On an early Monday morning in 1990, I got a call from the quarterdeck of Naval Hospital Long Beach. The Officer of the Day requested I get down to the morgue as soon as possible. Turns out, there was a drowning victim that needed to be identified by dental records. The remains were most likely those of a sailor that had been missing for a week, but because of the decomposition, the only way to positively identify him was through a dental exam. We were going to match his teeth to those of the dental record of the missing sailor.
An hour later, the oral surgeon and I performed the exam. I’ll spare you the details. It was indeed the missing sailor. A further autopsy concluded he drowned after being knocked unconscious after falling off the gangway to his ship following a night of partying with his friends. Because several ships were moored close to each other, nobody spotted his body until it drifted out a week later. With the exam and autopsy done, his body was released to his family. The post-mortem exam didn’t provide any solace to the family although I’m sure it was a cautionary tale for his shipmates. It was a very sad story.
But what if we could have predicted the entire sequence of that fateful night? What if that sailor knew he was going to make a series of poor decisions that would result in his death? Could a PRE-mortem of the night have resulted in a different outcome?
All of us have come up with great ideas that failed. We probably put a lot of energy into developing them and maybe even ran the idea by family and friends. People are usually supportive and maybe that’s part of the problem. What if we conducted a PRE-mortem as part of our planning? How would we even start? Here are my suggestions:
- Round up your most NEGATIVE friends and family members (these are the ones who are very comfortable telling you, “I told you so.”)
- Tell them their job is to shoot as many holes as possible into your plan. They are to point out every visible or potential flaw. Tell them they need to crash and burn your plan.
- Tell them your plan. Every single detail.
- Turn your friends loose on your ideas.
- Write down all of their input.
- Revisit your idea, considering all the input you now have.
This might not seem like fun to you, but if want to improve your chances at success, your negative friends will help you identify any blind spots.
After all, once the POST-mortem is done, there is no hope. The PRE-mortem at least gives you a shot. Plus, you finally find a use for all the negative feedback some of your friends are more than happy to give you.
What do you think?