3 agile tools every manager should know (part 1): Pre-Mortem
In the context of agile work, many methods have emerged that are intended to simplify the implementation of agile principles and values. While some of these methods will probably never become widespread practice, there are others (like Pre-Mortem) that one can only hope will!
In this series we present three agile methods, that we are convinced, have come to stay:
Pre-mortem: a better way to plan projects
The concept of Pre-Mortem (“Before Death”) uses the simple psychological fact that our brain is designed, among other things, to anticipate risks in order to ensure survival - especially from an evolutionary point of view.
This very ability is applied to projects with Pre-Mortem - you collect ideas with all project participants in a brainstorming session on the question:
If our project failed, what would it be due to?
This approach serves to derive project risks optimally, taking into account the experience of all project participants, and to derive appropriate measures.
At the same time, pre-mortems create an atmosphere in which project participants are actively challenged to communicate their ideas, fears and uncertainties. This in turn promotes psychological safety in the team (according to Google’s “Project Aristotle” the secret factor for successful teams).
So everyone in the pre-mortem is asked to think outside the box and detect potential risks, without imposing a uniform perspective on all project participants. This lays the foundation for successful project collaboration (Kahneman, 2011).
Not to be confused: A so-called “post-mortem analysis” on the other hand, is practically the opposite. Here, after a (failed) project, the aim is to determine how the errors occurred. This retrospective analysis is particularly widespread in chess.
A practical example
We too at Echometer, use this method both for internal projects and, for example, to prepare for appointments with clients. Before these appointments, we ask each other the questions:
- What is our goal for this appointment?
- If we were to not achieve this goal, why would that be?
- What obstacles could the customer have on their side?
- What can we do to mitigate these risks in advance?
We’re certainly not sales professionals, but pre-mortems at least help us get a little bit better every time. We can also compare afterwards, which risks have actually occurred and which have not. This is how we develop a sense for tricky situations and can better adapt to it.
In this short lecture (3 minutes) Daniel Kahneman explains personally why pre-mortem is one of his favorite methods:
Nobel economics prize laureate Daniel Kahneman on pre-mortems
Like Kahneman, we believe that pre-mortems can do a lot for projects out there, and make a project manager’s life a lot easier!
Final notes: In order for pre-mortem to work well in your team, base knowledge on psychological safety is ideal. The 5 team dysfunctions according to Patrick Lencioni are commonly used examples that can help you create an open discussion culture. It’s also always worth taking a look at the mindset of team members as another factor of success. You can find out how we can help you develop an agile mindset within your team right here.
In the next article of this series, we’ll introduce you to job crafting. A tool that allows you to enable your employees to get their dream job without having to quit - so take a look here .
Pre-Mortem - and Retrospectives
A close relative of Pre-Mortems are retrospectives. Retrospectives are not about looking into the future - but into the past. What went well? What didn’t go so well? And what can we do better in the future?
Both pre-mortems and retrospectives can help you easily bring “New Work” or agile, fresh methods into your team and become “Servant Leaders”. We can even help you explicitly with retrospectives - we have developed a tool for this. Below you will find a statement from Nicole on how she finds our tool. And more information about the tool. Have fun with it 🙂
In accompanying agile teams, it has been shown that Echometer helps especially the less experienced moderators in retrospective workshops to shine. It offers them an easy way to conduct structured and goal-oriented retrospectives.
— Nicole Röttger, Managing Director, Apiarista GmbH
Would you like to try refreshing, effective agile methods in your team or project? We recommend starting with a Kanban board, pre-mortems, or retrospectives. We can help with the latter:
More information about our agile retro tool
- Kahneman, D. (2012). Thinking, Fast and Slow.
- Kahneman, D., Lovallo, D. & Sibony, O. (2011). Before you make that big decision… Harvard Business Review, 89(6), 50–60.
- Klein, G. (2007). Performing a project premortem. Harvard Business Review, 85 (9), 18-19.
