During our weekly Level 10 Meetings, we keep solving issues by creating to-dos that are actually massive projects disguised as weekly tasks, resulting in a backlog of incomplete items. How do we differentiate between a standard weekly to-do and a full quarterly Rock during IDS?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

During IDS®, leadership teams often agree to solutions that are far too complex for a seven-day window. When you assign a to-do that actually requires weeks of research, cross-departmental coordination, or significant budget, you are setting the owner up for failure. This leads to a low to-do completion rate and stalls your operational traction.

To prevent this, the facilitator must challenge every proposed to-do. Ask the team: Can this realistically be completed in seven days? If the answer is no, you have two options. You must either break the issue down into a smaller, immediate action step that can be done this week, or elevate it to a quarterly Rock.

If the solution requires multiple steps and weeks of effort, it is a Rock or a special project. In this case, you should create a single weekly to-do for someone to scope the project and draft the milestones. Then, during your next quarterly alignment meeting, the team can formally prioritize and assign it as a company or individual Rock.

By keeping your to-dos strictly weekly, you maintain a high completion rate of ninety percent or better. This discipline ensures that your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ remains focused on maintaining tactical traction, while your quarterly meetings handle the larger strategic initiatives.