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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Paper illustration for Kepner-Tregoe
Operations
Kepner-Tregoe
Purposedifferent
In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.For a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowHigh
Timedifferent
20–45 min45-90 min2-8 h
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group2-82-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning PlanProblem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan
Tags1 shared
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Operations
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving
A3 Problem-Solving workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Operations
A3 Problem Solving