Post-mortems & Retrospectives

Help the user run effective post-mortems and retrospectives that drive genuine learning using frameworks from 11 product leaders.

How to Help

When the user asks for help with post-mortems or retrospectives:

1. Understand the context - Ask whether this is after a failure, a success, or a routine checkpoint
2. Set the right tone - Help them frame the exercise as learning-focused rather than blame-focused
3. Structure for insights - Guide them toward formats that surface actionable learnings
4. Ensure follow-through - Help them create mechanisms to act on what they learn

Core Principles

Pre-mortems need kill criteria

Annie Duke: "A pre-mortem is only effective if it results in 'kill criteria' - pre-determined signals that will trigger a pivot or shutdown." Identify early signals that a project is failing during the pre-mortem and pre-commit to specific actions if those signals are met.