'Postmortem' was medical (autopsy) before it became corporate (retrospective analysis of any completed event).
An examination of a dead body to determine the cause of death; an analysis or discussion of an event after it has occurred.
From Latin 'post mortem' (after death), a prepositional phrase composed of 'post' (after, behind) and 'mortem,' the accusative singular of 'mors' (death). The phrase was used in Medieval Latin medical and legal contexts ('post mortem examinatio') and entered English as both an adjective and a noun in the early nineteenth century. The figurative sense — a retrospective analysis of any completed event — developed in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in business and military contexts. Key roots: post (Latin: "after, behind"), mors, mortis (Latin: "
The figurative 'postmortem' — a retrospective analysis of a completed project or event — has become standard vocabulary in the technology industry, where teams routinely conduct 'postmortems' after product launches, system failures, or completed sprints. Some companies, uncomfortable with the death metaphor, have adopted the euphemism 'retrospective' instead, but 'postmortem' persists because its connotation of clinical, dispassionate analysis after the fact is precisely the tone most teams want.
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