A strategy to identify risks at the start of a project by imagining it has already failed.
Unlike a post-mortem, which analyzes what went wrong after the fact, a pre-mortem assumes failure upfront. By shifting the perspective to "the project has failed," it liberates the team to voice concerns they might otherwise keep to themselves to avoid being seen as negative.
Tell the team: "Imagine we are 6 months in the future. The project was a complete disaster. It failed spectacularly."
Ask everyone to silently write down all the reasons why it failed. Be specific. (e.g., "Users didn't understand the navigation," "The database couldn't handle the load.")
Have team members share their reasons. Group similar items together on a whiteboard or digital canvas.
Vote on the risks that are most likely to happen and would have the highest impact.
For the top risks, brainstorm preventive measures or contingency plans. Turn these into action items for the project plan.