Rocks, Gravel and Sand
The order you place commitments in matters as much as which ones you make. Rocks placed first let everything else settle around them. Placed last, they don't fit.
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
Most operators identify their priorities during the quarter rather than before it, which means the calendar is already half-full when the rocks need to go in. 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.
Primary source: Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill, First Things First.