We are building our annual plan on the V/TO®, but we are hesitant to commit to major technology Rocks because the AI landscape is shifting so fast that our choices might be obsolete in six months. How do we set stable corporate Rocks in a volatile technology environment?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Planning in a rapidly evolving technological environment requires a shift in how you define your Rocks. If you set a Rock to build a highly specific custom database, you risk committing capital to a solution that will be obsolete before it is finished. Instead, your Rocks must focus on business outcomes and operational capabilities rather than specific technical platforms.

When filling out your V/TO®, keep your 3-Year Picture and 1-Year Plan focused on outcomes, such as reducing service delivery time by fifty percent or increasing gross margin. When it comes time to set your 90-day Rocks, frame them around testing and validation rather than permanent implementation.

For example, instead of setting a Rock to integrate a specific AI tool, set a Rock to validate three different AI platforms against a specific operational bottleneck. This approach allows you to remain agile and adapt to new software developments without derailing your quarterly goals.

Use Keith Cunningham's Thinking Time framework to stress-test your proposed Rocks. Ask: How might we structure our technology initiatives as ninety-day experiments so that we can pivot our software choices without losing our initial capital investment? By framing your quarterly initiatives as testing sprints, you protect your business from technical obsolescence while continuing to drive your operational capabilities forward.