Enable Strategy Lab
Premortem
Imagine the project already failed. Work backwards to find every reason why, then fix it before it happens.
A normal risk conversation asks "what could go wrong?" - and it's surprisingly easy to answer "not much" when you're feeling confident about a new project or decision. A premortem flips the question: imagine it's a year from now and the project has failed, badly and specifically. Now explain why. That small shift in framing gives people permission to say the uncomfortable things out loud, because you're not predicting failure - you're just explaining an outcome that's already been declared. Name the project, write the imagined failure, list every reason you can think of, rate how likely each one really is, and write a mitigation for the ones that matter. It's one of the cheapest risk-reduction exercises available, and it takes about twenty minutes.
Included in All Access, or unlock it on its own.
Start here first: free Academy course
The Premortem
Normal planning conversations are optimistic by nature, which means the risks that actually sink a project rarely get raised out loud before it starts. The Premortem flips that: imagine the project already failed, and work backward to find out why - a small trick that surfaces risks a standard planning meeting never catches. Skip it and you find out about those same risks the hard way, mid-project, when fixing them costs far more.
- 1.Why Imagining Failure WorksThe odd psychological trick behind a premortem - and why it beats just asking "what could go wrong?"
- 2.Specific Beats VagueA generic failure story surfaces generic reasons. A specific one surfaces the reasons that actually matter.
- 3.Name a Real ProjectPick something with a genuine start date coming up - not a hypothetical, a real decision.
- 4.Quick CheckA few questions to lock in what you just covered.
- 5.Run Your PremortemTurn the project you named into a ranked list of reasons and mitigations - before any of them happen for real.
Questions
What does the Premortem do?
A normal risk conversation asks "what could go wrong?" - and it's surprisingly easy to answer "not much" when you're feeling confident about a new project or decision. A premortem flips the question: imagine it's a year from now and the project has failed, badly and specifically. Now explain why. That small shift in framing gives people permission to say the uncomfortable things out loud, because you're not predicting failure - you're just explaining an outcome that's already been declared. Name the project, write the imagined failure, list every reason you can think of, rate how likely each one really is, and write a mitigation for the ones that matter. It's one of the cheapest risk-reduction exercises available, and it takes about twenty minutes.
How much does the Premortem cost?
It's included in All Access along with every other Lab and the full Academy, or you can unlock it on its own. The membership page has the current options.
Is it built for Australian businesses?
Yes. Enable Strategy Lab is built in Queensland for Australian small business owners, using Australian dollars, GST and Australian terms throughout.
Do I need to be good with numbers or strategy?
No. Each Lab walks you through one step at a time in plain English, with examples, and saves your work as you go so you can come back to it.
Is there anything I should read first?
Yes: the free Academy course "The Premortem" explains the thinking behind this Lab in 5 short lessons.