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Pre-mortem

Imagine the next sprint has failed spectacularly — now explain why. Prospective hindsight surfaces risks people hesitate to name directly. Run it before risky sprints.

Steps

  1. 5 min
    Frame the failure

    It's the end of next sprint and everything went wrong. State it vividly.

  2. 15 min
    Write failure causes

    Silently: what caused the disaster? Be specific and fearless.

  3. 10 min
    Cluster and vote

    Group causes; vote the most likely and most damaging.

  4. 20 min
    Mitigate top risks

    For each top risk: how do we prevent it or see it early?

  5. 10 min
    Decide actions

    Turn mitigations into owned actions and early-warning signals.