Pre-Mortem
I was looking back at notes on Daniel Pink's book When: The Scientific Secretes of Perfect Timing and came across the "Pre-Mortem" approach. I couldn't remember what this was, but I remember having gotten excited about this approach when I first read it, so I looked it up again.
To contrast, post-mortem is like an autopsy where something is inspected to determine why it died. Â The shortest summary I found of a "pre-mortem", is to ask yourself before something is started "If this process results in poor outcomes, what will have been the causes? Â What can we do now to ensure better results?"
Now, I'm not trying to promote negative doom & gloom thinking here, but in my approach to this exercise, there were three things that immediately came to mind that I could address.
Given how quickly I could recall these things that I knew could be an issue, it was apparent to me that I had been stressing about them already and just hadn't taken the time or responsibility to face them head-on. I can't remember who said it first, but the quote "worrying means you suffer twice" was apparently popularized by Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. With this in mind, I see that doing a post-mortem exercise is also super helpful in the sense of making sure we make a plan to address things that we may be stressing over with or without a plan.
Another way of looking at this concept is to make sure you address the weak points in your plan to make sure you cover the downside of the operation. In a famous example, when Sir Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Group) started Virgin Airlines, he negotiated with Boeing so that within the first year, he would be able to return the airplanes for the full purchase price.
In summary:
Pre-Mortem Approach: A proactive strategy involving envisioning potential failure scenarios before starting a project or process. Ask yourself "If this fails, what would have caused it, and what can be done now to ensure success?"
Proactive Problem Solving: Engaging in a pre-mortem exercise helps identify potential issues or weaknesses in a plan. Addressing these concerns beforehand prevents undue stress and allows for proactive problem-solving.
Address Weak Points: Emphasizes the importance of addressing weaknesses in a plan or operation to mitigate potential downsides.
Avoiding Unnecessary Stress: Recognizing that worrying without taking action leads to unnecessary suffering, and conducting a pre-mortem or post-mortem exercise aids in developing a plan to address concerns rather than dwelling on them without resolution.