Use AI to create a complete pre-mortem before starting a project to spot problems you'd otherwise miss.
Before you kick off a project, use AI to run a pre-mortem: imagine the project has already failed, then work backward to figure out why. This helps you spot risks, missing resources, unclear ownership, and bad assumptions before they derail your timeline. It's especially useful when you're leading something new or when you have a nagging feeling you're missing something important but can't put your finger on what.
Try this prompt today
“Act as an experienced project risk consultant. I'm about to start a new project and want to run a pre-mortem to identify what could go wrong before we begin. Here's my project overview: [paste your project description, timeline, team members, and key deliverables]. Imagine it's six months from now and this project has failed or gone seriously off track. Work backward and tell me: What are the top 5 most likely reasons it failed? For each reason, explain why it happened and what early warning signs I should watch for. Then suggest one specific action I can take this week to prevent each failure mode.”
March 4, 2026
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