SecondPen.aiTemplates · Incidents, problem-solving & learning
Pre-mortem template
Origin: Gary Klein, Harvard Business Review (2007); endorsed by Daniel Kahneman.
Sections
- Project & success definition
- "It failed — why?"
- Ranked failure causes
- Mitigations
- Early warning signs
How a tough reader scores it
When you score a draft against this format, the Critic evaluates this pre-mortem. The weights add up to 100; the fixes for the weakest criteria arrive as cards in the editor.
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Failure causes are specific and non-obvious | 25 |
| Covers people, market, technical, and execution risks | 20 |
| Likelihood and impact rated consistently | 10 |
| Early-warning signals are observable | 20 |
| Mitigations change the plan, not just monitor | 20 |
| Top changes are prioritized | 5 |
How it works in SecondPen.ai
Open the template and the editor writes the blank once, with a line of guidance under each heading that you delete as you fill it in. Write your abstract and the editor names the format it reads like. Ask for a document with a slash command and it offers to start from the matching format. When the draft is ready, the Critic scores it against the criteria above, the way this format's toughest reader would, and the three highest-leverage fixes become Editor cards.
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