You can ask them to review the plan for flaws, but such an inspection may be halfhearted since the planners really want to believe that the plan lacks flaws. We devised an exercise to take them out of the perspective of defending their plan and shielding themselves from flaws. We tried to give them a perspective where they would be actively searching for flaws in their own plan. This is the premortem exercise: the use of mental simulation to find the flaws in a plan.
Interesting. I've used the technique. Did it really originate from this work? Wise way to drop down the knowledge shields that would normally explain away conflicting data. Cam be applied for simulations into the future as the name premortem implies but could also be used for simulations that try to explain the past.
