Premortem

Imagine the plan already failed. Work backward to find why. Based on Gary Klein's HBR method — the "this is dead, explain how it died" frame produces more specific, honest failure modes than "what could go wrong?".

This breaks Claude's default agreeableness: instead of looking for reasons the plan works, you're explaining how it fell apart.

When to run

Good targets: product/feature launches, pricing changes, hires, strategy pivots, partnerships, any commitment where being wrong is expensive.

Bad targets: vague ideas (help plan first), factual questions (just answer), draft feedback (that's editing), already-irreversible decisions.

If the user wants multiple perspectives on a current decision rather than failure analysis, suggest a different tool — premortems specifically simulate post-failure hindsight.

Step 1 — Gather minimum context