How does this skill improve risk identification?

By reframing the question from 'what could go wrong' to 'why did it fail,' it reduces team defensiveness and increases the number of risks identified by roughly 30%.

What is a Pre-Mortem in software development?

A Pre-Mortem is a strategic exercise where a team imagines a project has already failed and works backward to identify the causes, helping to prevent those issues before they actually happen.

What categories of risks does the Pre-Mortem cover?

The skill prompts for technical architecture, team communication, development processes, external dependencies, and personnel-related risks.

Does this skill provide actionable outputs?

Yes, it generates a prioritization matrix and a mitigation plan template that includes owners and verification checkpoints for the identified risks.

When is the best time to use this Claude Code skill?

It is most effective at the start of a project, before committing to a major technical decision, or during sprint planning for high-risk features.

Pre-Mortem Analysis

Name: Pre-Mortem Analysis
Author: tjboudreaux

bytjboudreaux

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협업 도구

Identifies project risks by using prospective hindsight to imagine future failures and work backward to find their causes.

The Pre-Mortem Analysis skill implements psychologist Gary Klein’s 'prospective hindsight' framework to significantly improve risk identification during project kickoffs or major technical shifts. By instructing Claude to assume a project has already failed and then investigating the reasons why, teams can bypass the defensiveness and overconfidence that often obscure critical vulnerabilities. This skill provides a structured methodology for silent brainstorming, risk categorization, and mitigation planning, ensuring that technical, process, and organizational blockers are addressed before execution begins.

주요 기능

01Structured 6-step process from silent brainstorming to plan updates

02Prospective hindsight framework to bypass groupthink and overconfidence

03Likelihood and impact prioritization matrix for high-risk items

04Standardized templates for project failure documentation and mitigation tracking

05Risk categorization by technical, process, people, and external factors

067 GitHub stars

사용 사례

01Sprint planning sessions for high-stakes or high-complexity work

02Evaluating major architectural or technical decisions for hidden flaws

03Project kickoffs to identify potential blockers before any code is written

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills thinking-pre-mortem

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT

Download Skill