Pre-Mortem Workshop Guide

When to use this

A pre-mortem is a structured exercise where the team imagines, in detail, that the project failed. Working backward from that failure surfaces risks people would otherwise be too polite to name.

# Pre-Mortem Workshop — [Project Name]

**Duration:** 90 min   **Facilitator:** [Name]   **Attendees:** Full project team + 1-2 outsiders

## Setup (5 min)
Facilitator: "It is six months from now. The project has failed catastrophically. We're here to write the autopsy. What killed it?"

## 1. Silent write (15 min)
Each person writes, on their own, the five reasons the project failed. No discussion.

## 2. Share and cluster (25 min)
Each person reads one reason at a time. Facilitator clusters similar reasons on the wall.

## 3. Vote (10 min)
Each person gets 3 dots. Place them on the clusters they think most likely.

## 4. Mitigations for the top 5 clusters (30 min)
| Failure cluster | Most likely cause | Mitigation | Owner | Due |
|------------------|--------------------|------------|-------|-----|
|                  |                    |            |       |     |

## 5. Project plan changes (5 min)
What in the current plan changes as a result of this workshop?

## Write-up
Two pages: the failure list, the mitigations, the plan changes. Circulated within 48h.