Video Guide:
Everything you need to know to create, track, and manage Rocks with Strety
How to Create a Rock
Create a new Rock from Quick Create or your team's Rock page
Give your Rock a Name & Description, then assign its primary Team Space, assign an Owner, define the Due Date/Timeline and link to any Annual Goals (if applicable). Lastly, determine whether it should be a Company Rock and its Progress Type
Once created, click into the Rock to share with other Team Spaces - this will allow the Rock to be tracked/viewed in additional team spaces & meetings.
Note: We also default the Rock to be shared with the owner's 1x1 Space
Rock Definitions & Permissions
There are toggles to denote whether you want to make a Rock Personal or Company:
Team Rocks: Rocks that are assigned & shared only within Team Spaces. Team Rocks can be viewed by any member of the team space(s) the Rock is shared with
Company Rocks: Rocks that can be viewed by anyone in the organization from the Company Rocks section (top navbar). These are often your organization's most public, high priority goals. Often these are owned by the leadership team but any Rock can be made a Company Rock via the toggle within the Rock editor
Personal Rocks: Rocks shared with only your person space. Personal Rocks can only be viewed by their owner and their manager(s). Often times these are tracked & discussed as part of 1x1 meetings.
There are also (4) Progress Types, these are determined by a combination of what you're tracking and how you check-in
Status Only: This type gives owners the check-in options of On Track or Off Track, providing them to self-assess how they are tracking towards the overall goal
Status with Target: This type allows owners to set a starting value, an ending value, and type (number, currency, or percentage), and requires them to add a numerical component along with their On Track/Off Track assessment. Use these for tracking quantifiable goals (i.e $30,000 Net New MRR this Quarter or Create 20 SOPs)
Integration: This type allows owners to link the Rock to a Microsoft Planner or a Connectwise Project. We'll automate the check-in of these Rocks based on the completion percentage of the to dos/tasks in the linked project
From Project: This type is linked directly to a Strety Project and will pull the most recent project status update as the Rock's update
Company vs Team vs Personal Rocks
For a detailed breakdown on the differences between and best practices around Company, Team, and Personal rocks, check out this help doc
Add an Existing Rock (from another Team)
Rocks can sometimes impact multiple teams in your org. If there is a Rock that already exists in another team space you can add it using the Add Rock --> Existing option
Select the Team the Rock currently is on then select the Rock name from the Item dropdown.
Note: You will only be able to add Rocks that you have access to via your role/team membership permissions
Once added, the Rock and all of it's check-in history will be viewable by everyone in the team space is was added to. We also make it clear which primary team space the Rock is a part of
Adding an existing Rock from another Team does not grant that Rock Owner permission to see any data on the new Team unless they are already a member of that team or an Admin
How to Check-in Rocks
Check-ins are your way of updating the recent progress made for your Rocks. Check-ins should be done weekly and ahead of your L10 or 1x1 so everyone is informed of its current status
You can check-in a Rock from two places:
The Rock tab from any team space
The Rock tab from your Person Space (recommended)
Your Person Space is where all Rocks assigned in any team space aggregate, making it easy to check-in Rocks from a single location in advance of all your weekly team meeting
To check-in a Rock click the Status field and update your Status:
On Track - Current pace trending towards hitting target
At Risk - Known factors impacting progress - create Issues to discuss & unblock
Off Track - Current pace trending towards missing target
Completed - When you've fully completed the target
Missed - If you failed to accomplish your target by due date
Value - For Status & Progress Rocks only, your progress against End Value
Backlog - For Rocks or potential future Rocks you aren't ready to actively track
Add Check-in Context: Check-in context is extremely important, especially if it appears you may be off track at surface level. Adding context can help get out ahead of any questions and reduce time spent getting everyone to to speed during meetings
To see the historical record of all previous check-ins, click into the Rock itself:
How to Add Rock Steps to Rocks
Rock Steps allow you to break down a Rock into smaller, more actionable segments.
Effectively using steps creates an extra layer of accountability for your highest priorities and helps everyone involved quickly and transparently determine whether you're on track or off track towards hitting your target.
To add a Rock Step, click into the Rock then Add Rock Step. Give it a name, due date, and assignee. You can click inline to add a description
Rock Categories
Rock categories provide an additional way to identify, group & view your Rocks. Categories are team-specific, so each team can organize their metrics to their preference
Click Edit Categories to edit existing or add new rock categories
To edit the category of a metric, click directly into the category column
To group your metrics by category, change the Group By dropdown:
How to Archive Rocks
Once the due date arrives and you no longer want the Rock to appear in your L10s, it's time to archive it. Click on the 3-dot menu and select Archive
Archived Rocks are still accessible by clicking the Archived checkbox in any team's Rock page:
Rocks Best Practices
Rocks are typically aligned to quarterly or 90-day priorities, but they can span span any time period that reflects how much time you realistically expect it to take in order to achieve.
What happens if you miss your target
Once a Rock's time period due date arrives, assess where you are. Hopefully your target has been achieved and you can mark it as completed and send it to the archive.
In the unfortunate event that you miss your target, don't simply extend the due date until you complete it - that robs you of a learning opportunity - acknowledge the target was missed, analyze and asses why, and decide what's left to achieve your goal. Options typically include:
Create a new Rock to continue tackling next quarter
Create a series of To-Dos to accomplish whatever outstanding tasks remain
Nothing - maybe priorities have shifted and you need to focus your efforts on the newest set of org/team determined goals
Creating a Topic from a Rock
Rocks can get off track for a variety of reasons, that's normal. However, too often owners of Rocks may be reluctant to voice any problems they're running into out of concern for how it might reflect on them or their perceived performance; that's also a normal sentiment.
We subscribe to the philosophy that surfacing problems - not suppressing them - is in everyone, including the organization's best interest. You may not know the right next steps - and that's okay - so open it up for discussion and lean on your team to help you navigate a path forward.
If you find your Rock off track for too many weeks, create a topic from rock so it can be discussed more openly at the team/org level or in your next Tactical
When you create a Topic from a Rock, we'll preserve the linkage between the newly create Topic and the origin Rock so everyone has that context when it's time to discuss potential resolutions or next steps. You can even add additional context to the Topic before sending to the team:
Once created, it will appear on your team's Topic list until it is either resolved, moved to long term, or sent to another team for further collaboration
