post-mortem

CategoryGeneral
AuthorAlireza Rezvani
LicenseMIT
Rating4.30/5
Uses2.2K

/cs:post-mortem — Honest Retrospective

Command: /cs:post-mortem <decision-path>

Closes the strategic sprint loop. Scores a decision against the success and kill criteria written before the decision (not retro-fitted) and revisits the preserved dissent. This is the rigor that compounds over time.

Pipeline Position

code
/cs:office-hours  →  /cs:brief  →  /cs:boardroom  →  /cs:decide  →  /cs:execute  →  /cs:post-mortem
                                                                                       ↑ you are here

When to Run

  • At the 90-day checkpoint (auto-scheduled by /cs:decide)
  • When a kill criterion triggers
  • After a major decision is reversed
  • Quarterly on all decisions of the past quarter

Inputs

  • The decision record (output of /cs:decide)
  • The execution plan (output of /cs:execute)
  • Actual outcomes (metrics, events, customer signals)

Output: Post-Mortem Record

Saved to ~/.claude/postmortems/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md:

markdown
# Post-Mortem: <decision title>
Decision date: YYYY-MM-DD
Post-mortem date: YYYY-MM-DD
Status: WIN / PARTIAL / LOSS / MIXED

Outcome Scoring (against pre-committed criteria)


| Success Criterion | Threshold | Actual | Met? |
|---|---|---|---|
| <metric 1> | <threshold> | <actual> | ✅ / ❌ |
| <metric 2> | <threshold> | <actual> | ✅ / ❌ |


| Kill Criterion | Threshold | Actual | Triggered? |
|---|---|---|---|
| <metric> | <threshold> | <actual> | ✅ / ❌ |


Overall: WIN / PARTIAL / LOSS / MIXED


What We Got Right


  • <factor 1>


  • <factor 2>


What We Got Wrong


  • <factor 1>


  • <factor 2>


Preserved Dissent — Revisited

[Original dissent from the boardroom memo, scored:]

  • <dissenter>: <original concern>

  - Did it materialize? YES / NO / PARTIAL
  - Cost if YES: <quantified impact>
  - Lesson: <one sentence>

Assumption Audit

[Original brief's assumptions, scored:]

  • Assumption 1: <text>

  - Held? YES / NO / PARTIAL
  - Why: <explanation>

Process Lessons


  • Phase 2 isolation worked? YES / NO


  • Devil's advocate concerns played out? YES / NO / PARTIAL


  • Cadence was right? YES / TOO LOOSE / TOO TIGHT


Forward Actions


  • [ ] <change to operating system or routing logic>


  • [ ] <new decision to make based on this learning>


  • [ ] <update company-context.md>


Status


  • WIN → archive, log lesson


  • LOSS → schedule follow-up boardroom: /cs:brief for the next call

Why Pre-Committed Criteria Matter

The biggest temptation in post-mortems is retroactive justification: "we always knew X, that's why we did Y." Pre-committed criteria, signed at /cs:decide time, eliminate that move. The numbers either matched or they didn't.

Why Revisit Dissent

The dissent column from /cs:boardroom is the single most useful piece of organizational memory. Most of the time, the dissenter was directionally right. Revisiting and scoring it builds calibration over years.

Routing

  • /cs:brief — if the post-mortem surfaces a new decision
  • /cs:freeze — if the post-mortem reveals a process gap that needs cooldown enforcement
  • Updates to company-context.md via cs-onboard

Related

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Version: 1.0.0

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