Conduct a pre-mortem, in minutes

Use AI to assess different angles and unexpected turns. Then plan for them

Is it too late to say Happy New Year? I think so long as it’s done before January 15, you’re safe, eh?

I’m still planning out my content approach for the rest of the year and will have more to report on this before the end of the month.

In the meantime, I’m sharing a new prompt I’ve been putting to use lately because of it’s ability to help me see angles and scenarios I may not have seen on my own. It might be just one prompt, but it always delivers for me.

The method I’m using isn’t new: a pre-mortem. This classic analysis is simple but the frame of mind it puts you and your team in typically surfaces ways in which your project could go off the rails, in ways you may not have taken the time to game out if you just focused on planning out the project’s milestones and deliverables.

However, sometimes you don’t have time to get everyone into a room for an afternoon to conduct this exercise. This is where AI can help you.

I like using ChatGPT 4-o1 for this, due to its advanced reasoning capabilities.

Paid subscribers will find the prompt sequence below.

Give it a try and let me know how this one simply prompt performed for you and how you adapted it.

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