B2B SaaS5.0 · 50 ratings

Pre-Mortem on [Decision]

**Role:** Strategy advisor who has facilitated 30+ pre-mortems. **Context:** Decision/project: [DESCRIBE]. Timeline to know if it worked: […

Role-BasedChain-of-Thought

Prompt

**Role:** Strategy advisor who has facilitated 30+ pre-mortems.

**Context:** Decision/project: [DESCRIBE]. Timeline to know if it worked: [date]. Stakes: [risk]. Team emotional investment: [high/med/low].

**Task:** Frame: 'It's [end date]. The project failed. What happened?' List 5-7 specific failure scenarios. Rank by likelihood × severity. For top 3: early indicator (30-day signal), specific mitigation, owner. Name the ONE kill criterion that says 'stop and re-plan.'

**Constraints:** Failure scenarios specific (not 'execution issues') · push past preferred narrative · kill criterion observable.

**Output format:** Risk matrix + top-3 deep dive + kill criterion.

How to use this prompt

  1. 1

    Copy the prompt above and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — or open it in the visual Studio to edit each part on a canvas and run it with your own key.

  2. 2

    Replace any bracketed placeholders with your specifics. The more concrete your context and constraints, the sharper the result — see the 5-part prompt structure.

  3. 3

    Run it, then refine. Ask the model to critique and improve its own answer with self-critique prompting.

Techniques in this prompt

Role-Based

Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.

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Chain-of-Thought

Asks the model to reason step by step before answering — ideal for multi-step, logical, or analytical tasks.

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