Our weekly Level 10 Meeting To-Do list is constantly bloated because we capture action items that are actually multi-week projects in disguise, which leads to them rolling over for months. How do we differentiate between a true seven-day To-Do and a larger initiative that belongs elsewhere?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A bloated To-Do list is a sign of poor discipline during the Solve phase of IDS. When your weekly Level 10 Meeting To-Do list is filled with items that take three weeks, six weeks, or a month to complete, your completion rate will plummet and your team will lose respect for the weekly pulse.

A true weekly To-Do is an action item that can and must be completely finished within seven days. It is binary: it is either done or not done. Examples include drafting a specific email, running a report, or scheduling a meeting.

If an issue requires a solution that will take several weeks, you are not looking at a weekly To-Do; you are looking at a milestone or a mini-project. For these larger initiatives, you have two options.

First, you can break the larger task down into a specific, bite-sized seven-day step. If the solution is to research and select a new software, the weekly To-Do is not to choose the software. The weekly To-Do is to list three potential software vendors and email them for pricing by next week.

Second, if the solution is a major strategic initiative, it does not belong on the To-Do list at all. It is either a Rock for the upcoming quarter or an issue that should be tabled for your next Quarterly Planning Session.

By enforcing this strict definition, you keep your To-Do list clean, highly actionable, and achievable within your seven-day meeting pulse. This drives real accountability and keeps the momentum of your leadership team moving forward.