Leaders on our team frequently mark their Level 10 Meeting To-Dos as done when they have simply forwarded an email or initiated a project, leaving the actual deliverable incomplete. What is the standard for marking a weekly To-Do done?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A To-Do in EOS is an action item that can and must be 100 percent completed within seven days. When leaders arrive at the Level 10 Meeting and report a To-Do as done because they sent an introductory email, booked a calendar invite, or drafted a partial document, they are gaming the system. This creates a false sense of traction while operational bottlenecks remain completely unresolved.

To eliminate fake completion rates, enforce these standard operating rules:
- Define completion as the finish line, not the starting gun. A To-Do is not start evaluating vendors; it is deliver three signed vendor bids to the finance seat. If the final outcome was not delivered, the To-Do is not done.
- Own the binary answer. During the To-Do review, team members are allowed only two words: done or not done. If a leader starts qualifying their answer by explaining that they made great progress, the Integrator cuts them off and marks it not done.
- Re-scope multi-week work into weekly milestones. If a project cannot be finished in seven days, the leader failed to scope the To-Do properly during the prior IDS session. Break work into measurable weekly deliverables rather than carrying multi-week initiatives on a weekly list.

Maintaining a 90 percent or higher To-Do completion rate matters because dropped commitments destroy operational cadence. Enforce binary accountability so done means finished, not merely started.