Coaching practices for Worst Case Planning

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Worst Case Planning, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• My worst-case is basically just the worst thing that’s ever happened before, and I keep assuming nothing can be worse than that
• I’m bracing for and planning around the absolute worst version of how this goes, and it hasn’t even crossed my mind that there’s a whole range of ordinary, fine outcomes that are far likelier than the one I keep rehearsing.
• My plans hold up fine until something throws them off
• One thing goes wrong and my mind sprints straight to total disaster
• I’m all-in on this plan and can barely make myself imagine it going wrong

Practices that may help

1. Stress test plans against outcomes beyond the historical range
   Ask how your plan holds up if the worst outcome is twice as bad as any historically observed case.
   The Ludic Fallacy: When You Mistake Real Life for a Game
2. Map best case, worst case, and most likely case
   Write out all three scenarios to reanchor your thinking in the probable, not just the feared.
   Decatastrophizing, Made Practical
3. Plan for obstacles with coping plans
   Anticipate the specific obstacles most likely to block your plan and pre-decide your response to each.
   Action Planning
4. Decatastrophize with the worst/best/likely frame
   Counter "everything is ruined" by naming the worst case, the best case, and the most likely case.
   Explanatory Style: Optimism, Pessimism, and Learned Optimism
5. Run a pre-mortem from the outside-view perspective
   Imagine the project has failed — then ask which base-rate failure type caused it.
   The Outside View
6. Plan how to prevent each worst case
   For every worst case, write what you could do to reduce the odds of it happening.
   Fear-Setting, Made Practical
7. Separate the planning session from the execution day
   Do your planning in a dedicated session, never on the day you intend to start.
   The Planning Fallacy — Why Your Estimates Are Always Wrong
8. Check for catastrophizing
   Test whether you are amplifying the likely outcome beyond what the evidence supports.
   Check the Facts, Made Practical
9. Run the basic pre-mortem
   Assume the plan failed, then have everyone write down why.
   The Pre-Mortem: Imagine It Already Failed
10. 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

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.