Pre-Mortem
Pre-Mortem is a structured group exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- To close the exercise, the list of concerns and risks may be ranked or voted on to determine priority. The group then decides what actions need to be taken to address these risks; they may bring these up as a part of ongoing meetings as the project progresses.
- The source of the Pre-Mortem game is unknown. It’s similar, and related to, the Innovation Game: “Remember the Future” designed by Luke Hohmann.
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- All methods All authors IAF Library Library Pre-Mortem 61 24 Often in projects, the learning is all at the wrong end.
- Usually after things have already gone horribly wrong or off-track, members of the team gather in a “postmortem” to sagely reflect on what bad assumptions and courses of action added up to disaster.
- The group then decides what actions need to be taken to address these risks; they may bring these up as a part of ongoing meetings as the project progresses.
- CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.
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Prompts to use +
To close the exercise, the list of concerns and risks may be ranked or voted on to determine priority. The group then decides what actions need to be taken to address these risks; they may bring these up as a part of ongoing meetings as the project progresses.
Usually after things have already gone horribly wrong or off-track, members of the team gather in a “postmortem” to sagely reflect on what bad assumptions and courses of action added up to disaster.
The group then decides what actions need to be taken to address these risks; they may bring these up as a part of ongoing meetings as the project progresses.
CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Pre-Mortem. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: To close the exercise, the list of concerns and risks may be ranked or voted on to determine priority. The group then decides what actions need to be taken to address these risks; they may bring these up as a part of ongoing meetings as the project progresses.; Usually after things have already gone horribly wrong or off-track, members of the team gather in a “postmortem” to sagely reflect on what bad assumptions and courses of action added up to disaster.; The group then decides what actions need to be taken to address these risks; they may bring these up as a part of ongoing meetings as the project progresses.; CollaborationCollaboratively create agendas in real-time.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Gamestorming; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (3 sources observed, including Gamestorming, Miro, SessionLab.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.