EOS Software with Built-In Project Management: Closing the Strategy-Execution Gap

Running on EOS is fantastic, but the best way to close the strategy-execution gap is to run on EOS and manage your projects (aka your execution) in one place.

Picture this: It’s quarterly planning day. Your leadership team spends hours crafting brilliant Rocks — the 3-7 strategic priorities that will drive your business forward over the next 90 days. Everyone leaves energized and aligned.

Fast forward eight weeks. You’re sitting in your Level 10 meeting asking, “How’s the CRM migration Rock looking?” Your team lead fumbles with their laptop, “Let me pull up Monday.com… give me a second…” Five minutes of awkward silence later, they’re still tabbing between tools trying to piece together an answer.

Sound familiar?

This is the strategy-execution gap, and according to Harvard Business Review, it kills 67-90% of strategies. The problem isn’t your strategy. The problem is your Rocks live in one tool while your daily work lives in another, and that disconnect is sabotaging your entire EOS implementation.

We built Strety to solve this exact problem — and we use it to build Strety. Here’s why built-in project management changes everything for companies running on EOS.

The Strategy-Execution Gap Killing Your EOS Implementation

Why 67% of Strategies Fail to Execute

Most strategic plans don’t fail because they’re bad strategies. They fail in the messy middle between quarterly planning sessions and daily execution.

Research from Kaplan and Norton shows that up to 90% of strategies are never executed successfully. The Economist found that 61% of executives acknowledge their firms often struggle to bridge the gap between strategy formulation and its day-to-day implementation.

For companies running on EOS, this manifests in a specific way: Your quarterly Rocks (strategic priorities) get documented in your EOS software. Your daily project work happens in Monday.com, Asana, ClickUp, or scattered across email and chat. The connection between strategy and execution exists only in people’s heads — until it doesn’t.

The Hidden Cost of Disconnected Tools

When your EOS software and project management tools live in different worlds, several expensive problems compound:

Context switching kills productivity. Your team tabs between EOS software for L10 meetings and project management tools for daily work, losing minutes with every switch. McKinsey research shows that 45% of executives report their strategic planning processes failed to track the execution of strategic initiatives.

Double data entry creates information loss. Updates in your project management tool don’t automatically reflect in Rock check-ins. Information gets lost, misinterpreted, or simply forgotten in the transfer.

Shane Naugher from DaZZee IT experienced this firsthand with their previous EOS platform: “From a communication perspective, when we were leveraging Ninety.io, we found that the data lived there exclusively. So we would have our Level 10 meetings each week, go through the agendas, put in all the notes and the to do items and update the rocks. When we would go back the next week for another Level 10, no one had looked at or updated any of that information.”

Leadership lacks real-time visibility. Your Rocks show “on track” but the underlying projects are struggling. You don’t discover problems until quarterly reviews — when it’s too late to course-correct.

What Happens When Rocks and Projects Live in Different Worlds

Here’s how the disconnect plays out in real L10 meetings:

Quarterly Rock: “Migrate to new CRM system by Q3”
Project reality: 47 tasks tracked in Monday.com, 23 overdue, 3 blockers nobody’s discussing
L10 discussion: “How’s the CRM Rock?” “Uh… let me check Monday…” [five minutes of silence] “Yeah, we’re on track.”

Jill AlJundi from Pendello Solutions describes exactly this problem: “The biggest problem was being able to get information to and from other meetings. We were dependent on a team member remembering when something needed to go to the other meeting. Movement of issues among meetings was a huge problem.”

Your strategic priorities deserve better than crossed fingers and manual memory.

Why Built-In Project Management Changes Everything

What “Built-In” Actually Means (vs. Integrations)

Built-in project management means native functionality using the same database as your EOS tools. Not a separate application connected through APIs. Not a third-party integration with sync delays. The same platform, same data model, same user experience.

The difference between “works with” and “works within” is everything.

The Rock-to-Project Connection

Here’s where built-in project management transforms how EOS companies execute strategy:

Direct linking. In Strety, you can link any Rock directly to a Project. Not through integration workarounds. Not manually. Direct connection in the same platform.

Automatic updates. When your Rock needs more than simple milestones, link it to a Project. The Project’s check-ins automatically power your Rock status updates. Issues from the Project surface in L10 meetings. Milestones appear on leadership dashboards.

Shane Naugher from DaZZee IT explains the impact: “Our operational Rocks are significantly better than they were before. Strety makes it so much easier to add milestones, details, and descriptions — it’s just a more robust system overall. I’ve heard multiple times that people love that they can link everything — they can link Rocks to annual goals, Rocks to To Dos, etc. With Strety, there’s a lot less ambiguity, so there’s more alignment and clarity.”

Example: Your Q2 Marketing Rock “Launch new website” links to your Website Redesign Project. The Project tracks 34 tasks across design, development, content, and QA. Every week in your L10 meeting, you see project status without leaving the agenda. Issues from the development team automatically appear in your Issues list. When the Project completes, your Rock completes. No manual updates required.

One Source of Truth for Strategy and Execution

Consolidated data creates compound benefits:

Leadership dashboards show both strategy and execution. See your quarterly Rocks alongside the Projects powering them. Identify struggling initiatives before they become quarterly failures.

Scorecard metrics fed by project completion. Project milestones automatically update relevant scorecards. No more manual data entry.

Issues surface automatically. Problems identified in Projects flow directly into L10 meeting Issues lists. Nothing falls through cracks.

Jill AlJundi from Pendello Solutions saw this transformation: “Strety has been a big part of our big ongoing project, where we’re migrating from one PSA (Professional Services Automation) tool to another. We’re putting scorecard metrics and To Dos aligned with this migration project in Strety to make it easier for leadership to keep track of progress. We’re redoing 15 years of process in seven weeks. So it’s a tight timeline, a massive amount of pressure, and you have to touch every integration that goes with it. Strety being easy to use helps to ensure we’re progressing on the wide variety of issues and priorities associated with the transition.”

How EOS Software with Built-In Project Management Works

Project Spaces: The Foundation

Project Spaces in Strety are built using the same tools as team spaces: dedicated communication threads, issue tracking, comprehensive check-ins, and document storage. This consistency matters — your team already knows how to use these tools from their EOS work.

When to use Projects vs. just Rock milestones:

• Simple Rocks with clear, sequential steps: Use Rock milestones
• Complex Rocks requiring team collaboration: Link to a Project
• Ongoing work needing structure: Create a standalone Project
• Cross-functional initiatives: Definitely use Projects

A customer told us: “We don’t need to go and get another project management software. We can do that all through Strety. We don’t have to spend additional money for yet another software subscription. We can use Strety for both our EOS tools and running our Level 10s and tracking to-dos and making sure our issues lists are populated, and we can run some basic project management.”

Linking Rocks to Projects for Strategic Initiatives

The Rock-to-Project connection creates strategic alignment automatically:

Step 1: Create your quarterly Rock during planning (“Launch Q2 product features”)
Step 2: Create a linked Project with the detailed work breakdown
Step 3: Add milestones, assign owners, track progress in the Project
Step 4: Rock check-ins pull from Project status automatically

Multiple Projects can support one Rock. Your “Expand to new market” Rock might link to separate Projects for market research, regulatory compliance, and sales team setup.

One Project can support multiple departmental Rocks. Your website redesign Project might power the Marketing Rock (“Increase lead generation”), Sales Rock (“Improve conversion rates”), and Operations Rock (“Reduce support tickets”).

The connection works both ways, keeping strategy and execution synchronized.

Using Projects for Ongoing Core Processes

Not every Project needs to be tied to a quarterly Rock. Some of your best work is ongoing, and EOS Core Processes often need project management structure.

Example: Sales Core Process as a Project

Your sales process might be documented, but is it being followed consistently? Creating a Project for your Sales Core Process gives you:

• Communication threads for process questions and clarifications
• Issue tracking when the process breaks down or needs adjustment
• Regular check-ins for process metrics (conversion rates, deal velocity)
• Playbook documentation living within the Project itself

How ongoing Projects differ from Rock-linked Projects:

• Rock-linked Projects have defined completion dates (end of quarter)
• Ongoing process Projects continue indefinitely with regular check-ins
• Rock-linked Projects typically involve change or new initiatives
• Process Projects focus on consistency and continuous improvement

Project Updates in L10 Meetings

Here’s where built-in project management delivers daily value:

Add the Project Tool to your L10 agenda. Strety lets you customize L10 agendas with a dedicated Project section. Select which Projects to discuss, see status at a glance, and dive into details without switching tools.

Project Issues surface automatically. When something’s blocking a Project, it can create an Issue that automatically appears in your L10 Issues list. No more “forgetting” to mention problems.

Leadership visibility without micromanagement. Executives see project health in L10s without pestering project managers. Project managers update once in Strety, visible everywhere it matters.

Shane Naugher from DaZZee IT describes the transformation: “The ability to create that To Do in Strety and have integrations to put that in as a ticket inside the PSA eliminates this option of ‘Hey, oh, we forgot about doing that.’ It’s also completely transformed the way my employees interact with EOS. When I first started with implementation, it was like, ‘Hey, everybody, I want you to use this framework.’ It was just a directive, really. Since we’ve been running EOS® on Strety, the team gets tangible results out of EOS®.”

From Annual Goals to Daily Tasks

Built-in project management maintains the entire EOS cascade automatically:

Company Vision → 3-Year Picture → 1-Year Plan → Quarterly Rocks → Projects → To-Dos

Every level connects to the next. When someone creates a To-Do from a Project task, it links back to the Rock, which links to the annual goal, which ties to the vision. Your team sees exactly how their daily work advances strategic priorities.

Example flow with real numbers:

• Vision: Become the leading provider in our region
• 1-Year Goal: Grow revenue to $10M
• Q2 Rock: Launch enterprise sales motion (target: 5 enterprise deals)
• Project: Enterprise Sales Playbook (23 tasks, 4 team members)
• This week’s To-Do: Complete competitive battle cards

When the To-Do completes, the Project advances. When the Project completes, the Rock completes. When Rocks complete, the 1-Year Goal progresses. Everything connects.

This prevents the “busy work trap” where teams feel productive but aren’t actually advancing strategy. According to Gartner, 70% of chief strategists express little confidence in their ability to close the strategy execution gap. Built-in project management closes that gap by making the connection automatic, not aspirational.

Real Results: How We Use Strety to Build Strety

Why We Eat Our Own Dog Food

We built project management into Strety because we needed it ourselves.

Before we built Projects in Strety, everyone on our team used their own method and tool to manage their projects. Some used Monday.com. Others used Asana. A few stubborn operators stuck with spreadsheets. It was way more complicated than it needed to be and reduced visibility and transparency across the team.

Sound familiar? That’s the reality for most EOS companies.

So we made a decision: We’d build project management we’d actually use ourselves. Not just something that checks feature boxes. Not project management designed by consultants who’ve never operated a business. Project management built by operators, for operators, tested on real strategic work.

We’ve been using Strety to build Strety for almost a year now, and it’s working beautifully. That’s how confident we are in our internal project management capabilities.

Our Customer Success Team’s Migration from Monday.com

The real test came when our customer success team decided to migrate their projects from Monday.com to Strety.

These weren’t simple projects. Customer onboarding, implementation support, ongoing success initiatives — the kind of work that requires detailed task management, clear ownership, and regular status updates. The kind of work that project management tools are supposedly built for.

What we learned:

• Built-in project management can handle complex workflows
• Integration with L10 meetings eliminated status update meetings
• Issues from customer projects surfaced directly in leadership meetings
• Time saved on context switching added up fast
• Team adoption was immediate because they already knew Strety

The migration wasn’t about proving we could replace Monday.com. It was about proving that for EOS-focused companies, built-in project management connected to your strategic planning actually works better than a dedicated PM tool disconnected from your operating system.

Quarterly Rocks Powered by Projects

Here’s an example of a Rock that could be powered by a Project:

Q4 Rock: “Launch Projects feature to beta customers”
Linked Project: Projects Feature Development
Team members: 4 (Engineering, Product, Customer Success, Marketing)
Tasks: 47 spanning design, development, documentation, beta recruitment
Milestones: Design approval, backend complete, UI complete, beta launch

In a weekly L10 meeting, you could see see Project status without switching tools. When engineering identifies a blocker, it creates an Issue that surfaces in the L10. When a milestone completes, the Rock status updates automatically. When beta customers give feedback, it goes into the Project communication thread.

No manual updates. No tool switching. No wondering if the Rock status reflects reality.

Shane Naugher from DaZZee IT saw similar results with complex technical projects: “With Strety, it got us back to a point where we were putting the framework into action and communicating around it.”

Ongoing Process Management

We also use Projects for ongoing work that isn’t tied to quarterly Rocks.

Example: Our customer onboarding process. This isn’t a quarterly Rock — it’s something we do continuously. But it needs structure:

• Communication threads for onboarding questions
• Issue tracking when onboardings hit problems
• Check-ins for onboarding metrics (time to value, customer satisfaction)
• Playbook documentation for the process itself

Projects give ongoing work the same structure and visibility as strategic initiatives, without requiring artificial quarterly completion dates.

What Our Experience Proves

Using Strety to build Strety proves several things:

1. Built-in project management can replace dedicated PM tools for many companies focused on EOS execution
2. Strategic projects benefit most from tight integration with EOS planning
3. Ongoing processes gain structure without added complexity
4. Consolidated data creates compound value — the more you use the platform, the more valuable the connections become

We’re not just building features we think operators need. We’re building features we need, testing them on ourselves, and refining based on real operational experience.

And our customers are doing the same. They’re successfully consolidating from 5-7 tools down to one platform that handles both EOS and project execution.

The Built-In vs. Integration Decision Framework

When Built-In Project Management Is the Right Choice

Built-in project management makes sense when:

Your Rocks are genuinely strategic. If your quarterly priorities are truly strategic initiatives (not just big tasks), they deserve project management capabilities that connect directly to your EOS structure.

You want leadership visibility in L10 meetings. If executives need to see project status without switching tools, built-in project management delivers that visibility naturally.

You’re tired of paying for 5+ separate tools. Modern businesses juggle 15-20+ tools on average, and subscription fatigue is real. Consolidation saves money and reduces complexity.

Your team resists switching between platforms. Georg Dauterman from Valiant Technology explained the impact:

“Every time we can avoid having to manually enter something, we’re getting back seconds and minutes. MSPs, like most businesses, especially service businesses, are games of inches. You’re not hitting home runs every day. But the best businesses really focus on the little things, too, like 10 minutes back here and 7 minutes back there. When the small daily wins are compounded over the year, you’re making some massive changes in the business.”

You value data accuracy over feature complexity. Built-in project management may have fewer features than enterprise PM tools, but the data is always accurate because there’s no sync delay, no integration complexity, no third-party dependencies.

When You Might Need Dedicated PM Software

Dedicated project management tools still make sense for:

Highly complex, multi-phase programs spanning years with hundreds of interdependent tasks (think: construction projects, manufacturing programs, large-scale system implementations).

Advanced resource management across hundreds of projects requiring sophisticated capacity planning, resource leveling, and utilization tracking.

Industry-specific requirements like construction scheduling (Gantt charts, critical path method), manufacturing (MRP integration), or agency work (billable hours tracking).

Large project teams with 50+ people requiring specialized workflows, complex permission structures, or advanced collaboration features.

If you’re building skyscrapers or managing enterprise software implementations with 200-person teams, you probably need enterprise project management. If you’re running a business with 10-250 employees executing 3-7 strategic priorities per quarter, built-in project management is probably ideal.

The Hybrid Approach: Built-In + Integrations

We recognize that changing behavior is harder than changing tools. So instead of forcing teams to abandon their preferred workflows or project management tools they love, we built integrations with high-frequency, daily-use applications through bi-directional sync.

Use built-in project management for:

• Strategic Rocks and quarterly priorities
• Cross-functional initiatives requiring leadership visibility
• Ongoing EOS Core Processes needing structure
• Projects where EOS alignment matters most

Integrate with Monday.com, Asana, ClickUp, ToDoist, and your PSA for:

• Department-specific workflows with specialized needs
• Technical teams using advanced PM features
• Creative teams with unique collaboration requirements
• External partners who need access to project details

Teams maintain context while reducing tool switching, and EOS commitments flow naturally into existing workflows. Shane Naugher from DaZZee IT summarized this philosophy: “Since we’ve been running EOS® on Strety, the team gets tangible results out of EOS®.”

Best of both worlds.

Getting Started with Built-In Project Management

Audit Your Current Rock-to-Execution Process

Before implementing any solution, understand your current pain points:

Questions to ask your team:

• Where do project updates get lost between tools?
• How much time do you spend switching between EOS software and PM tools?
• Can leadership see project status during L10 meetings?
• How often do Rock updates not reflect actual project reality?
• What percentage of Issues come from projects vs. other sources?

Calculate your tool-switching tax:

• Number of times per day team switches between EOS and PM tools
• Average time lost per switch (research suggests 23 minutes)
• Multiply by team size and days per year
• The number will shock you

Start with One High-Priority Rock

Don’t try to change everything at once. Pick one struggling Rock and prove the concept:

Choose a Rock that’s currently struggling. Not your best-performing Rock — pick one where you suspect execution is lagging strategy.

Create a linked Project in Strety. Break down the Rock into actual project work with tasks, owners, and milestones.

Run one L10 with the Project Tool. Add the Project to your L10 agenda and see how the conversation changes when everyone has real-time visibility.

Measure the difference. Compare Rock completion rates, Issue identification speed, and team confidence in status updates.

Jill AlJundi from Pendello Solutions saw immediate results with this approach during their PSA migration project, calling Strety essential for “progressing on the wide variety of issues and priorities associated with the transition.”

Try It with an Ongoing Core Process

Ongoing processes often need structure but don’t fit the quarterly Rock model:

Identify a Core Process that needs better structure. Sales process, customer onboarding, product development, content creation — pick something continuous.

Create a Project for documentation and accountability. Use communication threads for process questions, issue tracking for breakdowns, check-ins for metrics.

Use for process improvement initiatives. When you identify ways to improve the process, create Issues or To-Dos within the Project.

Track metrics through check-ins. Regular check-ins keep process performance visible without separate reporting.

Expand to Full Implementation

Once you’ve proven the concept:

Roll out to all strategic Rocks. Every quarterly Rock that needs project structure gets a linked Project.

Add ongoing process Projects. Document and structure your Core Processes using Projects.

Train team on Rock-Project linking. Make sure everyone understands how to create, link, and update Projects.

Establish new L10 rhythms. Add the Project Tool to relevant L10 agendas and make project updates a standard part of your weekly cadence.

Monitor improvements in execution rates. Track Rock completion rates, Issue resolution speed, and team confidence. The data should show clear improvement.

FAQ: EOS Software with Built-In Project Management

Can EOS software really replace dedicated project management tools?

For strategic projects tied to quarterly Rocks and ongoing core processes, yes absolutely. Built-in project management excels at connecting strategy to execution for the 3-7 priorities that matter most each quarter. We use Strety to build Strety, and our customer success team successfully migrated from Monday.com. For specialized workflows requiring advanced features, integrations provide the best of both worlds.

What’s the difference between built-in project management and PM integrations?

Built-in means native functionality using the same database as your EOS tools — no sync delays, no third-party dependencies, automatic connections between Rocks and projects. Integrations connect separate tools through APIs, which can work but introduces complexity and potential sync issues. Ninety.io, for example, has announced “project management integrations coming Summer 2025,” meaning they’re building connections to other tools rather than native PM functionality.

How do Projects connect to Rocks in Strety?

You can link any Strety Rock directly to a Strety Project, allowing the Project to power your Rock check-ins automatically. Project updates feed into L10 meetings, and Issues from projects surface in your EOS workflow without switching tools. This creates a direct line from quarterly strategy to daily execution.

Can I use Projects for ongoing processes, not just quarterly Rocks?

Absolutely. Projects work beautifully for ongoing EOS Core Processes that need structure, documentation, and continuous improvement. Use Project Spaces for communication threads, issue tracking, and regular check-ins on process performance — all within the same platform as your EOS tools.

Does built-in project management work for remote teams?

Yes. Since everything lives in one platform, remote teams maintain visibility without tool-switching. Project updates, Rock status, and L10 discussions all happen in the same space, making distributed collaboration seamless. Our own remote team uses this daily.

Can I still use my existing project management tool?

Yes. Strety offers integrations with Monday.com, Asana, ClickUp, Microsoft Planner, and others. Many customers use built-in project management for strategic Rocks and maintain specialized PM tools for operational work, with bi-directional sync keeping everything connected.

Stop Managing Software. Start Executing Strategy.

The strategy-execution gap kills 67% of business strategies. Not because the strategies are bad. Because the connection between quarterly planning and daily execution is fragile, manual, and dependent on people remembering to update multiple systems.

Built-in project management eliminates that gap. Your Rocks connect directly to the Projects powering them. Leadership sees real-time status in L10 meetings. Issues surface automatically. Data stays synchronized because it’s all in one platform.

We built this capability because we needed it ourselves. We use Strety to build Strety, and our customer success team successfully migrated from Monday.com to prove the concept works for real operational work.

Whether you’re managing strategic Rocks tied to quarterly goals or ongoing Core Processes that need structure, consolidation wins. Kim Sullivan from WorkSmart said it best after years of using spreadsheets and disconnected tools:

“We started with Excel. And it was fine. There were things that required workarounds — needing to clean it up, maintaining it, teaching someone how to manage it. It was successful to varying degrees. Both Excel and Planner have their pros and cons as issue trackers, but neither one was ideal.”

Your EOS implementation deserves better than disconnected tools, manual updates, workarounds, and crossed fingers. It deserves software that connects strategy to execution automatically.

See how EOS software with built-in project management transforms your quarterly Rocks into daily execution. Try Strety free for 30 days — no credit card required.

Or book a demo to see exactly how Rock-to-Project linking works for your business.