Pre-Mortem — Template

Imagine the failure before it happens. 45 minutes, 4–10 people.

Instead of asking "How will we make this succeed?", ask: "It's six months later. Our initiative has failed. Why?"

When to use

Before any major change, workshop format, or method introduction.

Setting

All relevant stakeholders in the room. Especially the doubters.

Initiative

Initiative name:

Goal:

Time horizon (e.g. 6 months):

Step 1 — Invoke the scenario (3 min)

"Six months from now. Our [Initiative] has clearly failed. Nobody talks about it anymore. What happened?"

Step 2 — Silent collection (10 min)

Each person writes answers on cards — sorted by Tool-Set, Skill-Set, Mind-Set.

Tool-Set risks

Common risks: Canvas created but no tracking system. Tools introduced without retiring old ones. No measurement established. Unclear ownership. Boards not maintained.

Skill-Set risks

Common risks: People didn't know how to apply the method. Leadership couldn't facilitate conversations. Symptoms not separated from causes. No learning time.

Mind-Set risks

Common risks: Experienced as evaluation, not learning. Leadership wanted transparency but no uncomfortable consequences. Bad news was punished. No time to learn. It became fashion, not practice.

Step 3 — Joint collection (15 min)

Cards on the wall, cluster. Merge duplicates, name themes.

Step 4 — Top 3 most likely risks (5 min)

Dot voting — each person has 3 dots.

Rank	Risk	Set (T/S/M)
1.
2.
3.

Step 5 — One preventive action per risk (12 min)

What can we do now so this failure doesn't happen?

#	Preventive action	Owner	By when
1.
2.
3.

Pitfall: Preventive actions are noted but not scheduled. Lock in each action with owner and date, or you'll repeat your pre-mortem as a post-mortem.

Source: The 3-Sets Method — Diagnostic Methods. More at 3sets.org/en.