What is a To-Do?

A To-Do is a short-term action item with an owner and a due date. EOS describes To-Dos as typically seven-day commitments — distinct from Rocks, which are 90-day quarterly goals. Where a Rock represents a significant priority for the quarter, a To-Do is a specific task that moves work forward this week.

The default due date when creating a To-Do is seven days from the creation date.

When you assign a To-Do to multiple people, each person receives their own independent copy. If one person changes their To-Do's due date, description, or any other detail, it has no effect on the copies assigned to others.

Team To-Dos

A team To-Do is the default type. It's visible to everyone on the team, includes a due date and completion status, and is reviewed during the To-Do List Review section of the weekly Level 10 Meeting. Team To-Dos are best for items the team needs to track together and discuss if they're not getting done.

Private To-Dos

A private To-Do is only visible to the person assigned to it. Even Owners and Admins cannot view Private To-Dos that aren't assigned to them. Private To-Dos don't appear in team meetings or meeting recap emails. Use them for personal reminders or tasks that don't need team visibility.

Repeating To-Dos

Any To-Do can be set to repeat on a cadence: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. Repeating To-Dos reduces the need to recreate the same task each cycle.

Linked To-Dos

A linked To-Do is created directly from an existing item in Ninety — a Rock, Issue, Headline, or another To-Do. The source item appears under Linked Items in the To-Do's details panel, keeping the context connected so your team can trace the action back to its origin.

How the To-Dos tool connects to other tools

Rocks. When a Rock's milestone is within seven days of its due date, Ninety can automatically create a To-Do as a reminder. Once the To-Do is marked complete, the milestone is marked complete as well. This setting is off by default and can be enabled in Company Settings. Learn more about adding milestones to Rocks.

Issues. Most solved Issues result in one or more To-Dos. After your team reaches a decision during IDS® (Identify, Discuss, and Solve), right-click the Issue and select Create Linked To-Do to assign the next step with an owner and due date. The reverse also works: right-click any team To-Do and select Make it an Issue to escalate it for team discussion. Learn more about creating Issues.

Meetings. The To-Do List Review is the fifth section of the default Level 10 Meeting agenda. The team reviews each To-Do from the prior week, marks it done or not done, and drops incomplete items to the Issues list as needed. To-Dos created while attendees are actively joined to the meeting are included in the recap email sent after the session. To-Dos created outside an active meeting session appear on the To-Dos list but are not included in the recap.

My 90. Three To-Dos widgets are available on the My 90 workspace: Team To-Dos, Private To-Dos, and To-Dos Created in the Last 90 Days. My 90 is the most efficient way to see all your To-Dos from every team in one view without switching between teams in the To-Dos tool.

1-on-1. During quarterly 1-on-1 meetings, leaders and team members review the prior quarter's performance, including how consistently the team member completed their To-Dos. To-Do delivery is a concrete signal of follow-through and accountability over time.

Permissions for the To-Dos tool: who can do what

• Team Members (also called Managees) can create, view, edit, archive, and delete Team and Private To-Dos on their assigned teams.
• Managers can do everything a Team Member can, plus bulk archive all completed To-Dos for their teams.
• Admins have full access across all teams and can enable company-wide settings, including Agreements-Based To-Dos.
• Implementers/Coaches have access equivalent to Admins within the accounts they support.
• Owners have full access across the entire account, including all company-wide settings.
• Observers can view To-Dos but cannot create, edit, archive, or delete them.

For a full breakdown of what each role can do across all tools, see User Roles and Permissions.

What's in the To-Dos tool

Navigating the To-Dos Tool: Switch between the Team and Private tabs, filter by team, toggle the archive on, and sort To-Dos by title, due date, or owner.

Creating To-Dos: Four ways to create a To-Do: the global Create button, the My 90 workspace, directly from the To-Dos tool, and as a linked item from a Rock, Issue, Headline, or existing To-Do. Covers assigning to multiple people and setting a repeating cadence.

Private To-Dos: Create personal tasks that only you can see. Includes how to view completed Private To-Dos, which use a Completed toggle instead of an Archive toggle.

Editing To-Dos: Update a To-Do's title, owner, due date, description, repeating cadence, and linked items from the details panel. Includes inline editing for quick title and due date changes.

Archiving and Deleting To-Dos: Archive completed or irrelevant To-Dos individually, bulk archive all completed items at once (Manager or higher), or delete a To-Do permanently. Covers special handling for repeating To-Dos.

Upgrade Accountability with Agreements-Based Team To-Dos: How to enable the optional agreements setting and what happens when To-Dos require acceptance before becoming active.

Receiving Notifications for To-Dos: Configure email notifications to stay informed when someone comments on a To-Do you're following. Includes a note on which automatically generated To-Dos do not trigger notifications.

Printing To-Dos and Exporting to PDF: Generate a PDF of your Team, Archived, or Private To-Dos list directly from the To-Dos tool.

Exporting To-Dos to a Spreadsheet: Export your Team or Private To-Dos to an XLSX file that includes title, owner, due date, description, repeating cadence, completion date, and a direct link to each item.

Integrating with Zapier: Connect your Ninety account to the other applications in your tech stack to skip duplicating work across systems.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a To-Do and a Rock? A Rock is a 90-day quarterly goal with a single accountable owner (one of the three to seven most important things a person or team must accomplish this quarter). A To-Do is a shorter-term action item, typically due within seven days. Rocks represent strategic priorities; To-Dos represent the weekly work that moves those priorities (and everything else) forward. In practice, Rocks and To-Dos often connect: milestones on a Rock can automatically generate To-Dos, and off-track Rocks often produce Issues that are then solved and converted into To-Dos.

Can I create a To-Do for multiple people at once? Yes. When creating a To-Do, click the profile icon and select as many team members as you need from the dropdown. Each person receives their own independent copy of the To-Do. Changes one person makes to their copy — such as due date, description, or completion status — do not affect anyone else's copy.

Can I create multiple different To-Dos for the same person at once? Not currently. To-Dos must be created one at a time using the Create button. If you're creating To-Dos from an existing item like a Rock or Issue, you can use right-click > Create Linked To-Do to pre-populate the title and description for each one, which speeds up the process.

Who can see my Private To-Dos? Only the person assigned to a Private To-Do can see it. Owners, Admins, and all other roles cannot view Private To-Dos assigned to someone else. Any licensed user can create a Private To-Do for themselves or assign one to another user, but once created, it remains visible only to the assignee.

What happens when a To-Do isn't completed on time? An overdue To-Do displays an overdue indicator but stays on the list. During the To-Do List Review in the Level 10 Meeting, the team notes it as not done. The options are to recommit to completing it by the following week or to right-click and select Make it an Issue to discuss what's blocking it during IDS.

How do I make a To-Do repeat? When creating or editing a To-Do, select a cadence from the repeating dropdown: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual. The To-Do will automatically recreate itself at the chosen interval. To delete all occurrences of a repeating To-Do, do so from the To-Dos tool page rather than from My 90; deleting from My 90 only removes the current instance.

Can I create a To-Do from an Issue or a Rock? Yes. Right-click any Issue or Rock and select Create Linked To-Do from the dropdown. The new To-Do inherits the title and description of the source item and defaults to a due date seven days out. The source item appears under Linked Items in the To-Do's details panel, so the connection stays visible.

What are Agreements-Based To-Dos, and should we turn them on? When this optional setting is enabled, Team To-Dos assigned by one user to another become agreements that the recipient must explicitly accept or reject. It adds a layer of accountability for cross-team assignments and reduces situations where a To-Do is assigned without the recipient's awareness. Most teams don't need it. It's most useful in organizations where To-Dos frequently cross team or department boundaries. Owners, Admins, and Implementers can enable it under Company Settings > Configuration > Feature Controls.

Why wasn't a To-Do included in the meeting recap email? The most common cause is that the To-Do was created while the person wasn't actively joined to the meeting session. To-Dos created outside an active meeting (even by a team member) appear on the To-Dos list but are excluded from the recap. To ensure To-Dos appear in the recap, all team members who need to create To-Dos should join the meeting before it begins. Also, confirm the To-Do wasn't created as a Private To-Do, as those are never included in recap emails.

What's the difference between archiving and deleting a To-Do? Archiving moves the To-Do out of your active list into the archive, where it can be reviewed and restored at any time by clicking the Archive toggle. Permanently deleting it removes it from your workspace, with no way to recover it. For any To-Do you might want to reference later, archive it rather than delete it. 

Learn more

What Is a Level 10 Meeting®? The EOS® Weekly Meeting Explained: A practitioner's walkthrough of the full Level 10 Meeting agenda, including how the To-Do List Review section works, the 90% completion rule, and what to do when To-Dos don't get done.

Gain Traction with IDS® from EOS®: Explains the direct relationship between solving Issues and the To-Dos they produce, and how that cycle drives consistent follow-through across the organization.

How the Level 10 Meeting® Helps My Team Adjust and Advance: A first-person account of how To-Dos function inside a real weekly Level 10 Meeting rhythm, including how they create visible accountability and keep decisions from stalling.