Rocks are quarterly priorities in EOS: the three to seven most important things the company — and each person on the leadership team — commits to completing in the next 90 days. The name comes from the rocks-pebbles-sand time-management parable: if you don't put the big rocks in the jar first, the small stuff fills it and the big things never fit.
What makes a good Rock
- It's specific and done-or-not-done. “Improve onboarding” is a wish; “new customer onboarding live, first five customers through it” is a Rock. At quarter's end there's no debate.
- It has one owner. Company Rocks still get a single name. Shared ownership is how Rocks die.
- There are few of them. Three to seven, total. The discipline is what you say no to — a ten-Rock quarter is a to-do list wearing a costume.
- It's reviewed weekly. Every Level 10 Meeting calls each Rock on track or off track. A Rock nobody asks about until week 12 was never really a priority.
Rocks vs. OKRs
Rocks and OKRs solve the same problem — focus for a quarter — with different grain. A Rock is binary (done or not); an OKR pairs an objective with measurable key results and scores partial progress. Rocks are simpler to run and harder to game; OKRs measure more but demand more. Many teams run a hybrid: Rock-style commitments with one or two measurable results attached. Our OKRs vs. quarterly priorities playbook walks the decision honestly.
Related
EOS®, Level 10 Meeting™, and Rocks are trademarks or concepts of EOS Worldwide, LLC. Vetta is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by EOS Worldwide. This page exists to explain the terminology accurately for teams who use it.