Overhauling Quarterly Planning

Replace a slow, document-heavy planning process with a streamlined cycle using NCT structure.

planningprocessOKRsalignment

The full NCT chain

NNarrative

“Our quarterly planning takes three weeks and involves 12 meetings across 6 teams. By the time the plan is finalized, a month of the quarter is gone and the plan is already partially outdated. Teams spend more time writing OKRs than executing against them. Retros consistently show that the plan and the actual work diverge by week 4. If we streamline planning into a 5-day process using NCT — Narratives set the direction, Commitments define the outcomes, and Teams propose their own Tasks — we reclaim two weeks of execution time per quarter and improve plan adherence.”

CCommitment 1

Design and document a 5-day planning process that replaces the current 3-week cycle

TTasks

Audit the current planning process: meetings, documents, decisions
Identify which steps add value and which are ceremony
Design a 5-day timeline with clear inputs and outputs for each day
Create templates for Narrative proposals and Commitment reviews
Write a planning facilitator guide

CCommitment 2

Run the new planning process for the next cycle as a pilot with all teams

TTasks

Brief team leads on the new process
Facilitate Day 1–5 of the pilot planning cycle
Capture time spent and participation for comparison
Collect feedback from all team leads at the end

CCommitment 3

Measure and report: did the new process save time and did the plan hold up better?

TTasks

Compare time-to-plan vs. previous quarter
Track plan adherence through weekly check-ins
Survey teams on clarity, alignment, and satisfaction
Write a retrospective report with recommendations

When to use this

Context

Use this NCT when your planning process has become a bottleneck — taking too long, producing plans that don't hold, or frustrating teams. Especially relevant when transitioning from OKRs or when planning overhead is scaling faster than the company.

Analysis

Why this NCT works

The Narrative is refreshingly honest about the dysfunction (3 weeks, 12 meetings, plan diverges by week 4). The Commitments are structured as design → pilot → measure, which treats the planning overhaul as a product to be validated, not a mandate to be imposed. Measuring the outcome in the third Commitment ensures the team isn't just replacing one broken process with another.