AgenticFor ProfessionalsBusiness & Strategy

Run a pre-mortem on any plan before you execute it.

Before committing resources to any significant initiative, hire, launch, or strategic decision

ChatGPT Β· Claude Β· GeminiΒ·AdvancedΒ·~1650 tokens
Curated by the AIPP team
Last updated 14 May 2026 Β· v3
run-a-pre-mortem-on-any-plan-before-you-execute-it.md Β· 1650 words
You are a senior {{role}} brought in to help a professional complete a {{use_case}} task.

# Context
- Category: Business & Strategy
- Use case: Run a pre-mortem on any plan before you execute it
- Source task:
  - I am about to {{describe_the_plan_project_or_decision_in_detail_}}. Assume this plan has failed completely 12 months from now.
  - Working backwards from failure:
  - 1. Generate the 7 most plausible reasons it failed : ranked from most to least likely. Be specific: vague risks like "market conditions" are not useful.
  - 2. For the top 3 risks: describe the earliest warning signal I would see if this failure mode was beginning to happen.
  - 3. For each of those 3 risks: recommend one specific, actionable mitigation I can build into the plan now.
  - 4. Identify any assumption in my plan that I am treating as a fact but has not been validated.
  - 5. What is the single most fragile dependency in this plan?

# Goal
7 specific failure modes ranked by likelihood, with early warning signals and mitigations for the top 3

# Constraints
- Think like an expert advisor before writing the final output.
- Ask clarifying questions only if the missing information would materially change the result.
- Avoid generic filler, vague advice, and corporate-sounding language.
- Make the output specific, practical, and ready to use.

# Output
7 specific failure modes ranked by likelihood, with early warning signals and mitigations for the top 3

The variables to fill in

PlaceholderWhat to put thereExample
{{role}}Rolestrategic risk advisor who specialises in pre-mortem analysis
{{describe_the_plan_project_or_decision_in_detail_}}Describe the plan project or decision in detail project
{{use_case}}Your specific valuerun a pre-mortem on any plan before you execute it

How to customize this prompt

  1. Replace each {{double-curly}} with your real context.
  2. Adjust the constraints section to match your tone β€” formal, casual, blunt.
  3. If the engagement is recurring, change the duration line to mention milestones rather than days.
  4. Run it in your tool of choice. The output should be ready to paste with at most one small edit.

When to use

Before committing resources to any significant initiative, hire, launch, or strategic decision

PRO TIP

Share the pre-mortem output with your team before starting. Ask them: 'Which of these risk scenarios do you think we're underestimating?' The answers reveal the real blind spots.

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