Pre-Mortem Failure Analysis Prompt
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Apr 15, 2026
Pre-Mortem Failure Analysis Prompt A structured prompt to imagine a future failure and work backwards to identify root causes, warning signs, and untested assumptions for better decision-making.
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Assume it's 18 months from now and [your goal/project] has completely failed. Not stumbled failed. Dead. Done.
You're writing the post-mortem report.
Work backwards. Identify: the single decision that sealed it, the warning sign that appeared early but was ignored, the assumption that was never tested, and the person in the room who knew but didn't say it.
Be specific. Name the failure mode, not the feeling of failure.
Then rank the top 3 causes by how invisible they would have been at the start.
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