Our leadership team wants to start customizing the EOS® templates and changing the Level 10 Meeting™ agenda to fit our unique industry. Should we allow this customization early on?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

No. You must run EOS® pure before you can earn the right to customize it. This is a common trap for entrepreneurial teams who believe their business is so unique that the standard rules do not apply to them. The truth is, ninety-five percent of business issues are universal, regardless of your industry. When you try to change the Level 10 Meeting™ agenda or modify the Accountability Chart layout before you have even run a full quarter, you are trying to solve problems you do not understand yet. Often, the urge to customize is actually an attempt to avoid the discomfort of accountability. For example, teams want to shorten the Level 10 Meeting™ because they are bad at IDS® or they want to remove the Scorecard because they do not want to be held to a weekly number. Commit to running the tools exactly as they are designed for at least two full quarters. This gives your team time to build the actual habit and experience the system as a cohesive whole. Once you have mastered the pure discipline and have two clean quarter-end reviews under your belt, you will have the operational maturity to make smart, minor adjustments. Until then, treat the EOS® framework as non-negotiable law.