A strategic analysis skill that assumes project failure to identify and mitigate risks through backwards reasoning.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install pre-mortem-analyst
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install pre-mortem-analyst using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is Pre-Mortem Analyst?
The Pre-Mortem Analyst is a specialized tool designed to bypass optimism bias during project planning. Unlike standard risk assessments that ask what might go wrong, this skill operates on the premise that the project has already failed, forcing a more rigorous and honest examination of potential pitfalls. By integrating this into your workflow through Openclaw Skills, teams can increase problem identification by up to 30%.
This skill systematically breaks down failure causes into people, process, technology, and external factors. It empowers developers and project leads to move beyond superficial analysis and develop concrete prevention strategies and early warning systems, ensuring that high-stakes launches are robust and well-defended against predictable disasters.
Pre-Mortem Analyst Use Cases
- Conducting a stress test before a major software launch or deployment.
- Identifying hidden dependencies and technical debt that could sink a new feature.
- Mitigating optimism bias during the initial project planning phase.
- Performing a deep-dive risk analysis when a project hits a critical milestone.
- Developing a robust contingency plan for external market shifts or regulatory changes.
How Pre-Mortem Analyst Works
- The agent sets a future failure date and describes a scenario where the project has failed completely.
- It brainstorms at least ten distinct reasons for the failure without internal filtering.
- Causes are categorized into four domains: People, Process, Technology, and External factors.
- Each cause is rated based on Likelihood and Impact (High, Medium, or Low).
- Specific mitigation actions are generated for the top three highest-priority risks.
- A list of early warning signs is established to monitor project health in real-time.
Pre-Mortem Analyst Setup
To use this skill within your Openclaw Skills environment, ensure it is enabled in your agent configuration. You can trigger it by using specific keywords like "pre-mortem" or "imagine this failed" in your prompt. No additional CLI installation is required if your base agent is already running the latest skill manifest.
Pre-Mortem Analyst Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill generates structured reports using the following taxonomy:
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Project Name | The identifier for the current initiative. |
| Failure Scenario | A descriptive hypothetical of the total failure. |
| Categorized Causes | Details on People, Process, Tech, and External risks. |
| L x I Rating | A matrix of Likelihood multiplied by Impact. |
| Top 3 Priorities | The most critical risks mapped to specific preventive actions. |
| Warning Signs | A checklist of early indicators for monitoring. |
Pre-Mortem Analyst Advanced Features
- Cross-skill integration with inversion-strategist for systematic avoidance planning.
- Recursive analysis using second-order-consequences to predict the ripple effect of failure mitigations.
- Synergy with first-principles-decomposer to challenge the underlying assumptions of the project.
- Seamless validation of MSPOT project frameworks using the mspot-generator within the Openclaw Skills suite.
SKILL.md
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