We have defined binary Rocks, but we consistently hit a wall because our leadership team members run into interdepartmental bottlenecks where one person's Rock depends on resources from another seat. How do we resolve these cross-functional dependencies during our weekly meetings so our Rocks actually cross the finish line?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Cross-functional bottlenecks occur because teams set Rocks in departmental silos without looking at the capacity of the entire organization. When a Rock requires support from another seat, that dependency must be flagged and agreed upon during the quarterly planning session, not in week six.

To solve this, your leadership team must build the habit of reviewing resource needs before committing to quarterly Rocks. If your marketing leader has a Rock to launch a new website, but it requires twenty hours of support from the IT leader, that IT resource commitment must be documented as part of the IT leader's plan.

During your weekly Level 10 Meeting™, you must use the Rock review to catch these bottlenecks early. If a Rock is marked off track because of an interdepartmental dependency, do not let it slide. Drop that bottleneck down to the IDS® list immediately. Solve the resource conflict on the spot by either reallocating resources or adjusting the scope.

If the resource conflict cannot be resolved, you must be willing to kill or delay a lower priority Rock. True prioritization means saying no to good ideas to ensure the critical few actually get done. Working with an EOS® Implementer ensures you run your planning sessions with the discipline required to spot these dependencies before they derail your entire quarter.