Twitter, now that we understand why the preventable problem paradox is so prevalent and pernicious, it’s time to talk about combating it. So, as promised, here’s a thread on pre-mortems.pic.twitter.com/DZm5MhDVu1
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With that, let’s talk about a specific technique to help you do what’s right for your customers, your company, your team, by foreshadowing and mitigating the most blatant would-be blunders. That technique is pre-mortems.
It is one of 3-4 mitigations for the preventable problem paradox. It is also the most practicable one. You can literally implement this on Monday if you want.
Post-mortems, after action reviews (AARs), etc. are becoming a part of the “standard process” at many organizations. (and I think that is great!)
Note: you can (and likely should) do a post-mortem anyway, even if the project went quite well. But, moving along.
Unlike a post-mortem—where you discuss what went wrong (and what you can learn from it)—in a pre-mortem, you get together earlier in a project’s lifecycle and ask the team to assume that the project has failed. And you prompt the team to come up with the reasons why.
This short and excellent HBR article by @KleInsight is required reading on this topic.https://hbr.org/2007/09/performing-a-project-premortem …
Here are the highlights of the standard pre-mortem process:pic.twitter.com/flCQj5W9lb
I’ll now share a modified pre-mortem script that has worked well on the teams I’ve worked with. As background, at Stripe, the teams I’ve led have regularly run pre-mortems for our products, particularly major product launches (e.g. Stripe Connect, Stripe Terminal).
And while we haven’t been 100% mistake-free, pre-mortems have enabled “calm product launches” and enhanced team productivity & morale.
Why change the standard pre-mortem script? In my experience, the standard pre-mortem meeting was very engaging *while* the team was in the room.
But how many times have you had an engaging meeting and then people leave the room and everybody forgets about it and reverts to old patterns?
That’s what I saw repeatedly when we employed the standard script. So, I began looking for ways to change that.
I wanted the team to A. be spotting major problems, and B. surface those problems up to other team members *throughout the lifecycle of the project*, not just at that one pre-mortem meeting.
What was missing, I realized, was an evocative, convenient lexicon that allowed people to talk about these things in a psychologically safe manner. Related: I learned quite late in my career the tremendous benefits of giving your team a context-specific lexicon. Don’t be me.
The way I like to run pre-mortems now is to ask them to list out their concerns about the project in 3 different categories:
Why are you not worried about a Paper Tiger (even though others might be)? Usually because you’re responsible for the said area and have strong conviction that the ostensible Tiger is fully under control. You’ve got it!
An Elephant might not be a threat per se, but it’s the thing you’re worried no one is talking about. It’s the “elephant in the room”.
So, with this lexicon, here’s how I recommend running a pre-mortem meeting:
During the context setting part, I introduce the pre-mortem concept (it’s always *someone’s* first pre-mortem) and ask everyone on the team to come up with: 2 Tigers (at least), and any Paper Tigers and Elephants they can think of.
There is absolutely no talking during this time. Quiet time! It’s amazing how long & productive a 10 minute stretch of silence can be in a meeting, when no one is talking.
After that, there’s another 10 minutes of Quiet time. During this time, people read everyone else’s Tigers, Paper Tigers, and Elephants. And they get to +1 others’ Tigers, Paper Tigers, and Elephants. Each person can give up to five +1s. So you need to be quite selective.pic.twitter.com/k2oSHFr9hy
Btw, this is all being done in a shared Google doc or a Dropbox Paper doc. One advantage of Paper being that you can easily see who wrote what.
And then, Quiet time is over. You go around the room, and people share their observations (e.g. what Tiger resonated the most, what they found surprising, etc.)
And, as the facilitator, you wrap the meeting up by summarizing the top themes that have emerged from the pre-mortem and sharing what people can expect next.pic.twitter.com/V2KSmkKBCq
So, what’s next? It’s the most important part of the entire process. The pre-mortem action plan. As the facilitator, you prioritize the top N Tigers / Elephants that emerged from the pre-mortem exercise.pic.twitter.com/qB8JdjJkmX
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