[A premortem is where] at the start of a project, you imagine that the project went wrong and think about what could have caused that result. You put yourself into the future and, in a non-judgmental way, think of all the things that could derail the project. It creates a safe way for people to discuss their concerns without being perceived as criticizing the project. […] They are done after the decision is made to proceed with project. Premortems are not designed to change the decision about whether to do the project but to mitigate risk factors. That changes the incentives for people. The basic format is listing the risks and how you would mitigate them. […] The CEO should not run the premortem, and the project champion should not run the premortem. The best-case scenario is to have someone external or internal with no skin in the game, but with enough respect and capability to run the session.
