8 Questions: Quarterly Rocks

Quarterly Rocks: 90 Days to Real Progress

Annual goals are great, but they are far enough away that the “how we get there” seems a little blurry.

And day-to-day firefighting? It’s too close to create momentum.

That’s why EOS runs on 90-day priorities—what we call Quarterly Rocks.

These are the 3–7 most important things the company, the department, and the leadership team must accomplish in the next 90 days to move the business forward.

Why 90 days?

Because it’s long enough to make real progress, but not too long to lose momentum. Psychology tells us that human attention begins to fray after about 90 days and so Rocks become the perfect period of measurement to set you up to achieve your 1 years goals.

I’ve lived this.

I used to make goals with no real timelines. I’d set a dozen priorities and chip away at them without clarity, urgency, or accountability. Unsurprisingly, most of them never got finished—or even remembered.

Rocks translate the 1-Year Plan into tangible, time-bound commitments.

They create accountability—not just at the leadership level, but across the entire company.

And they help answer a powerful question:

“What are the most important things we need to do right now to move toward our vision?”

Even better? Rocks aren’t built in isolation.

In EOS, the leadership team sets their Rocks together.

That means:

• Cross-functional buy-in

• Shared visibility

• Honest conversations about capacity

• Clear accountability with one person owning the Rock

• And a clear sense of what matters most

When done right, Rocks bring discipline and focus. When ignored, chaos creeps back in.

So if your team is constantly busy but rarely making meaningful progress, ask yourself:

What are your Rocks this quarter?

o   Does everyone know them?

o   Are they written down?

o   Are they being reviewed weekly?

If not, it’s time to reset because progress doesn’t happen by accident.

It happens 90 days at a time.