What is the Ideal Frequency for Refreshing Levers, Roadmaps, and Tasks in Growth Planning?
Building on the discussion of OKR refresh frequency, this concept explores how often strategic levers, roadmaps, and tasks should be updated to maintain effective growth planning.
Refreshing High-Level and Functional Levers:
Strategic levers foundational to a company's competitive position -- an example of which could be choosing content marketing over paid advertising due to inherent strengths -- should typically be revisited annually. However, a quarterly review is crucial to determine if any adjustments are necessary based on market dynamics or internal performance.
Conversely, more specific or functional levers, like trialing different campaign types or content strategies, are better suited for a quarterly refresh to stay agile and responsive to immediate market feedback and results.
Refreshing the Roadmap:
The overall strategic roadmap should ideally be revised quarterly. This frequency allows sufficient time for implementation and iteration of strategies, while still being responsive enough to adapt to new insights and outcomes.
For example, a digital marketing team might adjust their roadmap each quarter based on the success of different advertising channels and shifts in consumer behavior observed in the previous period.
Refreshing Tasks:
Within the strategic roadmap, specific tasks may require adjustments on a more frequent basis, potentially monthly or even weekly, depending on the project's phase and immediate needs.
An example would be a product development team that starts with a monthly goal to improve user interface design, but shifts to weekly sprints as they move closer to the product launch date, reacting quickly to user feedback and technical assessments.
Takeaway:
To optimize growth planning,
→ high-level strategic levers should be evaluated annually with quarterly reviews,
→ roadmaps updated quarterly to balance execution and adaptability, and
→ tasks refreshed as often as needed, potentially monthly or weekly, to respond to ongoing developments and feedback.