Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M7665

Pre-mortem

Pre-mortem
DecideHigh supportDecision Science
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

- Assume the project has already failed, and trace backward to determine "why it failed" - Gary Klein's "prospective hindsight"

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Preventive failure analysis. Bypass optimism bias, identify fatal risks early; more valuable than post-mortem.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Proposed by Gary Klein: before making a decision, assume it has failed, and team members reverse-engineer the reasons for failure. It bypasses "planning fallacy" and optimism bias, activating imagination of risks, and is more proactive than post-mortem.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-mortemZH · Explicit
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