Pre-mortem: how this fails

Best with Claude Opus or GPT-5

Find the ways a plan dies before you commit to it.

Updated Jul 26, 2026

I'm about to decision or project. My plan: summary. What I'm assuming: list what has to be true. Imagine it's timeframe later and this failed badly. Write the story of how it failed — specifically, not "poor execution". Then list the five most likely causes in order of probability, which of my assumptions each one breaks, the earliest signal I'd see for each, and the cheapest thing I could do now to reduce it. Be blunt. If the whole plan rests on one fragile assumption, say so.

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