Make Rocks SMART

Almost everyone comes out of their Quarterly session excited about the clarity and focus they have for the 90-day march. All that can drain away quickly if you don’t dedicate enough time to plan your Rocks.   I have recorded a video to help you reground yourself with all the things that I have seen go into building great Rocks with great milestones that have a real impact and allow everyone on the team to feel connected to what you are focusing on. Start by watching this quick video. Feel free to watch it as a team. The deck from the video is here Then, for each Rock, take yourself through the exercise of challenging your assumptions and getting some clarity by following these steps:

  1. Consider these prompts (Is the Rock…?):

    • Specific – Do we all understand how to determine when this Rock has been successfully
    • Measurable – Is there a measurement that we can add to this completion test that makes it absolutely clear that it is done or that the intended level of effort has been applied?
    • Attainable – Are there things beyond our control that are 1)Reasonably Likely to Happen and 2) Can keep this from being completed on time?
    • Realistic – Is the scope of this Rock sufficiently big to make a meaningful impact or teach us something important but not so large that we can’t get it completed?
    • Timely – Is this Urgent & Important? Does it have to be done this Quarter for us to be on track for our longer-term goals?

  1. UAT: Set a milestone before the due date of the Rock that outlines how we will get approval from the team that this Rock has been completed and that we all understand the implications of the work. 

  2. Best Practice is to set 5-15 milestones so that:

    • Everyone can agree that you are taking a good approach to utilizing the time we are allocating to this Rock
    • You can ensure you have worked through the scope and requirements
    • Everyone can have easy visibility on whether you are really ON TRACK
    • You have chunks of effort that are defined so that others can help 

  1. Create Milestones for:

    • Meeting with anyone who I need to get support or buy-in on this Rock
    • List anything that might get in the way 
    • Things I need from other team members
    • Approvals from inside or outside of the organization
    • Items that need to be delivered as part of the completed rock, like drafts, procedures, or collateral
    • KPIs that need to be developed and added to scorecards
    • Weekly progress is the best cadence for Milestones
If you would like some help or have any questions about Building Great Rocks, feel free to schedule time using this link: https://calendly.com/jim-haviland/help-first-hour .