Before executing decision, imagine it failed in a year, enumerate most likely failure causes.

15 min before a big decision: imagine it failed a year later, list 5 likely causes with mitigations.

Imagine your decision failed a year from now and write the reasons today — preventing 70% of catastrophes.

Before starting, imagine the project failed in six months and write down why.

Imagine the project failed entirely a year from now; list 7 plausible reasons before starting.

Before committing to a big decision, imagine it failed a year from now and list three primary causes.

A 7-milestone Gantt on one page — visible, instantly grokkable.

A living table of every project risk: probability, impact, owner, action.

Identify when the project becomes uncancelable — decide before, not after.

Rate each risk on a 5×5 grid — color dictates response urgency.

Each core operation: "what if it stops for a day?" with a backup plan.

Each big decision: 3 numeric scenarios, not "hope for the best".

Before big commitment: "what if X drops 50%?" Test plan robustness.

Task a separate team with attacking your plan as if they were a smart adversary — before reality discovers it.

In crisis, only 3 points per message. Audience can't absorb more. Repetition builds understanding.

After every crisis, a 90-min meeting with just 4 questions converts experience into institutional learning.

Instead of predicting one future, write 4 radically different scenarios. Your plan survives all four.

Gather team, ask: "How could you destroy our company in 5 yrs?". Answers = vulnerabilities to fix before a competitor does.

Before publishing/sending: 5 mandatory verification questions. No exceptions.