Coaching practices for Pre Decision Research Checklist
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Pre Decision Research Checklist, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve settled on what I’m going to do and I’m ready to pull the trigger, but I haven’t actually played the tape forward to see where it breaks
- I’m about to commit to this plan and on paper it looks solid, but a quiet part of me suspects I’m too sold on it to see the holes
- I’m about to commit real time and money to this plan, and it looks solid
- I start "researching" a question but I notice I’m really just typing in searches that hand me the answer I already wanted
- I’m excited about this plan and so committed to it that I can’t honestly see what might sink it
Practices that may help
- Run a mental simulation before committing to a course of action
Before acting on a recognized situation, mentally run through how your intended response plays out.
Recognition-Primed Decision Making - The premortem (imagine the project already failed)
Before starting, assume the plan has already failed and ask why — then fix it now.
Premeditatio Malorum, in Depth - Run a pre-mortem before committing to a plan
Imagine the plan has already failed and ask what went wrong.
Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See - Structure the analysis before searching for evidence
Define what you’re looking for and what would count as evidence before starting your search.
Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See - Run a premortem before committing
Imagine the decision has already failed — then ask why.
Thinking in Bets - Map the argument before you commit to a decision
Create a quick argument map as a pre-commitment check on major decisions.
Argument Mapping - Run a premortem before committing
Imagine the project has already failed and work backwards to find why.
The Planning Fallacy — Why Your Estimates Are Always Wrong - The Pre-Mortem: Imagine It Already Failed
A pre-mortem, developed by psychologist Gary Klein, has a team imagine that a plan has already failed and then work backward to explain why — before any work begins. The technique exploits "prospective hindsight": research found that imagining an outcome as a certainty makes people generate more, and more specific, reasons for it, surfacing risks that ordinary risk assessment misses. - Calculate the expected value of gathering more information
Before researching further, ask whether the additional information is actually worth the cost to obtain.
Expected Value Thinking: Deciding Under Uncertainty - Elicit your real standards before you look
Write down what a good outcome actually requires before options are visible.
Choice Overload, Made Practical
Related concerns
- Imagine Project Failed
A pre-mortem, developed by psychologist Gary Klein, has a team imagine that a plan has already failed and then work backward to explain why — before any work begins. The technique exploits "prospective hindsight": research found that imagining an outcome as a certainty makes people generate more, and more specific, reasons for it, surfacing risks that ordinary risk assessment misses.
- Pre Decision Reasoning
Create a quick argument map as a pre-commitment check on major decisions.
Map the argument before you commit to a decision
- Thinking In Bets Premortem
Imagine the decision has already failed — then ask why.
Run a premortem before committing
- When Recognition Primed Decision Mental Simulation Before Acting
Before acting on a recognized situation, mentally run through how your intended response plays out.
Run a mental simulation before committing to a course of action
- Failure Modes Planning
Imagine the project has failed — then ask which base-rate failure type caused it.
Run a pre-mortem from the outside-view perspective
- Forethought Phase Srl
Before starting, assume the plan has already failed and ask why — then fix it now.
The premortem (imagine the project already failed)
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