How to avoid a project's demise...

Have you ever heard of performing a pre-mortem autopsy? We know a post-mortem happens after something has died and it is used to determine cause of death.

Little too late for the victim. 

A pre-mortem activity is where an "autopsy" is performed BEFORE a death occurs to create a plan to avoid actual failure. It's been around for more than decade or so from Gary Klein, a research psychologist, famous for pioneering in the field of naturalistic decision making.

In it's simplest forms, it makes total sense. When someone really smart explained it to me, it made even more sense.

I'll try to describe it in 6 easy steps:

1. Preparation: Get the team together, each with a few pieces of paper and pencil. Make sure that every person who has input with the project in the room.
2. Imagine the total, complete, embarrassing failure of the project: Explain to the team that a year from now, their current project bombed so horribly that you can't even make eye contact when passing in the hallway. #epicfailure
3. Generate Reasons for Failure: Every person takes three minutes to write down all the reasons why they think things went so wrong. If you have everyone possible there, you'll have many different perspectives. Once finished, have them eliminate those issues that you cannot control. You could even create a cemetery and put them there. :)
4. Consolidate the Lists: Go around the room and have each person share one idea with a facilitator recording on white board. Continue sharing until everyone has exhausted their lists.
5. Create a Plan: Pick 2 or 3 of the big ticket concerns.  Assign experts to oversee these big ticket concerns. Create a team plan to support each other to eliminate the problems before they become lethal. Schedule another time to generate ideas for avoiding or minimizing the other problems.
6. Periodically Review the List: Take the list out every couple of months for the team to assess and re-adjust as needed.

This could be a depressing experience. This can also cure some overconfidence. All share their concerns. All help create a plan. Starting with a huge failure in mind will open minds to identify issues that may have otherwise been ignored.