Rocks, Gravel and Sand

The Promise

The order in which you place commitments matters as much as which commitments you make. A quarter that fills by default leaves no room for the work that requires deliberate selection.

How It Works

• Identify the quarter's rocks before it begins. The Objectives that must move for the quarter to matter. These are the output of the Priority Cut.
• Name the gravel and sand explicitly. The recurring meetings, administrative commitments, and reactive tasks that will fill available time unless pre-empted.
• Place the rocks first. Schedule the sessions they require before the gravel and sand can claim those slots. Everything else fills in around them.

In Practice

Priorities named mid-quarter arrive to a calendar that is already half-full, and the rocks have nowhere to go. The discipline is not the selection but the sequence. Pre-quarter loading does not guarantee the rocks get executed perfectly; it guarantees they have room to be executed at all.