This is an effective process where using the answers to 'what went wrong and why', the reasons for failure are groupded thematically, and prioritised.Once the reasons are prioritised, Identify mitigating actions. Based on the mitigation plam assign responsibilities and set timelines. Using this approach helps in finding the risks early and put the mitigation plan to action from the start instead of doing failure based RCA as we encounter failures. What makes this technique even more attractive is the fact that it can be used mutliple times across the project phases to reprioritise the plan and change the course of action as deemed nexessary.

1. Pre-Mortem
Be Smart at the Start

2. Meet
the
Presenter
Pradeep Patel
Sr. Director –Program Management
Leadership is not about how
amazing you are, it’s all
about making team(s)
realize how amazing they
are.

3. • A pre-mortem is a group brainstorming exercise used to critique plans and projects.
• It brings forward the post-mortem process by imagining the possible failure state
so that a project can be improved at the start rather than doing RCA at the end.
• It looks back from the imagined future to find the possible failures at the start
What is a ‘pre-mortem’

4. Benefits of a pre-mortem
• It overcomes blind spots and optimism bias by reframing the project as a failure.
• It generates more ideas by focusing on the prospective hindsight of
“what did go wrong” rather than the typical “what could go wrong”.
• It can be done early on in a project, and as many times as required.
• It helps the team to recognise warning signs quicker and bridges short and long term
thinking.

5. 5 Step pre mortem Process
Brief the pre-mortem team on the
project. (5 minutes)
Choose future date imagining the project
has failed and what that failure looks like.
(5 minutes – group discussion)
Individually, write down every reason you can
think of for the failure, as detailed as possible,
without fear of being impolite(5 minutes)
Use the above data to identify themes,
control, actions and responsibilities
Strengthen Project Plan before it fails.
01
02
03
04
05

6. • The team members’ task is to generate
likely reasons for the project’s failure
• The purpose is to identify vulnerabilities
in the plan, and develop specific actions
to mitigate, avoid, transfer or accept
before it’s too late.
• The project team can use this process to
build in measures in the project plan to
lessen or eliminate the risk.
Using pre-mortems to manage risk
The team discusses reasons for the project
failure by theme:
• what are the themes?
• what is within the team’s control?
• what are the actions?
• who is responsible for doing what?
The project team uses the reasons to
strengthen the project plan before it fails.
Steps

7. What went wrong
and why?
People got mad at us – we
didn’t explain to the broader
community what the aim of
the project was
We wrongly thought it
would only take 2 people
and 6 weeks to do the
research, but we needed
3 people and 12 weeks
• What went wrong?
• What were the possible
causes?
• Were there warning
signs?

8. Using insights to manage project risk
Themes Actions Responsibilit Due date
Project scope • Describe teams’ responsibilities
• Workshop problem statement
with
all stakeholders
Project
manager
Sprint 1
Project
governance
• Propose ideal
governance structure,
and rationale
Director Sprint 2
Project planning • Map teams’ skills against
project desired outcomes,
and identify gaps
• Build continency time into
project plan, using
contingency matrix
Project
manager
Sprint 2
Communication • Build communication
strategy as part of project
plan
• Monitor strategy throughout the
project
Project
manager and
client
Sprint 3
• Using the answers to
'what went wrong and
why':
• Group the reasons
for failure
thematically, and
prioritise.
• Identify mitigating
actions.
• Assign responsibilities
and set timelines.

9. Now- Next - Later for Implementation of Findings
Now Next Later
Actions that need to be
taken immediately, base.
Next Action items that
needs completion
What all Action items can
wait till the previous one
gets completed.
01 02 03

10. Now Next Later Prioritization
Later
Next
Now
Action Item
Action Item.
Action Item
Action Item
Action Item
Action Item
Action Item
Action Item
Action Item

11. Pre Mortem-Ametek.com ( Project Details)
5 Week Discovery , followed by 12
weeks of development, 2 Weeks UAT
and 2 week hyper care support
All upcoming portals will re- purpose
the components from this site
Half a Million Dollar Deal
Design and Develop SXA based
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UX/Design will be done by our Onshore Team
Security, Performance, GDPR, Accessibility all in scope
Client team is almost non technical