pre-mortem

Imagine your project has failed spectacularly—then work backward to identify why. Apply Gary Klein's "prospective hindsight" technique to catch failures before they happen.

| Source | Gary Klein (1989), cognitive psychologist, naturalistic decision making pioneer | | Expert | Klein's research shows pre-mortems increase accuracy of identifying reasons for outcomes by 30% |

| Core Principle | "Prospective hindsight" - imagining an event has already occurred dramatically improves our ability to explain it. The future feels distant; the past feels real. |

Imagine your project has failed spectacularly—then work backward to identify why. Apply Gary Klein's "prospective hindsight" technique to catch failures before they happen. Use when: **Before launching** a product, campaign, or major initiative; **Before making** an important decision (hiring, investment, partnership); **Starting a project** to identify risks the team hasn't considered; **When overconfident** and everyone agrees the plan is great; **Before committing resources** to a signific... Source: guia-matthieu/clawfu-skills.