Pre-Mortem
A one-page pre-mortem drawn as a work-backwards ledger — the technique from Gary Klein and Daniel Kahneman. Instead of asking what might go wrong, you assume the decision has already failed at some future point and ask why. Name the project and the horizon, brainstorm the reasons it failed down the left, ring how severe each one is, and write the safeguard you'd put in place now on the right. It closes with the single biggest risk to watch. Imagining failure up front frees people to voice the doubts they'd otherwise keep quiet — and turns each one into a safeguard you can act on today. Print it blank to run the session by hand.
- Landscape
- 1 page
- Planning
Best for: Stress-testing a plan or decision before you commit — surfacing risks while there's still time to prevent them.
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Books that pair with this printable.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events.
Read summaryDecisive
Chip Heath, Dan Heath
A better decision is rarely the loudest option. It is the one that survives alternatives, evidence, distance, and a plan for being wrong.
Read summaryThe Art of Thinking Clearly
Rolf Dobelli
Clear thinking is not the absence of bias. It is the habit of catching your favorite mistake before it spends your future.
Read summaryContinue the print stack.
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