During our weekly IDS session, we frequently solve issues by creating massive, multi-week To-Dos that are actually Rocks in disguise, which secretly overburdens our leaders and dilutes our focus. How do we draw a hard line between a standard weekly To-Do and a major quarterly priority during our meetings?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your team solves weekly issues by assigning massive, complex projects as standard seven-day To-Dos, you are setting your leaders up to fail. This practice causes people to miss their To-Do targets, burns out your team, and dilutes the focus needed to execute your actual quarterly Rocks. You must maintain a strict, non-negotiable boundary between these two types of priorities during your Level 10 Meeting. By definition, a weekly To-Do is a single, clear action item that can and must be completely finished within seven days. If a proposed solution requires multiple steps, involves multiple people, or takes several weeks to execute, it is not a To-Do. It is a major project. When this happens during IDS, the facilitator must stop the team from writing it down as a weekly task. Instead, you have two correct choices. First, you can break the large project down into a tiny, bite-sized seven-day action item that serves as the very first step. Second, if the project is critical but too large for the current week, you must park it on your long-term issues list on page two of your V/TO so you can consider making it an official company or individual Rock during your next quarterly planning session. Keeping this discipline prevents scope creep and ensures your weekly action list remains highly realistic and highly accountable.