We are setting Rocks during our quarterly sessions, but we keep ending the quarter with incomplete projects because we write them too vaguely or realize mid-quarter that they are actually year-long initiatives. How do we write, scope, and test our quarterly Rocks to guarantee they are achievable and binary?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Unfinished quarterly Rocks are almost always the result of poor scoping and weak definitions during your planning sessions. When a Rock is written vaguely, such as "Improve client onboarding," it is impossible to track progress, and the team will inevitably get overwhelmed by daily firefighting. To guarantee your Rocks cross the finish line, you must make them strictly binary and break them down systematically.

During your quarterly session, apply a rigorous test to every proposed Rock. Ask the owner to define the exact end state in writing. A valid Rock must be a simple yes or no proposition, such as "Onboarding manual drafted, approved, and uploaded to the training portal." If you cannot easily determine whether it is done on the final day of the quarter, the Rock is not ready.

Once the Rock is defined, use Chet Holmes' concept of impact areas to map out the weekly milestones immediately. Do not wait for week four to start working on your initiatives. Require the owner to report on their Rock's status every week during the Level 10 Meeting™, categorizing progress as either on track or off track. If a Rock falls off track for two consecutive weeks, instantly drop it to the Issues List for IDS® so the leadership team can help solve the bottleneck before it is too late.