The Quarterly: Once a Quarter, You Set the Next Goals

In short: In Rocket Routine OS, the Quarterly is the meeting at the end of every quarter: you rate each outcome with evidence and derive the next quarter's goals from the yearly goals. The Navigator leads the meeting, which often runs as a workshop.

In the Annual meeting you set the yearly goals. The Quarterly is the leadership team's quarterly planning meeting, where they turn into goals for the next three months. This article shows what happens there, how OKR or EOS fit in, and what you need to do.

What happens in the Quarterly

The Navigator is the AI agent that leads every meeting in Rocket Routine OS. It opens the Quarterly by itself, too: it greets everyone and asks whether to add or remove topics and whether to invite anyone else. Then it leads through three steps.

Look back. You rate each outcome of the closing quarter as achieved, partly achieved or missed, with a note and evidence from the metrics. An outcome is the measurable result that shows whether a goal has been reached. Every outcome has exactly one metric (KPI) with a target and warning lines.

Check how routines and work are doing. You look at what works day to day and what you learned in the quarter. A routine is a procedure that runs on a schedule. Once a quarter, the VP (Vice President) Quality & Excellence also looks for lost effort in your real figures, for example handoffs, waiting or rework, and proposes what to remove. A VP leads an area, by default as its AI head.

Derive the next goals. You derive the next quarter's goals from the yearly goals. When the meeting closes, they go to the areas, and each AI head drafts its area's plan. A person approves the draft.

As in every meeting: if someone agreed to do something, the Navigator offers a work item at the end of the topic, a single piece of work. It asks who takes it on and when it is due. The Navigator never sets a date on its own.

Often a workshop

The Quarterly is usually more than a short slot. Many companies turn it into a workshop of a day or longer, for example an OKR workshop. In that workshop you work out the quarter's figures and the next goals. You set the agenda: Rocket Routine OS brings one, and any agenda can be defined.

OKR or EOS: your method

If your company works with OKR (Objectives and Key Results) or with EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System, described in Gino Wickman's book Traction), you use the Quarterly for it. The artifacts of those methods can be created and checked in the Quarterly. If you work with EOS, you set up the EOS agenda, and the Navigator leads through it.

Every new goal is linked to something above it

A quarterly goal never stands alone. Every goal is linked to its area and to a parent: yearly goals to the vision, all other goals to an outcome. The product refuses a goal without a parent. So for every quarterly goal you see where it contributes.

On top of that, the alignment check automatically compares every new or changed goal with the company's values, principles and mission. You see the result as a marker before you save.

When you plan the next quarter's goals, the Navigator reminds you of any outcome that still has no metric. By the start of its period, every outcome has one.

Quarterly or Trimester

During set-up, the Navigator asks how your company plans: in quarters or in trimesters. If you plan in trimesters, periods of four months, you use a Trimester meeting instead of the Quarterly. It does the same for its period.

The Quarterly in the rhythm

In the meeting rhythm of Rocket Routine OS, 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 direction for the next three months. The Annual meeting is a strategy workshop with the VP Strategy and the strategy advisers, and it ends with the strategy and the yearly goals. At year-end, the last Quarterly closes every outcome of 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.

What you need to do

The Navigator opens and leads the Quarterly, the evidence comes from the metrics, and the AI heads draft the plans for their areas. Your part is the decisions: how you rate each outcome, which goals apply for the next quarter, and which plans you approve.

That holds if you work alone, too. A founder alone uses the Weekly and the Quarterly, with the AI heads as the leadership team.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens in a quarterly planning meeting?

In Rocket Routine OS, the Quarterly is the planning meeting at the end of every quarter, usually a workshop. You rate each outcome as achieved, partly achieved or missed, with a note and evidence from the metrics, check how routines and work are doing, and derive the next quarter's goals from the yearly goals.

Can I use OKR or EOS in the Quarterly?

Yes. If your company works with OKR or EOS, the artifacts of those methods can be created and checked in the Quarterly. Any agenda can be defined, and if you work with EOS, you set up the EOS agenda. The Navigator then leads through it.

Where do the goals for the next quarter come from?

You derive them from the yearly goals in the Quarterly. In Rocket Routine OS, every goal is linked to its area and to a parent, and the product refuses a goal without a parent. When the meeting closes, the goals go to the areas.

What is the difference between a Quarterly and a Trimester?

Only the period. During set-up, your company chooses whether it plans in quarters or in trimesters. If it plans in trimesters, periods of four months, it uses a Trimester meeting in Rocket Routine OS instead of the Quarterly, and that meeting does the same for its period.