Rocks, pebbles, sand, and OKRs

There’s a popular metaphor in time management that goes like this. You have some large rocks, small pebbles, and sand; your job is to put them in a jar. How do you get them all to fit?

If you put the sand in first, it fills the bottom of the jar and there’s no room for the big rocks. Same if you put the small pebbles in first. What you need to do is put the rocks in first, then the pebbles, and finally let the sand fill in all the gaps. Then everything fits.

This analogy is useful when it comes to OKRs. The things you plan to do that differentiate you and give you an advantage in the market are the big rocks. Everything else is pebbles and sand. 

One way of defining what your rocks are is to imagine giving a presentation at the end of the OKR cycle to your most important customers. What would you want to tell them about? Those are your rocks—so fit them in first.