premortem
|pre-mor-tem|
🇺🇸
/ˌpriːˈmɔːrtəm/
🇬🇧
/ˌpriːˈmɔːtəm/
anticipate failure before it happens
Etymology
'premortem' originates from Latin elements: 'prae' meaning 'before' and 'mortem' (from 'mors') meaning 'death'.
'premortem' is formed by analogy with Latin-derived compounds like 'postmortem' and emerged in modern English usage (notably in business, risk management, and psychology) as a coined term in the late 20th century.
Initially the Latin components literally meant 'before death'; in modern English the term shifted from a literal temporal sense to a figurative sense meaning 'an anticipatory analysis conducted before an event (to foresee failure)'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
an exercise conducted before a project or operation begins in which participants imagine that the project has failed and work backward to identify possible causes of failure and risks to address.
The team held a premortem to surface potential problems before they started development.
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Adjective 1
relating to or done as a premortem (i.e., carried out before an activity to anticipate failures or problems).
They ran a premortem session to create a premortem list of risks and mitigations.
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Last updated: 2025/10/03 23:08