Knowledge Base
Find your blind spots before reality does
Stress-test any plan or decision with Pre-Mortem's two modes, then save the findings and turn prevention steps into to-dos.
Everyone around you is polite about your plans. Pre-Mortem is not. It is the thinking partner whose whole job is to challenge your assumptions and surface the blind spots you have talked yourself past, while there is still time to fix them.
Pre-Mortem is one of eight pages hidden from the sidebar on a new account. If you can't see it under Think, scroll to the bottom of the sidebar and click Show all features, or open Settings and use the Navigation section. Then open Pre-Mortem from the Think section and choose a mode.
Two ways to pressure-test
- Challenge My Thinking plays devil's advocate against a plan you believe in. Present your pricing strategy, your launch plan, or a big decision, and it argues the other side. Each weakness it finds appears as its own card, flagged critical, high, or medium, so you can see at a glance which objections deserve your attention first.
- Pre-Mortem Analysis asks the classic question: imagine this failed, why? Describe what you are about to do (launching a product, changing prices, entering a market, making a big hire) and it maps out the failure modes. Each risk appears as a card rated Very Likely, Likely, or Possible, usually with the prevention steps that would head it off.
Not sure where to start? Each mode offers starter prompts like "Poke holes in my launch plan" and "I'm making a big hire." Click one and go.
Both modes start by asking you two or three questions about the plan, such as your timeline, your customer and what success looks like. Answer them and the full analysis follows.
Push back
This is a conversation, not a verdict. Defend your plan, add context it did not have, and let it concede the points you win. What survives that back-and-forth is the part of your plan you can actually trust, and the cards that stand are the work left to do.
Turn the findings into action
Two buttons appear at the top of the session once you are a couple of exchanges in, and they keep the analysis from evaporating:
- Save to KB files the full session into your knowledge base, tagged and searchable, so the risk assessment is on record before you commit.
- Create Todos (in Pre-Mortem Analysis) takes the list items in the latest response and adds each one to your To-Do list, turning "here is how it could fail" into "here is what I am doing about it." It picks up the warning signs as well as the prevention steps, so delete any to-dos you don't plan to act on.
Pair it with Launch Mentor
Pre-Mortem is one half of your thinking partners. Build the plan up with Launch Mentor, then bring it here to see if it holds.