Our leadership team is struggling to hit the ninety percent to-do completion standard, and they argue that we should get partial credit for tasks that are ninety percent complete or in progress. How do we eliminate this gray area and enforce a strict binary standard?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In the EOS® world, there is no such thing as partial credit. A weekly to-do is either done or it is not done. When your leadership team tries to claim that a task is ninety percent complete or in progress, they are attempting to negotiate away their accountability. Allowing these gray areas to slip by destroys the discipline of your Level 10 Meeting™ and slows down your overall execution.

To-dos are short-term commitments designed to be completed within seven days. If a to-do cannot be completed in seven days, it was written incorrectly. It should have been broken down into a smaller, bite-sized step.

To break this excuse cycle, the facilitator must enforce a strict binary rule during the to-do review. The only acceptable answers are done or not done. If a leader says a task is almost finished, the facilitator must mark it as not done and carry it over to the next week.

If a specific to-do carries over for a second week, it must immediately be dropped to the Issues List to find the root cause. Is the owner of the task overwhelmed? Do they lack the resources? Or are they simply failing to prioritize their commitments?

By making to-do completion strictly binary, you force your team to become much more realistic about what they can actually accomplish in a week. This discipline is exactly what prepares your business to run efficiently without your constant intervention.