative has failed, surface plausible causes and agree prevention, warning signs and contingencies.
Beginner-friendly guide · 4 min read
What Pre-mortem does
Imagine an initiative has failed, surface plausible causes and agree prevention, warning signs and contingencies.
The prompt starts with an imagined unsuccessful outcome. Each contribution explains how that outcome might have happened, giving the team concrete assumptions to examine.
In InnovationFlow, the record can hold the initiative, failure scenario, cause, early warning, prevention and contingency. Owners and dates turn the discussion into follow-up work.
Gary Klein described the project premortem in Harvard Business Review in 2007. InnovationFlow provides fields for the workshop outputs and follow-up actions.[1]
Illustrative facilitation sequence and action record.
- 1Initiative→
- 2Failure hypothesis→
- 3Warning sign→
- 4Prevention→
- 5Contingency
Original InnovationFlow illustration. Example values and software behaviour are explained in this guide; method sources are listed below.
Understand the method
The parts in plain language
Failure scenario
A specific imagined outcome to investigate.
Illustrative example
The pilot ran, but maintenance crews will not use the new module.
Early warning
An observable signal that calls for attention.
Illustrative example
Service trials repeatedly need specialist support.
Contingency
A response if prevention is insufficient.
Illustrative example
Retain a serviceable fallback design during the pilot.
When to use it
- Before a major pilot, launch or investment decision.
- When confidence in the plan is making concerns difficult to raise.
A practical workflow
- 1
Name the initiative and imagine a specific future point at which it has failed.
- 2
Invite participants to propose plausible failure causes.
- 3
Discuss evidence and identify early warning signs.
- 4
Record prevention, contingency, ownership and review dates; route material risks into the Risk Register.
Fictional worked example
A maintenance pilot
This example is illustrative rather than a reported case. A fictional team tests a modular pump concept.
Observation:The new module is difficult to handle in a confined space.
Implication:Ask technicians to test the service sequence.
Observation:Trials require two people rather than one.
Implication:Revisit handling assumptions before ramp-up.
Observation:Test a revised lifting interface.
Implication:Assign a trial owner and review date.
From analysis to decision
How to interpret the result
- 1Use the hypotheses to direct evidence gathering.
- 2Keep unresolved concerns visible when the initiative enters the roadmap.
Practical interpretation guidance from InnovationFlow. Refer to the method sources below for the underlying approach.
What a useful output looks like
Common pitfalls
- Imagined failure is a hypothesis, not a forecast.
- Keep criticism directed at the plan and assumptions, not individuals.
References and method basis
- [1]Klein, G. (2007). Performing a Project Premortem. Harvard Business Review, September 2007. Source ↗Original method source
This guide synthesises the named sources into practical questions for strategy and innovation work. It does not claim that using a tool by itself produces a successful decision.