{"id":"lead-premortem-hiring-plan-table","audience":"managers","category":"leadership-work","track":"leadership","level":"intermediate","technique":"constraints","title":"Run a pre-mortem on a hiring plan and tabulate early warnings","free":false,"task":"Imagine your plan to hire 4 engineers by Feb 28 has failed. In a markdown table with columns Failure, Early warning sign, Prevention step, list exactly 4 failures that come from the notes. Each warning sign must be something you can observe by a date in the notes. Do not use more than 12 words in any cell, and output only the table.","materialLabel":"Plan notes (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Hiring plan: 4 backend engineers by Feb 28 (team Nimbus)\n\n- Recruiter capacity: our one recruiter, Jo, also handles Sales hiring through January.\n- Job posts go live Dec 2. Typical time to fill senior engineers here: 74 days (last year).\n- Offer approval needs the VP; she travels Jan 6-17 and approvals stall.\n- Interview panels: we have 5 engineers who can interview; each can do about 3 interviews a week.\n- Salary band: $150k-$170k; market data says competitors pay up to $185k for senior roles.\n- Dec 20-Jan 3 is a company shutdown; no interviews.\n- Backup plan: contract-to-hire agency (not yet signed).\n- The team lunch fund is low. (irrelevant)","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":170}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Generic failures","why":"The AI writes 'poor communication'.","fix":"Say: \"Failures must come from the notes.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Vague warnings","why":"The AI writes 'delays'.","fix":"Say: \"Warning signs need a date or number you can observe.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Wrong shape","why":"The AI adds extra rows or columns.","fix":"Say: \"Columns exactly: Failure, Early warning sign, Prevention step; four rows.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each cell: \"each cell under 12 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each part instead, for example: \"each line under 12 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Columns","patterns":["failure","early warning","prevention"]},{"label":"Four rows","patterns":["4 (rows|failures)","four"]},{"label":"Observable","patterns":["observable","date","number"]},{"label":"Cell limit","patterns":["under \\d+ words","12 words"]},{"label":"From notes","patterns":["from the notes","only"]}],"hint":"Name the columns, count, and what makes a warning sign observable.","rubricLabels":["The output is a markdown table with columns Failure, Early warning sign, Prevention step and exactly four data rows","The four failures come from the notes (for example recruiter capacity, offer approvals during the VP's travel, interview capacity or shutdown, and the salary band below market)","Every early warning sign names something observable tied to a date or number in the notes, and no row is about the lunch fund"]}