During our weekly Rock review, team members spend several minutes explaining why their Rocks are on track or giving detailed progress reports. How do we keep this section strictly binary?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your weekly Rock review is designed to provide a quick snapshot of your quarterly priorities, but it frequently gets bogged down when leaders provide detailed progress reports. To eliminate this meeting waste, the Rock review must be kept completely binary. A Rock is either on track or off track. There is no middle ground, and there is no room for stories.

During the five-minute review, the facilitator reads each Rock, and the owner must only respond with "on track" or "off track." If the Rock is on track, you immediately move to the next item. If the Rock is off track, the owner must say "off track, drop it," and the facilitator adds it directly to the Issues List.

Do not allow any team member to explain why their Rock is off track or how they plan to catch up during this portion of the meeting. Saving all discussion for the IDS® segment protects your time and keeps the meeting moving at a high tempo. By maintaining this strict discipline, you can review all company and individual Rocks in under five minutes, preserving the majority of your ninety minutes to actually solve the root causes of your delayed priorities.