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Big Rock brainstorm

An exercise to decide company or team top priorities.
A number of teams use the ‘Big Rocks’ analogy when deciding on their top priority goals. The core concept is this: if you’re trying to fill a jar, you put the big rocks in first. Then there’s plenty of room for small rocks, sand, etc to fill in the rest. But if you put the sand first, then the small rocks, then the big rocks, the big rocks won’t fit. In the same way, if a team focuses on the Big Rock goals first, it’s more likely they’ll achieve the lower-priority goals.
This doc helps teams decide what those Big Rocks are by using the ‘
$100 exercise
⁠
’ to distribute a fictitious $100 across each of the proposed Big Rocks. Add a few top priority company or team goals to the Big Rocks table before inviting the rest of the team to weigh in. The key to this process is for everyone to allocate their $100 privately in Step 2 first, then come together for a brainstorm session to review and discuss the results collectively in Step 3.

Propose a few Big Rocks

When you’re ready to start, click
clear sample data
⁠
and then ‘+ New row’ to add your own Big Rock candidates.
Big Rock name
Why should we consider this Big Rock?
1
Channelization
Channels form the backbone of...
2
Launch YT Kids
Growing number of kids...
3
Launch YT Music
X% of watch time is spent on music...
4
Make YT blazing fast
Performance is a feature...
There are no rows in this table
⁠

⁠

Invite others to allocate their $$

Each team member should allocate $100 to each of the initiatives and fill in comments. Note that the table below will filter so each person can only see their own allocations. To start, each person should click this button:
⁠
Join the game
⁠
⁠
Allocate $
100
⁠
across priorities. You are currently at $
0
⁠
.
Rank
Person
Priority
Points
Notes
1
1
Polly Rose
Channelization
000
65
Big fan of big rocks!
2
1
Alan Chowansky
Channelization
000
60
Change the primary YT noun from video to channel!
3
2
Joel Davis
Make YT blazing fast
000
35
We could get some mileage.
4
2
Laura Tsunoda
Launch YT Music
000
55
Key step for our top use case
5
3
Laura Tsunoda
Launch YT Music
000
5
Not the right time
6
3
Alan Chowansky
Make YT blazing fast
000
10
Regain our core strength
7
4
Polly Rose
Launch YT Kids
000
0
Not a chance; too big a rock.
8
4
Polly Rose
Launch YT Kids
000
5
Experiment in custom YT experiences
There are no rows in this table
235
Sum
⁠


⁠

Review the results as a team

Now it’s time for the reveal and discussion! Note, don’t unfold this section until everyone finishes their individual allocations. Below you’ll see the average allocations and a sense of the point distribution. You can also use the arrows to the left of each row to drill into the details and see everyone’s comments.
Big Rock name
Why should we consider this Big Rock?
Average
Point distribution
1
Channelization
Channels form the backbone of...
62.5
65
60
2
Launch YT Kids
Growing number of kids...
2.5
5
0
3
Launch YT Music
X% of watch time is spent on music...
30
55
5
4
Make YT blazing fast
Performance is a feature...
22.5
35
10
There are no rows in this table
⁠



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