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Business OS & Planning

Quarter Transition

How to close out a quarter and start the next one -- reviewing rocks, carrying forward incomplete work, updating cadence, and capturing retrospective notes.

When to Transition

Armbrain detects when all sprint end dates for the current quarter have passed. When you check pacing or sprint status near the quarter boundary, it suggests:

"Q1 2026 is complete. Ready to transition to Q2?"

You can also trigger the transition manually:

/cmo-quarter-transition

Or simply say:

"Let's transition Acme from Q1 to Q2"

The Transition Flow

Step 1: Quarter Review

Armbrain runs quarterly_pacing for the ending quarter and summarizes:

Q1 2026 Summary — Acme Corp
  3 rocks: 2 complete, 1 at 65% (behind pace)
  Sprint plan: 18 deliverables, 14 complete, 3 in progress, 1 blocked
  Open commitments: 4

This gives you a clear picture of how the quarter went before deciding what carries forward.

Step 2: Rock Disposition

For each incomplete rock, you decide:

"Launch partner portal (65% complete) -- carry forward, mark dropped, or mark complete?"

If no rocks were set up for the quarter, Armbrain skips this step entirely.

Step 3: New Quarter Setup

After rock disposition:

  1. Cadence is updated via mind to the new quarter and sprint 1
  2. Carried rocks and any new rocks are created via business_os
  3. If you have a sprint plan ready, import it immediately
"Start Q2 2026 for Acme with rocks: Partner Portal (carried), Content Engine, Brand Refresh"

Then import the sprint plan:

"Import this sprint plan for Q2..." (paste CSV)

Step 4: Retrospective

Armbrain prompts for lessons learned:

"Any lessons from Q1 to carry into Q2?"

Your response is stored as a memory (type decision or fact) for future reference. These retrospective notes surface in future quarterly reviews and meeting briefs.

Practical Example

You: "Let's transition Acme to Q2"

Armbrain: Q1 2026 Summary — Acme Corp
  Rocks:
    Website Redesign — complete (100%)
    Content Engine — on track (85%, complete)
    Partner Portal — behind pace (65%)

  Partner Portal is 65% complete. Carry forward, drop, or mark complete?

You: "Carry forward"

Armbrain: Got it. Updating cadence to Q2 2026, Sprint 1.
  Carried forward: Partner Portal (65%)

  Any new rocks for Q2?

You: "Add Brand Refresh, owned by the marketing team"

Armbrain: Q2 2026 started with 2 rocks:
  - Partner Portal (carried, 65%)
  - Brand Refresh (new, 0%)

  Any lessons from Q1 to carry into Q2?

You: "Content Engine shipped faster than expected because we batched the writing.
      Do that again for Q2."

Armbrain: Stored. Any sprint plan to import?

You: (paste CSV)

Armbrain: Imported 24 deliverables for Q2 2026.

Multiple Clients Transitioning

When several clients hit the quarter boundary at the same time, the morning briefing (/cmo-brief) surfaces this:

3 clients ready for quarter transition: Acme Corp, Bluebell, Cedar Health

Each client transitions independently. Switch to each one and run the transition flow.

Edge Cases

ScenarioWhat Happens
Mid-quarter transitionAllowed with a warning: "Q1 has 2 weeks remaining. Transition anyway?"
No rocks set upTransition is just a cadence update. Rock disposition is skipped.
Client doesn't use Business OSNo cadence = no quarter transition. The feature is invisible.
Rock at 100% but not marked completeFlagged during disposition: "This rock shows 100% progress but isn't marked complete."
No sprint plan yetTransition proceeds without a plan. You can import one later.

Tools Used

The quarter transition workflow orchestrates these existing tools:

StepTool
Review pacingquarterly_pacing
Check sprint statusbusiness_os
Mark rocks dropped/completebusiness_os (update status)
Update cadencemind
Create new quarterbusiness_os
Import sprint planbusiness_os
Store retrospective notesstore_memory or memory

Key Details