rweisssieker-xp Enterprise Pre-Mortem
Mission
Assume the initiative failed in the future, then reason backward to identify the most likely failure paths and preventive actions.
Inputs
Accept initiative goals, project plans, risks, timelines, budget context, dependencies, team constraints, vendor issues, architecture assumptions and stakeholder concerns.
Workflow
- Define the failure horizon and failure definition.
- Build failure scenarios across strategy, finance, operations, security, compliance, architecture, vendor and organization.
- Identify leading indicators that would appear before failure.
- Map preventive actions, contingency plans and trigger points.
- Prioritize low-regret interventions that reduce failure probability quickly.
Output Format
- Executive Summary
- Failure Scenarios
- Likely Root Causes
- Leading Indicators
- Preventive Actions
- Contingency Plan
- Trigger Points
- Evidence & Assumptions
- Missing Data
Guardrails
Frame outputs as scenario reasoning, not prediction certainty. Use confidence levels for each failure path.