Momentum – The 90-Day Sprint Business Accelerator

Many businesses today face the challenge of adapting to rapidly shifting, even turbulent, business environments. The Momentum framework addresses this challenge by providing a structured approach to business acceleration, inspired by my First 90 Days leadership transition acceleration framework. This methodology represents a fundamental shift in how organizations approach strategic execution, moving from traditional annual planning cycles to dynamic, quarterly sprints that enable rapid adaptation and continuous progress.

At its core, Momentum helps organizations mobilize, focus, and sustain their energy to achieving rapid results while maintaining adaptability in evolving, potentially turbulent business environments. The framework's power lies in its ability to break down strategic initiatives into manageable chunks, enabling businesses to stay nimble while progressing toward both short- and long-term objectives. By establishing clear OKRs and supporting action plans, Momentum ensures every team member understands their role in achieving larger business goals.

Each 90-day sprint begins with a thorough situation assessment and strategic review, followed by setting specific objectives and measurable key results. An execution plan is then developed to measure and maintain progress through a robust monitoring dashboard. This systematic approach ensures that organizations sustain momentum while adapting to changing circumstances and emerging opportunities.

The Power of 90-Day Sprints

The 90-day sprint serves as the foundational unit of the Momentum framework, creating a powerful mechanism for mobilizing energy and driving urgent yet adaptable progress. This timeframe has proven beneficial for several reasons:

Focus and Clarity

The sprint structure enhances organizational focus by defining clear objectives for each 90 days. This clarity helps teams concentrate on key priorities while avoiding distractions that can derail progress. When objectives are clearly defined for three months, teams can more easily align their daily activities with strategic goals. This alignment ensures that every action contributes meaningfully to the organization's objectives, eliminating waste and increasing efficiency.

Enhanced Planning Accuracy

The defined timeframe of a sprint enables more accurate planning and resource allocation. Teams can better predict their delivery capacity within a three-month window, leading to more realistic and achievable plans. This predictability helps organizations avoid overcommitment while ensuring sufficient resources are available for key initiatives. The shorter planning horizon also reduces the complexity of dependencies and interactions between different workstreams.

Productive Urgency

The three-month window creates a powerful sense of urgency that motivates swift, decisive action. Unlike annual plans that can lead to complacency in the early months, 90-day sprints maintain a constant productive tension that drives progress. This urgency helps overcome organizational inertia and resistance to change, encouraging teams to tackle challenges proactively rather than deferring difficult decisions or actions.

Adaptability and Learning

Each sprint concludes with a comprehensive review that provides opportunities to assess progress and adjust approaches as needed. This regular cadence of evaluation and adjustment ensures organizations remain flexible and responsive to change. Teams can quickly identify what's working and what isn't, making necessary corrections before minor issues become significant problems. This adaptability is crucial in today's dynamic business environment, where market conditions and competitive landscapes can change rapidly.

Achievement and Motivation

Successfully completing a sprint and achieving tangible results creates a powerful sense of accomplishment throughout the organization. These regular wins boost team morale and reinforce a culture of achievement. The frequent celebration of progress helps maintain motivation and engagement, creating a positive cycle of success that drives continued improvement. Regular achievements also help build confidence in the organization's ability to execute effectively, encouraging teams to take on increasingly ambitious objectives.

Long-term Impact

Beyond driving immediate results, the benefits of 90-day sprints contribute to sustained organizational success. The framework helps build essential capabilities in planning, execution, and adaptation that serve organizations well beyond individual sprints. Teams develop better habits in goal-setting, progress monitoring, and problem-solving, while leaders become more skilled at balancing short-term delivery with long-term capability building.

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The Momentum 90-Day Sprint Process

The Momentum process is structured around a continuous cycle of 90-day sprints. Each cycle follows a predictable rhythm – setting objectives, planning initiatives, establishing accountability, executing with regular check-ins, and reviewing progress before launching into the next cycle.

Step 1 – Define Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for the Sprint

Originally developed by Andy Grove at Intel and later popularized by companies like Google, OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) provide the foundation for each sprint. This goal-setting framework combines ambitious objectives with measurable results to drive organizational success.

Before embarking on a 90-day sprint, it's crucial to define clear objectives and measurable key results to drive the business forward. These OKRs should align with the company's long-term vision and strategy and be designed to support significant business objectives, such as growth, profitability, or innovation.

Key actions:

• Set Sprint Objectives – Establish up to five clear, compelling objectives for the 90-day sprint. Objectives should be qualitative, inspirational, and challenging while remaining achievable. For example, "Become the trusted leader in customer success within our market segment."
• Define Key Results – Create specific, measurable results that indicate objective achievement. Each objective typically has 3-5 key results scored on a 0-1.0 scale. For example – Achieve NPS score of 75+ Reduce average response time to under 30 minutes Increase customer retention to 95%
• Ensure Strategic Alignment – Verify that sprint OKRs support and advance the larger business strategy while maintaining transparency across the organization.

Keep in mind that OKRs should be ambitious - achieving 70% of a stretch goal is often considered a success. They should not be treated as a simple to-do list or used for routine operational tasks.

By focusing first on clear OKRs, Momentum ensures that the organization has a clear direction before determining how to get there.

Step 2 – Identify Key Initiatives and Sprint Drivers

Once OKRs are established, the next step is identifying the key initiatives required to achieve them and assigning accountable Sprint Drivers.

Key actions:

• Identify Key Initiatives – Select initiatives that will drive achievement of the OKRs within the 90-day timeframe
• Assign Sprint Drivers – Designate one accountable individual as the Sprint Driver for each key initiative
• Clarify Expectations – Ensure each Sprint Driver understands their accountability for initiative success

Each initiative must have just one Sprint Driver who is ultimately accountable for its success, even though multiple people may be involved in execution.

Step 3 – Develop RASCI Matrix for Initiatives

With Sprint Drivers established, the next step is to develop a complete RASCI matrix for each initiative. RASCI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Supportive, Consulted, and Informed. It is a tool that ensures that all supporting roles in initiatives or projects are clearly defined, reducing confusion and promoting effective execution.

The RASCI matrix specifies:

• Accountable (A) – The Sprint Driver (one person only) who is ultimately responsible for success.
• Responsible (R) – The individual(s) tasked with completing specific work.
• Supporting (S) – Team members who assist in the work.
• Consulted (C) – Experts or stakeholders who provide input.
• Informed (I) – Individuals who need to be kept in the loop about progress.

In each sprint, every key initiative will have its own RASCI definition, ensuring clarity on who does what. This framework helps avoid miscommunication and ensures that resources are allocated appropriately. See the table below for an example.

Figure 1 – Sample OKRs and RASCI Matrix

This extract from a sample translation of OKRs to RASCI illustrates how organizations can structure their objectives and assign roles. It showcases a marketing objective and breaks it down into key results, such as deploying outbound marketing campaigns and increasing website traffic. Each key result is accompanied by a detailed RASCI matrix, assigning responsibility and accountability to team members.

Step 4 – Conduct Regular Check-Ins

Regular check-ins are essential throughout the sprint to maintain momentum, address roadblocks, and ensure alignment. Depending on the complexity of the initiative and the progress being made, these check-ins could happen bi-weekly or monthly.

Key elements of check-ins:

• Progress Review – Update on key results, identifying accomplishments and any potential delays
• Problem-Solving – Address any issues that have emerged, brainstorm solutions, and adjust plans as needed
• Alignment Check – Ensure that everyone remains aligned with the overall objectives and that resources are still being used effectively

These intermediate reviews help keep the sprint on track and ensure that minor issues are addressed before they become more significant problems.

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Step 5 – End-of-Sprint “Review and Renewal” Meeting

The End-of-Sprint Review is a critical component of the Momentum process. This is where the team reflects on their performance, assesses progress, and refines their approach for the next sprint. This review is designed to foster continuous learning and adaptation.

Key elements of the review:

1. Vision and Strategy Check – The first activity in every end-of-sprint review is a quick review to ensure that the vision and strategy are still the right ones. This is essential for confirming that the organization is on the right path and hasn't deviated from its long-term goals.
2. Assessment of OKRs – Evaluate how the objectives and key results were achieved, scoring each key result on a 0-1.0 scale. This includes celebrating successes and identifying areas where the team fell short.
3. Initiative and Sprint Driver Review – Revisit the initiatives and Sprint Driver assignments to ensure they remain appropriate. Adjust the RASCI matrix if new stakeholders or resources are required for the next sprint.
4. Lessons Learned – Discuss what went well and what could be improved. This is an opportunity for the team to share insights and identify adjustments for future sprints.
5. Set New OKRs – Based on the review, set new objectives and key results for the next sprint, ensuring alignment with the revised strategy while maintaining the ambitious nature of OKRs.

This continuous review cycle ensures teams remain agile, constantly learning and adapting to new challenges or opportunities.

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Launching the Momentum Process

To launch the Momentum process, the leadership team engages in a session to introduce the methodology, learn some practical tools, and initiate the first 90-day sprint to accelerate their business.

The initial workshop covers:

1. Situation Assessment – A comprehensive review of the company's current state is initiated. The team evaluates internal factors such as operations, finances, HR, and technology and external elements like market trends, competition, and regulatory climate, fostering alignment.
2. Strategic Direction and Performance Review – The team reviews the current strategic direction, highlighting gaps and opportunities for improvement. Issues with the company's vision, mission, and strategic objectives may warrant strategic adjustments.
3. Objective and Key Results (OKR) Setting – The team formulates clear, measurable, SMART OKRs aligning with the business strategy, establishing a tangible focus for the ensuing 90 days, and defining what success entails.
4. RASCI Matrix Development– The team establishes individual and collective accountabilities for the OKRs.
5. Early Wins Identification – The team identifies opportunities for immediate improvements or quick achievements that could boost morale, showcase the effectiveness of the new strategy, and gain broader buy-in for the process. These could be an underutilized resource, a low-hanging growth opportunity, or an efficiency that can be quickly implemented.
6. Execution Planning – With OKRs and early wins defined, an execution plan is developed. This plan includes allocating resources, assigning roles, setting timelines, creating a dashboard for progress tracking, and outlining key milestones. This plan is the blueprint for the initial 90-day sprint.

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Project Management Resources and Tools

Given the complexity of managing multiple initiatives and ensuring all deadlines are met, appointing a project manager to oversee the Momentum process is often helpful. The project manager ensures that:

• Progress is tracked – They monitor the achievement of key results and keep everyone accountable.
• Meetings are organized – They schedule and facilitate end-of-sprint reviews and regular check-ins.
• Project management tools are used – Tools like Trello, Asana, or Microsoft Project can streamline communication and track progress.

A dedicated person in this role helps ensure the process runs smoothly, especially in larger organizations.

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Conclusion

The Momentum framework provides organizations with a powerful tool for accelerating business performance while building long-term capabilities. Organizations can achieve rapid progress through structured 90-day sprints, clear accountability, and regular review cycles while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. Success requires consistent application of the framework's principles and tools and a commitment to learning and improvement over time.

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