postmortem

Topics in the source

• /executive-mentor:postmortem — Honest Analysis of What Went Wrong
• Why Most Post-Mortems Fail
• The Framework
• Step 1: Define the Event Precisely
• Step 2: The 5 Whys — Done Properly
• Step 3: Distinguish Contributing Factors from Root Cause
• Step 4: Identify the Warning Signs That Were Ignored
• Step 5: Distinguish What Was in Control vs. Out of Control

Command: /executive-mentor:postmortem Not blame. Understanding. The failed deal, the missed quarter, the feature that flopped, the hire that didn't work out. What actually happened, why, and what changes as a result. -- They become one of two things: The blame session — someone gets scapegoated, defensive walls go up, actual causes don't get examined, and the same problem happens again in a different form. The whitewash — "We learned a lot, we're going to do better, here are 12 vague action items." Nothing changes. Same problem, different quarter. A real post-mortem is neither. It's a rigorous investigation into a system failure. Not "whose fault was it" but "what conditions made this outcome predictable in hindsight?" The purpose: extract the maximum learning value from a failure so you can prevent recurrence and improve the system. -- Before analysis: describe exactly what happened. What was the expected outcome? What was the actual outcome? When was the gap first visible? What was the impact (financial, operational, reputational)? Precision matters. "We missed Q3 revenue" is not precise enough. "We closed $420K in new ARR vs $680K target — a $260K miss driven primarily by three

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