# Pre-Mortem Meeting Template

**Purpose:** Imagine the project has already failed, work backward to surface hidden risks, and turn the most dangerous ones into owned preventive actions.

- **Duration:** 75 minutes
- **Cadence:** As needed, before a project or launch
- **Participants:** The project team and stakeholders (5-12 people)

## Agenda
- [ ] Set the stage and frame the exercise (8 min)
- [ ] Imagine the failure (silent writing) (10 min)
- [ ] Gather the reasons for failure (17 min)
- [ ] Cluster and prioritize risks (15 min)
- [ ] Decide preventive actions (15 min)
- [ ] Close and confirm owners (10 min)

## Prompts
- It is months from now and the project has failed badly. What happened?
- What were the specific causes of the failure?
- Which risks are most likely and most damaging?
- What mitigation or early-warning signal addresses each top risk?
- How and when will we revisit these risks?

## Action items
- [ ] Mitigation: __________________  Owner: __________  Due: __________
- [ ] Mitigation: __________________  Owner: __________  Due: __________
- [ ] Mitigation: __________________  Owner: __________  Due: __________

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Free template from OrgTP. Adapt or run it live at orgtp.com/templates/pre-mortem-meeting