You've just logged into Strety for the first time, you're pumped! Finally - a tool that will help you organize, implement, and run EOS/Business Operating System (BOS) more effectively and with focus - and you see this screen. Now what?
Whether you are completely new to EOS/BOS or you've never used software to manage it, this guide will walk you though our recommendations on how to approach setting-up Strety the right way, the first time, so you can implement and roll-out Strety to your team in no time
Establish a Pilot or Testing Team
When implementing Strety, it's best to start with your Leadership Team or by creating a pilot or test team then scale-out after a few meeting cycles.
By default, there is a Leadership team already created in your account. You can use that team if your pilot team is made up of leadership members or you can create a new team, if you're new-ish to EOS/BOS, we recommend creating a pilot team for this purpose.
Know you can always re-assign any items you add to the pilot team to a legitimate team down the road - the pilot team simply creates a clean sandbox space between real and test team as you get familiar
If you opt for the test team route, create your test team add your test team members
Add Data
Once we have set-up our test team, it's time to populate it with information and data as we begin to build towards that first L10 meeting. From your test team's home page, click into any of the tools and create the first Rocks, Metrics, To-Dos, Headlines, and Issues
Our Recommendations:
Rocks: Add 2-3. Include an example of both a Status Only (EOS Style Rock) & Status with Target types
Rocks are typically the highest priorities for the next 90-days
Rocks should be set for the organization and at the team level
Rocks should be S.M.A.R.T: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely
Scorecards: Add 2-3. Backfill the last 1-2 weeks with a numerical check-in so there is data ready to review in your first L10
Weekly metrics should measure progress and let you know that work is being done that leads towards your desired outcomes
No need to track everything, each team typically has 5-15 metrics they should be tracking on a weekly basis
Add context to your check-ins and spend less time getting everyone up to speed in your L10
To-Dos: Add a handful. Typically these are tasks that deserve accountability but shouldn't linger open for more than 7-14 days. Majority of your To Dos will actually originate within Strety meetings
To-Dos can be created from almost anywhere in Strety - From within Rocks, Issues, Headlines, 1x1s, or any Agenda Item
Create tasks & tickets to avoid duplicative work by integrating Strety To-Dos with Microsoft Planner, Asana, Hubspot, Monday.com, Connectwise, Autotask, or Halo PSA (see section below)
Headlines: Add 1-2. Typically these are announcements that require little to know follow-up; more of a DYK type message
Issues: Add 2-3. Typically these are problems, ideas, or opportunities that need input from others in order to be resolved.
Other examples: an obstacle for someone on the team, a broken system, a missing step in a process, a customer complaint, or an employee grumbling
Short-term Issues are for things you plan to resolve this quarter
Long-term Issues are things you need to resolve, but may not be ready to tackle yet.
Once everything has been added, click back to your pilot or test team overview page to see how everything looks
With your data added, some of you may be ready to run your first L10. However, there are a few more Strety features to call-out in order to make Strety an interoperable part of your tool stack
Set Up Integrations
Strety integrates where your work happens. That means Microsoft Teams, Planner, Monday.com, Hubspot, Asana, Google Tasks, Connectwise, Autotask, and Halo. In order to truly take advantage of all Strety has to offer, we recommend integrating before you begin to run your meetings
Microsoft Teams
If your organization lives in MS Teams, we encourage you to use the Strety App in Teams - no need for another silo'd tool. If you allow your team to install MS Apps, you should be all set! If you currently restrict folks from installing apps, you will need a global admin to grant the one-time required permission
Click the link to read more about the additional Microsoft Permissions we require
Strety Integrations
For many To-Dos that originate within Strety, the work happens somewhere else. In efforts to reduce duplicative work and meet people where they actually work, we have a growing list of platforms you can create, link, and bi-directionally sync To-Dos with
The best part is when tasks or tickets are completed within those platforms, the To-Do will automatically complete back in Strety
Creating Strety To Dos, Issues, and Headlines from MS Teams Chat
Ever had something come up in a MS Teams Chat convo and wanted to follow-up in a team meeting? Strety makes it easy to bring those conversations into Strety and nest them into the appropriate team meeting.
Click on the 3-dot menu of the specific message and then Create Item in Strety. If you don't see the option, try the more actions menu
From there, determine whether you want to create, an Issue, Headline, or To Do, then select it's destination. One less thing to slip through the cracks!
Creating Strety To Dos, Issues, and Headlines from Outlook Inbox
Ready to have your mind blown? Install the Strety app in Outlook and create an Issue, To Do, or Headline from any email in your inbox!
Install the Strety app in Outlook
Pin the app in Outlook for ease of access
Then, when you need to turn an email into an Issue, To Do, or Headline click the app and determine what it is you want to create and select it's destination:
Run your first L10
With data entered and integration(s) configured, you're ready to run your first Strety L10. Navigate to the Agendas tab from your pilot or test team page and click into the active L10 agenda
Customize your L10 Agenda
Not all teams run EOS/BOS or their L10 meetings by the book. Strety gives you the option to set custom durations for each section and/or reorder sections
You can even add or remove tools, including custom agenda items to fully customize the content of each weekly meeting:
Run the L10
Once you have your L10 configured how you want it, you're ready to run your first L10! Click Start Agenda, mark who is attendance, and use the Next nav button in the top right to progress through the meeting
As you move through each section, notice the timer counting up in the left agenda pane. As the allocated time nears, the timer will turn red letting you know it's time to wrap-up that section.
At any point throughout the meeting, you're also able to create a To-Do, cascade a message to other teams, and take notes. Take advantage of the features during the meeting rather than after. You can also trigger a tangent alert if things start to deviate too far off track as good natured way to get everyone to refocus.
The Issues section is typically where teams spend the majority of their L10 time. We recommend giving everyone a couple minutes to review the issue list and vote for the issues they feel are highest priority. Everyone gets (3) votes. We show a vote counter in the top right so you know once everyone in attendance has exercised their full voting power. Once the votes are in, click the Votes column header for a quick sort and begin to tackle your issue list.
You can enter resolution notes (recommended), add To Dos to serve as next steps (also recommended), as well as merge related Issues, send Issues to other teams, cascade a message from an Issue, and convert short to long and long to short by opening any Issue directly within the L10.
We believe it's important to celebrate the wins - big and small - and resolving issues should be seen as a win. Hopefully you are able to resolve a few during your first L10.
If you want to take your celebrations up a notch, you can customize the confetti settings from your personal profile and make it rain emojis across your screen.
You can disable confetti anytime if or when meetings require a more formal tone
Conclude the L10
The conclusion page serves as both a meeting review and an opportunity for housekeeping. On it, you'll see a list of To-Dos that remain open, any cascading messages that were sent out during the L10, a rating section where everyone in attendance can provide rankings and add context, as well as option to have Strety auto-archive any resolved issues and discussed headlines (recommended).
Upon concluding the meeting, you'll see a meeting summary page. The summary is sent out via email to everyone on the team whether they were in attendance or not - making it easy for everyone to stay aligned on what was discussed that day.
We'll show you total meeting time, # of attendees/absentees, # of tangents, average ranking, an issues report, a Headline report, and an aggregated set of notes from anyone who took them throughout the meeting
When you navigate back to then pilot or test teams Agenda tab, you'll see the competed agenda in the Past Agendas section and the the current - or next - iteration of the L10 ready in the Active Agendas section
How to Setup & Run non-L10 Meetings in Strety
Use Strety for any important meeting on your calendar, whether internal or with a client, recurring or one-off. Below are just a handful of the infinite types of meetings you can run with Strety agendas
Team: Daily Huddles, Project Updates, Pipeline Review, Incident Response
Project: Kickoff, Discovery, Mid-Point, Completion
Client: Onboarding, QBR, Strategy Sessions
One-Offs: Event/Campaign Planning, Problem Solving, Idea Generation
Secondary L10s: Build a custom L10 agenda separate from the team default
To create an agenda for a non-L10, click Create Agenda from your team agenda page
Decide whether you want to build your new agenda from scratch or use a pre-existing template - for more on Agenda Templates, click here
From here, build your agenda with a mix of custom agenda items tools. To read more on Strety Custom Agendas, click here
Set up 1x1s
1x1 meetings are the frequent - typically weekly or bi-weekly - meetings between a manager and their direct report(s). Topics can vary from meeting to meeting, but having a dedicated time to discuss subjects like professional development, personal updates, and/or any problems or issues facing the direct report is a valuable use of time for both parties.
Strety automatically creates a 1x1 agenda for each manager and direct report pairing. Setup your manger/direct report relationships from Users in Adminland. Read the docs below for more info on 1x1s:
Once assigned, the manager and direct report will both see the 1x1 agenda appear on their homepage and can begin to collaboratively build out the agenda for their 1x1s
Managers also gain access to the person space of each direct report, allowing them to see a summary of the direct report's Rocks, Scorecard Metrics, To-Dos, and Reviews. This makes for great page to review ahead of any 1x1 meeting
To Build your 1x1 agenda, click the Agendas tab and click the Active Agenda
From there, build your agenda from scratch or leverage a template to include the agenda items tools you want to discuss
Once you've concluded a 1x1, you'll see a historical record of every 1x1 appear from the direct report's agenda page.
Stay Up-to-Date
SaaS tools rely on accurate and up-to-date data to provide their value, Strety is no different. It's imperative that everyone - managers direct reports - are accountable for checking-in regularly, so when it's time to meet your focus is on moving forward, not catching everyone-up.
Strety has built-in features to ensure every team member knows when to check-in and where to check-in, removing excuse-making from the equation.
Schedule Check-in Reminders
From your Notification settings you can customize the day time you receive a reminder to check-in your Rocks Scorecard Metrics. We default this to Monday morning, however, you can set them to remind you the morning of your week's most important L10
Your Person Space - Where to check in!
Though you may be a member of multiple teams across Strety, we provide one place where it all comes together - your person space
Here you see all the Rocks, Metrics, and To Dos assigned to you + a place to input issues and headlines to discuss in your 1x1 meetings. This is where we recommend starting your work week in Strety!
Click into your Rocks Metrics and provide your check-ins so that you're ready for your upcoming weekly meetings
When checking-in your Rocks Metrics, make sure to add context around your update - huge help both in the weekly meeting and when looking back at the end of a quarter or year
If you would like to connect to discuss how to set-up implement Strety, reach out to me at derek@strety.com and we'll get something on the calendar!