How to Decide Whether Something Is a Rock, Milestone, To-Do, or Issue in Ninety
Should this be a Rock, a milestone, a To-Do, or an Issue? It depends on how long the work takes and whether your team needs to talk about it first. A To-Do is a one-person action due within seven days. A Rock is one of your most important priorities for the next 90 days. A milestone is a dated checkpoint inside a Rock. An Issue is anything your team needs to discuss, decide, or solve. In EOS® (the Entrepreneurial Operating System®), sorting work this way is called Compartmentalizing™. This guidance applies to everyone who creates or reviews Rocks, To-Dos, and Issues in Ninety.
Who can do what:
Owners, Admins, Managers, and Team Members (also called Managees) can create and link Rocks, milestones, To-Dos, and Issues on the teams they belong to.
Observers can view these items but can't create, edit, or link them.
Owners, Admins, and Implementers can turn milestones and the automatic milestone To-Do setting on or off for the whole company.
The EOS compartments and their time frames
EOS gives every item competing for your team's attention one compartment, based on its time frame. Ninety has a tool for each compartment, so where you create an item tells your team when it's due and where it gets reviewed.
Item | Time frame | Owner | Where your team reviews it | Where it lives in Ninety |
1-year goal | About 12 months. | The Leadership Team. | Quarterly and annual planning. | |
Rock | 90 days. | One person. | The Rocks section of the weekly Level 10 Meeting® (L10®). | The Rocks tool. |
Milestone | Its own due date, usually within the Rock's quarter. | One person (it doesn't have to be the Rock owner). | With its Rock. | Inside a Rock, once milestones are turned on. |
To-Do | Seven days. | One person. | The To-Do List section of the weekly L10. | The To-Dos tool. |
Issue | Short-term (this quarter) or long-term (beyond this quarter). | One person, who decides when it's solved. | Short-term Issues in the IDS® (Identify, Discuss, and Solve) section of the L10. Long-term Issues at quarterly or annual planning. | The Issues tool, on the short-term or long-term list. |
Milestones aren't one of the EOS compartments. They're how Ninety breaks a Rock into smaller checkpoints, so a 90-day priority shows steady progress instead of one result at the end of the quarter.
How to decide which Ninety tool to use
To choose between a Rock, a milestone, a To-Do, and an Issue in Ninety, ask these questions in order and stop at the first "yes":
Can one person finish it within seven days? Create a To-Do.
Is it a step toward a Rock you already have, with its own due date? Add it as a milestone on that Rock.
Is it one of the most important things to finish this quarter, with one owner and a clear finish line? Create a Rock.
Does your team need to discuss it, make a decision, or solve a problem before anyone can act? Create an Issue: on the short-term list if it matters this quarter, or on the long-term list if it can wait.
Is it one of the biggest things your company wants to accomplish this year? Add it as a 1-year goal on the Traction page of the V/TO.
Two examples make the difference clearer:
"Start working on the customer service process" isn't a Rock, because it's vague and has no finish line. Until it's specific, it's an Issue for your team to discuss, or a To-Do for one person's first step.
"Document and roll out the new customer onboarding process by June 30" is a Rock. It's specific, it has one owner, and it takes the quarter. Each step toward it (draft the process, review it with the team, train the support staff) can be a milestone.
Once an Issue becomes a Rock, it comes off the Issues list. The work lives in one place, the Rock, so your team isn't tracking it twice. To learn the full Compartmentalizing tool, watch EOS Worldwide's video at eosworldwide.com/compartmentalizing or ask your EOS Implementer.
Common mistakes when sorting work into Rocks, To-Dos, and Issues
Most confusion about Rocks, To-Dos, and Issues comes from putting work in the wrong place. These are the mistakes teams make most often:
Using To-Dos as a project list. A dozen To-Dos for one large project hide the bigger goal. Create a Rock for the project and break it into milestones instead.
Calling everyday work a Rock. A Rock is a priority with a finish line. Work your team does every week (like answering support tickets) belongs on the Scorecard® (your weekly metrics dashboard) or in a documented process instead.
Letting the same To-Do roll over week after week. If a To-Do isn't done, recommit to finishing it by next week, or turn it into an Issue so your team can discuss what's blocking it.
Keeping an Issue open after it becomes a Rock. Close or archive the Issue once the Rock exists, so the work isn't tracked in two places.
Solving a problem inside a To-Do. If the right next step isn't clear yet, create an Issue so your team can discuss it in IDS first. The To-Do comes out of that discussion.
How Rocks, milestones, To-Dos, and Issues connect in Ninety
In Ninety, Rocks, milestones, To-Dos, and Issues stay connected through links rather than by sitting inside one another. A To-Do doesn't live "under" a Rock. Instead, you link the To-Do to the Rock, and each item lists the other in its Linked Items section. That way, anyone can follow the thread from a quarterly priority to the action that advances it.
You can link items in two ways:
Create a linked item. Right-click an item (or click the ellipsis at the end of its row) and select Create linked To-Do, Create linked Issue, or another item type. The new item copies the original's title and description.
Link an existing item. Open an item's details panel, scroll to Linked Items, and click + Linked Item.
Links work within one team. You can link a team's own Rocks, milestones, To-Dos, Issues, and Headlines to each other, but not items from another team. For step-by-step instructions, see Linking Items in Ninety.
These are the connections teams use most often:
From an off-track Rock to an Issue. When a Rock falls off track, right-click it and select Create linked Issue so your team can work through the blocker in IDS during the next L10.
From a solved Issue to a To-Do. When your team reaches a decision in IDS, right-click the Issue and select Create linked To-Do to assign the next step, with an owner and a due date seven days out.
From an unfinished To-Do to an Issue. When a To-Do isn't done and something is blocking it, right-click the To-Do and select Make it an Issue.
From a long-term Issue to a Rock. At quarterly planning, drag a long-term Issue into a quarter column on the Planning Board to turn it into a Rock. Ninety asks whether to mark the original Issue complete, or complete and archive it.
From a milestone to a To-Do. Ninety can create a To-Do automatically for any milestone that isn't complete seven days before its due date. When the owner marks that To-Do done, the milestone is marked complete too. This optional setting is an EOS Plus feature. Turning on the EOS Pure™ setting switches it off, and an Owner, Admin, or Implementer can turn it back on by itself.
How Ninety shows a Rock's progress
Ninety shows a Rock's progress in two separate ways: a milestone progress bar and the Rock's status.
The milestone progress bar counts finished milestones out of the total. For example, "2/3" means two of three milestones are complete. The bar appears only after you add at least one milestone to the Rock.
The Rock's status is set by the Rock owner: On-track, Off-track, Complete, or Canceled. Owners usually update it before the weekly L10.
Because the Rock owner chooses the status, a Rock can show "2/3" and still be Off-track if the last milestone is in trouble. When a Rock is Off-track, raise it as an Issue at your next L10. To change a status, see Editing and Updating Rocks.
What to do with Rocks, To-Dos, and Issues when they're finished
When a Rock, To-Do, or Issue is finished, archive it rather than deleting it. Archiving and deleting work differently in Ninety:
Archiving moves the item out of your active list and into the archive. All its details, history, and progress are kept, and you can restore it at any time.
Deleting moves the item to the tool's Trash. You can restore it from the Trash for 90 days. After that, Ninety removes it permanently.
At the end of each quarterly meeting, Ninety prompts you to archive completed Rocks and carry forward any that aren't done. For bulk archiving and restoring items, see Archiving Items in Ninety.
Frequently asked questions about Rocks, milestones, To-Dos, and Issues
Do I need to link every Issue to a Rock?
No, not every Issue needs to be linked to a Rock. Link an Issue to a Rock when the Issue came from that Rock or is blocking it. Many Issues (a process problem, an idea, or a people question) stand on their own.
Should my To-Dos go under my Rocks or under my milestones?
To-Dos don't sit under a Rock or a milestone in Ninety. You link a To-Do to the Rock or milestone it supports. Right-click the Rock and select Create linked To-Do, and the To-Do appears in the Rock's Linked Items section.
Do milestones automatically become To-Dos?
Milestones become To-Dos only if an Owner, Admin, or Implementer turns on the automatic milestone To-Do setting. When it's on, Ninety creates a To-Do for any milestone that isn't complete seven days before its due date. Turning on the EOS Pure setting switches it off, but it can be turned back on by itself.
Can a milestone take longer than a week?
Yes. A milestone has its own due date, so it can take several weeks. A To-Do is an item meant to be done within seven days.
Is this a To-Do or an Issue?
If one person knows what to do and can finish it within seven days, create a To-Do. If the next step isn't clear, or your team needs to discuss it first, create an Issue.
Is it better to track a project as a Rock or as a set of To-Dos?
Track a project that takes the quarter as a Rock, and break it into milestones. Use To-Dos for the individual seven-day actions that advance a milestone, and link them to the Rock.
What should we do with a To-Do that isn't done?
An overdue To-Do stays on your list with an overdue indicator. During the To-Do List section of the L10, the owner either recommits to finishing it by next week, or your team right-clicks it and selects Make it an Issue to discuss what's blocking it.
Troubleshooting
Issue: Milestones don't appear on our Rocks.
Solution:
Ask an Owner, Admin, or Implementer to open Company Settings, select Configuration, and go to the Rocks section.
Have them turn on the Show Milestones on Rocks toggle.
If the issue persists, contact support.
Issue: A milestone didn't create a To-Do.
Solution:
Ask an Owner, Admin, or Implementer to open Company Settings, select Configuration, and go to Plus Features in the Feature Controls section.
Have them turn on the Automatically create To-Dos for Milestones not completed 7 days before due date toggle. (Turning on EOS Pure switches this toggle off.)
If the issue persists, contact support.
Issue: I can't link an item from another team.
Solution:
Check which team the item belongs to. Items can only be linked to other items on the same team.
If another team needs to see your Rock, share the Rock with that team instead. See Sharing Rocks Across Multiple Teams.
If the issue persists, contact support.
Related blog posts
Gain Traction with IDS® from EOS®: how solving Issues produces the To-Dos that drive follow-through.
How to Fix the Traction® Gap: Integrating OKRs with EOS® for Better Execution: for teams translating OKRs into Rocks.