Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 413
Make failure discussable before commitment hardens
A premortem legitimizes dissent by treating failure as an accomplished fact long enough for teams to expose dependencies, controls, and escalation triggers.
Premise
A premortem changes the social conditions under which a team can challenge a plan. Instead of asking what might go wrong, participants assume that the project has already failed badly and reconstruct what caused it. Gary Klein developed the practice within naturalistic decision making. The executive value is not pessimism; it is temporary permission to investigate failure before commitments, sunk costs, and sponsorship make dissent expensive.
What the model is: Premortem in Knowledge →
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- FamilyTool
- CategoryIntervention Methods & Practices
- DomainRisk, Crisis & Safety
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Tool
In this series, Tool names the editorial family primarily used to act on, examine, measure or organize communication. It includes instruments, methods, practices, protocols, codes and institutional arrangements. Membership does not certify effectiveness, portability or safe use in every setting.
Editorial orientation · Category
Intervention Methods & Practices
Organizes actions intended to facilitate, plan, train, negotiate, coordinate or change a situation. It connects a practical purpose with a way of working, whose conditions and consequences must be examined.
- KnowledgePremortem