One of our department heads keeps carrying over the same quarterly Rock for three consecutive quarters, claiming it is too massive for ninety days. How do we break the cycle of rolling Rocks over without losing the work already done?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Carrying a Rock over for multiple quarters is proof of poor scoping, lack of accountability, or both. A Rock is specifically designed to be completed within ninety days. If a project requires nine months of labor, it is not a Rock; it is a multi-phase strategic initiative that was never properly broken down.

When a seat holder rolls a Rock forward repeatedly, the team creates a dangerous precedent that deadlines are optional suggestions.

First, mark the current Rock as incomplete at the end of the quarter. Do not give partial credit or pretend it is ninety percent done. In EOS, completion is strictly binary: either it crossed the finish line according to its specific milestone criteria or it failed.

Second, during your next quarterly session, take that unfinished objective and carve it into three separate, bite-sized Rocks. The leader must only own the next ninety-day slice.

For example, instead of setting a Rock to deploy an entire enterprise software system, the Rock for the upcoming quarter must be to finalize vendor selection and clean legacy data. The following quarter tackles data migration.

Third, examine the leader capacity. If the Rock was properly scoped to twenty hours of total work across ninety days and still went unfinished, you have a GWC issue in that seat.

Either they lack the capacity to execute above the day-to-day whirlwind, or they do not genuinely want the accountability. Solve the root cause rather than rolling over the excuse.