Annual strategies are great on paper. The problem is that most people don’t look at them again until it’s too late to change anything.
To use OGSM for a 90-day sprint plan, take your annual Objective and Goals and break them into a focused sub-OGSM for the quarter: keep the Objective, select the one or two Goals most critical this quarter, define the Strategies you’ll run in this period only, and set Measures with 90-day targets. Review progress every two weeks.
The 90-day OGSM sits inside your annual strategy, not instead of it. Here’s how to build one that actually works.
Why 90 Days Is the Right Unit for Execution
A year is long enough to lose focus, change direction, and still feel like you have time. A week is too short to see any meaningful movement on strategic priorities. Ninety days is the sweet spot — long enough to make real progress, short enough to keep urgency high.
The 90-day sprint model works just as well with OGSM — and arguably better, because OGSM naturally scales from annual to quarterly without requiring a different framework.
The Difference Between an Annual OGSM and a 90-Day OGSM
Your annual OGSM sets the year’s direction. Your 90-day OGSM answers: what do we actually work on in the next three months to move toward that direction?
Annual OGSM — 3–5 Goals, multiple Strategies, Measures tracked monthly or quarterly.
90-Day OGSM — 1–2 Goals (the ones where you need the most progress this quarter), 2–3 Strategies (the specific campaigns or initiatives running right now), Measures tracked weekly or bi-weekly.
You’re not rebuilding your strategy every 90 days. You’re focusing it.
How to Build Your 90-Day OGSM
Step 1: Start With Your Annual Objective
Your 90-day Objective is the same as your annual Objective. Don’t rewrite it. The purpose of the sprint is to make progress toward the annual direction — you don’t need a new destination every quarter.
If your annual Objective is “Become the go-to provider of OGSM training for European mid-market businesses,” that’s also your 90-day Objective. The sprint just defines what “progress” means for this quarter.
Step 2: Select Your 90-Day Focus Goals
Look at your annual Goals and ask: which one or two of these are most important to make progress on right now?
In Q1, you might focus on building awareness and pipeline. In Q3, you might focus on revenue conversion and retention. Not all Goals are equally urgent in all quarters.
Choose a maximum of two Goals for the sprint. For each, set a 90-day sub-target — a milestone rather than the full-year figure.
For example, if your annual Goal is “Grow organic website traffic from 4,000 to 10,000 monthly sessions by December,” your Q2 sub-target might be “Reach 6,500 monthly sessions by 30 June.”
Step 3: Define Your Strategies for This Quarter
Your 90-day Strategies are the specific initiatives you’ll run during this sprint. Be more specific here than in your annual OGSM.
Annual Strategy: “Build thought-leadership content to drive inbound traffic.”
90-Day Strategy: “Publish eight SEO-optimised blog articles targeting OGSM search terms; promote each via LinkedIn and email list.”
The more specific your 90-day Strategies, the easier it is to assign work and track progress.
Step 4: Set Weekly or Bi-Weekly Measures
Your 90-day Measures should update every one to two weeks — not monthly. At 90 days, you don’t have time for monthly check-ins to reveal you’re off-track.
For a content-focused sprint, your Measures might be:
- Articles published per week: target 2
- LinkedIn post reach per article: target 800 impressions
- Email open rate for content newsletter: target 35%
- Organic sessions: tracking weekly against the 6,500 target
These aren’t big strategic questions — they’re operational metrics that tell you whether the engine is running. If one drops, you address it quickly rather than discovering the problem at month three.
Step 5: Review Every Two Weeks
Block a 30–45 minute review every two weeks for the duration of the sprint. Use the same structure as a full strategy review: Measures first, Goals second, actions third.
At the end of the 90 days, run a proper sprint retrospective: what worked, what didn’t, and what should inform next quarter’s sprint plan.
A 90-Day OGSM Example
Objective: Become the go-to provider of OGSM templates and training for European business strategists.
90-Day Focus Goals (Q2):
- Grow organic monthly website traffic to 6,500 sessions by 30 June (from 4,000).
- Generate €8,000 in template sales by 30 June (from €4,500 in Q1).
90-Day Strategies:
- Publish eight SEO-targeted articles focused on OGSM search terms.
- Run a LinkedIn content series (three posts per week) highlighting OGSM use cases.
- Launch a promotional campaign to the email list for the Excel template.
Measures (bi-weekly):
- Articles published: target 1 per week
- LinkedIn engagement rate: target 4%+
- Email click-through rate: target 3%+
- Weekly organic sessions: tracking toward 6,500 by end of June
- Weekly shop revenue: tracking toward €8,000 by end of June
When to Use a 90-Day OGSM
A 90-day sprint plan works best when:
You need to rebuild momentum. If a strategy has been dormant or underdelivering, a focused 90-day sprint with a clear end date is better than a vague renewal of commitment to the annual plan.
You’re in a period of rapid change. If market conditions are shifting fast, a 90-day planning horizon keeps you responsive without abandoning strategic direction.
Your team needs focus. Annual strategies can feel overwhelming. A 90-day sprint with two goals and three strategies gives people something concrete to work toward.
You’re testing a new Strategy. If you want to know whether a new approach works before committing to it for the year, run it as a 90-day experiment with clear Measures.
What to Avoid
Treating every quarter as a blank slate. Your annual OGSM is the constant. Sprint plans should build on each other, not restart the strategy from scratch every 90 days.
Adding too many Goals. If you’re trying to make significant progress on four or five Goals in 90 days, you’ll make marginal progress on all of them. Pick two, go deep.
Setting Measures that update monthly. Monthly Measures in a 90-day sprint leave you with only three data points. Weekly or bi-weekly is the right cadence.
The Template Makes It Simple
The cleanest way to run a 90-day OGSM sprint is with a template that lets you work at both levels — annual and quarterly — without juggling two separate documents. The OGSM Template for PowerPoint and OGSM Template for Excel are structured so you can use the same layout for your annual plan and your quarterly sprint, keeping your strategic logic consistent while your operational focus sharpens every 90 days.