No-Carry-Over Rule

D08 - Meeting Design Quality

Definition

A meeting norm requiring that any action item open for two or more consecutive sessions without reaching its completion definition trigger an immediate diagnosis of its specific blocker — rather than a silent carryover to the next agenda.

An item that can survive two consecutive meetings without resolution without any direct challenge has already normalized the possibility of indefinite carryover.

The no-carry-over rule makes that normalization structurally impossible by requiring active diagnosis, not rescheduling when an action item stalls.

Indicators

• No explicit rule or documented meeting norm exists requiring open items to be diagnosed before being carried over to the next agenda.
• When an item stalls, no named person is required to diagnose the specific blocker before the next agenda — the default is a carry-forward with no challenge.
• Your meeting facilitator has no documented authority or expectation to challenge a carried-over item before it reaches a second consecutive agenda.

Quick Win

• Find one item that's been "in progress" for two or more consecutive meetings.
• Ask: "What specifically is blocking this?"

Assess

• Take the HQ Score Assessment

Apply

• Operations Team Review Agenda - The Constraint First Format

Related

• Execution Culture
• Retrospective Ratio
• CARE Framework
• Accountability Gap