Paper Tiger Pre-Mortem Workshop

Identify and explore potential risks and co-create to prevent them from happening with this Pre-Mortem workshop.

Created by Rasmus Noah Hansen, an independent Organisational Consultant & Facilitator.

Objectives

When should this session be delivered?

Before the start of a new project, there’s a crucial act that can make all the difference, a Pre-Mortem session. It’s a proactive measure to identify and thwart potential risks before they can sabotage your project.

Instead of waiting for the project’s conclusion for a Post-Mortem, a team can gather beforehand to craft the obituary of why the project might meet its demise.

You’re likely familiar with Post-Mortems, those retrospective sessions held after the project wraps up, aimed at collecting lessons learned. But why wait until after the project? 😏

During a Pre-Mortem, delve into potential risks and challenges that could prove fatal to the project. They are then categorised into three key areas:

🐅 Tigers – These are the issues perceived as potentially deadly to the project.

🐯 Paper Tigers – These are concerns that others might see as deadly, but some people disagree.

🐘 Elephants – addressing the metaphorical elephants in the room, those unspoken issues that need discussion.

Investing just a couple of hours before the project starts will save you an incredible amount of time, money and headaches.

Who can facilitate it?

Team leaders, project managers and anyone involved with projects and organisational development.

No specific training is required, but someone who can navigate the intricacies of project dynamics and has a high-level understanding of that particular project would be suitable.

Check out the template details including step-by-step plan with instructions, timings, printable schedule and more

About the author

Hi there – I’m Rasmus, a trained team development facilitator with a clear mission: Making cross-functional teams collaborate effectively so they can build world class products & services.

During my career, I’ve worked with more than a 100+ teams, helping them create Psychological Safety, better meetings, faster decisions, break down silos, clarify roles & responsibilities, implement effective feedback and much more.

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