pre-mortem

Pre-mortem analysis prompts teams to systematically imagine failure scenarios before coding begins. Run a structured risk analysis workflow to generate 3–5 failure modes, assess their likelihood and impact, and define mitigations. This shifts risk discovery from reactive debugging to proactive planning.

Pre-mortem applies to significant changes: feature development, migrations, refactors, API integrations, and infrastructure changes. Use it when the cost of failure is high, dependencies are complex, or multiple teams coordinate. It's most valuable before implementation starts.

Pre-mortem uses retrospective imagination: teams assume the project failed and work backward to identify causes. This surfaces blind spots standard checklists miss. It combines risk identification with mandatory mitigation planning and priority ordering for implementation.

Pre-mortem workflow sorts identified risks by severity and likelihood to guide implementation order. High-risk items surface first, letting teams tackle mitigation early. This prevents costly rework and focuses effort on the scenarios most likely to derail the project.

Pre-mortem scales from small to large scope. Even modest features benefit from imagining 2–3 failure modes and quick mitigations. Smaller tasks need faster analysis but follow the same structured discipline of failure enumeration and plan adjustment.