Our team sets ambitious Rocks every quarter, but we struggle with scope creep, ending up with mini-projects that drag on forever. How do we properly scope Rocks during our quarterly session so they are binary and actually achievable in 90 days?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To consistently finish quarterly Rocks, you must master the art of the scoping exercise during your quarterly meeting. The primary reason Rocks fail to cross the finish line is not a lack of effort. It is poor definition at the start of the ninety day cycle. If a Rock is vague, it will inevitably experience scope creep and become an unmanageable project that drags on into the next quarter.

You must make every Rock binary. At the end of ninety days, the answer to whether it is done must be a simple yes or no, with no room for debate. To achieve this, use a clear scoping process before you finalize your list of Rocks.

First, assign a clear owner to the Rock. Only one person can own a Rock.

Second, write a detailed definition of what done looks like. For example, instead of setting a Rock to improve our onboarding process, define it as write and sign off on a five-step customer onboarding checklist and train the account management team.

Third, break the Rock down into three or four key milestones with specific deadlines. This creates a clear roadmap for the quarter and allows the owner to track progress weekly.

By enforcing this level of specificity on day one, you remove the ambiguity that leads to execution failure. Your team will know exactly what is expected, and you will eliminate the last minute scramble to define what complete actually means.