The Annual: Once a Year, You Set the Direction

In short: In Rocket Routine OS, the Annual is the leadership team's yearly meeting and a strategy workshop: you review the past year, check purpose and vision, and work out the strategy. It ends with the yearly goals and their measurable outcomes, which go to the areas.

After the Weekly, the Monthly and the Quarterly, the Annual is the biggest meeting in the Rocket Routine OS rhythm. It produces the plan every other meeting hangs on: later you derive the quarterly goals from the yearly goals, and the Weekly looks every week at the metrics that belong to those goals.

What happens in the Annual

The Navigator is the AI agent that leads every meeting in Rocket Routine OS. It opens the Annual by itself too, greets everyone and asks whether to add or drop topics and whether to invite anyone else. Then it leads through the agenda one question at a time. The agenda can be defined freely.

The Annual is a strategy workshop and your annual planning meeting: this is where annual strategic planning happens. The AI head for strategy works in it, the AI agent that leads the Strategy area. In the app it is called the VP Strategy ("Vice President"). It works with the strategy advisers, AI advisers modelled on well-known strategists; they include W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. You choose the method, for example Blue Ocean or Outhink the Competition. The workshop ends with the strategy and the yearly goals.

First, the past year

Before you look ahead, the Annual reviews last year's goals. The last Quarterly of the year lays the ground: it closes every outcome of the year as achieved, partly achieved or missed, with a note and evidence from the metrics.

Last year's goals stay readable afterwards, and so do versions, decisions and evidence. You have a year you can read back.

Four questions before the strategy

Then you check the foundations. The Navigator leads through four questions:

• Does our purpose still hold?
• Do the company profile, values and principles fit?
• Is the vision still right?
• Which strategy do we follow next year?

If a sentence changes, for example in the vision, the Navigator proposes the new wording. You approve it, and it becomes a new version. You can restore the old wording with one click.

The yearly goals and their outcomes

Then you set the yearly goals and define measurable outcomes for each one. An outcome is the measurable result that shows whether a goal has been reached. Every outcome has exactly one metric with a target and warning lines.

Every yearly goal is linked to the vision and to its area. The product refuses a goal without a parent. On top of that, the alignment check compares every new or changed goal with the company's values, principles and mission. You see the result as a marker before you save.

If you plan in December, outcomes for the next year can be created without a metric at first. The Navigator reminds the team to add one before the year starts.

From yearly goals to the areas

Finally, you confirm that the yearly goals go to the areas. When the meeting closes, they go there, and each AI head drafts its area's plan. A person approves the draft. In the first quarter, each AI head sets its area's quarterly goals under the year's outcomes.

From there, the Quarterly takes over: once a quarter, you derive the next goals from the yearly goals. That keeps every quarterly goal connected to the plan for the year.

The Annual in the rhythm

In the Rocket Routine OS meeting rhythm, each meeting has its own job. The Weekly looks at the metrics and the work every week. The Monthly checks once a month whether the system is working for you. The Quarterly sets the course for the next three months, and the Annual is the strategic planning meeting that sets the direction for the year.

All these meetings are on from the start. You switch off what you do not need, and for each meeting you set days, times and who is accountable. At the end, the accountable person confirms what was agreed.

What you need to do

The Navigator opens and leads the Annual, the strategy advisers bring in their view, and the AI heads then draft the plans for their areas. Your part is the decisions: whether purpose, values and vision still hold, which strategy you follow, which yearly goals apply, and which plans you approve.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens in an annual planning meeting?

In Rocket Routine OS, the Annual is the yearly strategy workshop where you review last year's goals, check purpose, values, principles and vision, and work out the strategy for the next year. Then you set the yearly goals with measurable outcomes, and at the end they go to the areas.

Who takes part in the Annual?

The people and AI heads you invite. The Navigator leads the meeting, and the AI head for strategy works with the strategy advisers, AI advisers modelled on well-known strategists. At the start you can bring in further people when a topic calls for it.

How do yearly goals connect to the vision?

In Rocket Routine OS, every yearly goal is linked to the vision and to its area, and the product refuses a goal without a parent. For each yearly goal you define measurable outcomes. Later, in the Quarterly, you derive each quarter's goals from the yearly goals.

What happens to last year's goals?

The last Quarterly of the year closes every outcome, and the Annual reviews last year's goals. After that they stay readable, and so do versions, decisions and evidence. In Rocket Routine OS, you have a year you can read back.