Are Blameless Post Mortems a Waste of Time?
Recently, at a meetup, I overheard some software engineers talking about a Blameless Post Mortem (BPM) they had recently conducted. They were laughing and joking about a mistake one of them had made. At first, I got the impression that they weren’t taking it seriously. This was something I had introduced during my time at the company they were talking about, and their remarks felt dismissive of its value.
“Yeah, we did a Blameless Post Mortem, the root cause was found to be…”
Something important occurred to me: they were discussing it openly and outside of work—that’s great! Even if their tone was lighthearted and self-deprecating, at least they were reflecting on it. That’s kind of the point: to create a culture where people talk about failures openly, learn from them, and move forward.
It reminded me of an analogy. In professional beach volleyball, when a team wins a point, it’s high-fives all around. But when they lose a point or make a mistake, something unusual happens—it’s high-tens. It’s their way of acknowledging that the game is tough, with many variables. While one player may have made the error, the team owns the result together. They fail as a team, just as they win as a team. They support each other to try again and keep going.
This mindset is at the core of blameless post mortems. It’s about creating an environment of psychological safety and shared responsibility, enabling the team to learn, adapt, and improve.
Why Do Blameless Post Mortems Matter?
“I’m surprised you’re still working there, how many times is this now?”
“Yeah, I thought I was going to get fired.”
I’ve been on teams where mistakes are swept under the rug, either out of fear of retribution or to save face. In these environments, people don’t learn from failures. Worse, silence can create anxiety, particularly for junior or less experienced team members. When someone knows they’ve made a mistake but no one addresses it, they’re left wondering:
Does anyone actually care? Am I going to be fired?
This uncertainty can spiral into damaging mindsets. Without feedback, some may overestimate their abilities (Dunning-Kruger effect), while others may feel like frauds (imposter syndrome). Neither outcome fosters growth or confidence.
Imagine working as a Threat Detection Engineer during the 2024 CrowdStrike outages. If no one discusses the incident with them, they are left in limbo, waiting for the other shoe to drop. This lack of closure breeds anxiety and, over time, can lead to burnout or depression.
A good Blameless Post Mortem provides a structured way to process these events, giving individuals and teams the opportunity to learn, find closure, and move forward with confidence. They provide psychological safety, a sense of belonging, and make it safe to speak up, disagree openly, and surface concerns without retribution or pressure to sugarcoat bad news. If there’s an elephant in the room, it should be spoken about.
Perfect Storms
A friend of mine reminded me of the fantastic TV series covering the Chernobyl disaster. It’s a tragic reminder that failures are rarely caused by a single individual. Instead, they result from a series of interconnected events—a perfect storm of circumstances.
When an organisation fails to recognise this, it risks repeating the mistakes of the past. This is why a blameless culture is so critical. If a CEO publicly blames a junior engineer for an outage, it signals a toxic culture. It ignores the systemic issues that contributed to the failure—the senior engineer who approved the Pull Request, the QA team’s oversight, the project manager’s timeline pressure, or the organisational priorities set by leadership.
Everyone plays a role, whether directly or indirectly. Focus on systems rather than individuals, and create space for meaningful learning and improvement by using blameless post mortems.
Conducting Good Blameless Post Mortems
Good qualities of a Blameless Post Mortem include:
- Accepting that systems fail us, rather than people.
- Actively seeking information.
- Recognising failures as learning opportunities.
- Ensuring messengers of failure are not punished.
- Sharing responsibilities.
- Encouraging and rewarding collaboration.
- Viewing failure as a catalyst for inquiry.
- Welcoming new ideas.
These qualities align with Westrum typology, which measures organisational culture. High-performing, “generative” cultures emphasise trust, transparency, and information flow. Research by sociologist Dr. Ron Westrum shows that such cultures predict better software delivery and organisational performance.
In the past, blameless post mortems were lengthy meetings, often lasting 90 minutes or more. While thorough, these sessions could feel like a drain on time and energy. Over time, this process has been refined to make it more efficient and impactful.
Now, we start with a written report. The person closest to the incident writes up what happened, including the lead-up, the impact, how the fault was identified and resolved, and any root causes.
When people receive bad news, they tend to go through five stages: ignoring it, denying it, blaming others, assuming responsibility for it, and finally finding a solution. This approach allows them to process the event and work through the stages. By the time we meet, everyone has had a chance to read the report and is ready to focus on solutions. This reduces meeting times to about 30 minutes.
As a leader, it’s key to avoid the trap of “risk management theatre”—the art of adding unnecessary controls to prevent mistakes. These knee-jerk reactions, such as implementing manual gates, often punish the many for the actions of the few. They create a culture of distrust and slow progress. Instead, focus on prioritising learning and systemic improvements, not quick fixes or blame.
Building a Culture of Trust and Learning
I’m really proud that something I had implemented years ago was still being used and had become part of the fabric of the organisation’s culture. It reminded me that the values and practices I champion have an enduring impact and continue to make a difference. It inspires me to continue influencing more teams and organisations in the same way.
Blameless Post Mortems are more than just a meeting. They’re a critical part of creating a high-trust, high-performance culture. For developers, they offer a chance to grow and contribute to team success. For leaders, they provide a framework for fostering resilience, transparency, and continuous improvement.
If you notice someone treating Blameless Post Mortems with contempt, try not to view it as a failure of the process or a dismissal of its value. Instead, consider it a sign that the culture is alive and thriving. Thank them for discussing it openly, encourage them to reflect on the process, and engage with it. It shows that trust exists, and the process is doing its job.
Blameless Post Mortems aren’t just about solving problems—they’re about creating a mindset where challenges become opportunities for growth. Remind your team that their approach to mistakes sets the tone for how they grow. Embrace the process, champion the learning, and trust that even small steps toward improvement can leave a lasting impact. What you create today might just become part of the fabric of your organisation for years to come.
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