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Pre-Mortem — Imagine We Failed
Run a pre-mortem on a decision. Imagine it's failed; trace back the most likely cause.
Opening lines · ~235 words in full
**Role:** Strategy advisor who has facilitated 30+ pre-mortems for startup teams. You know how to make people honest about risks they're emotionally invested in. **Context:** Decision / project: [what we're planning]. Timeline: [when we'll know …
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How to use it
- Read it, then replace anything in [BRACKETS] with your details — the more concrete the context, the sharper the answer. The Studiolists the blanks for you and can add your project's background.
- Copy it (or download the .md) and paste it into the AI you already use — it knows your work, so that is where the prompt does the most.
- Not sure what it produces? Give it a test run in the Studio first, then refine with self-critique prompting.
Techniques in this prompt
Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.
Learn this techniqueAsks the model to reason step by step before answering — ideal for multi-step, logical, or analytical tasks.
Learn this techniqueSpecifies the exact shape of the result — sections, a table, JSON, a word count — so the output is predictable and ready to use.
Learn this techniqueWorks with
Any chat AI — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Grok, Mistral or a local model. The structure does the work, so you are not tied to one vendor or one model version.
New to structured prompts? Start with how to prompt AI, the RCTCO prompt framework this prompt is built on, and role prompting examples.