Ninety is software for running a company on EOS and similar methods, with a tool for each part of the method. Headwater has its own method. In Headwater, the vision is joined to each quarter’s climbs by pillars and initiatives, and every team checks in on Monday and meets for an hour each week.
Most of what a team does in Ninety has a place in Headwater. The V/TO becomes the vision and pillars, Rocks become climbs, the L10 Meeting becomes the huddle, and the Accountability Chart becomes the ownership chart. Headwater has 1:1s too.
Headwater has no scorecard, knowledge portal, or to-do list. Work a team agrees in a huddle becomes a milestone on a climb or a new issue, so it is part of the plan and counts towards its progress.
Initiatives, weekly check-ins, the rulebook, and Headwater in Claude have no row on Ninety’s side. Choose any row to see it in Headwater.
- Vision and pillars
The vision is one sentence about where the company will be by a set year. It comes with targets and a list of things the company has decided not to do. Under the vision are three to five pillars. A pillar is an area of work the company has chosen to reach its vision.
By 2029, Halden is the coffee people ask for by name across the North.37%Win wholesale34%Grow subscriptions35%Brilliant cafés52%Roast at scale28%
The vision is one sentence about where the company will be by a set year. It comes with targets and a list of things the company has decided not to do. Under the vision are three to five pillars. A pillar is an area of work the company has chosen to reach its vision.
In Ninety, the V/TO sets out a ten-year target, a three-year picture, and a one-year plan, and the leadership team sets Rocks each quarter.
Headwater adds a level between the plan for the year and the quarter. An initiative is a project for one of the pillars, such as Open café five in York. It runs from July to March, with a climb for each quarter’s part of the work: signing the lease, fitting out the café, and opening it.
Progress is the share of milestones ticked, from each climb up to the whole plan. Tick one of Maya’s milestones on Sign 12 new cafés in Leeds to see each level change.
- Tasting at Kiln Café
- Call Northern Bloc
- Tasting at Bean There
- Send the trade pack to Headingley cafés
- Sign the last three cafés
- 7 milestones done earlier in the quarter
Meetings in Ninety follow the Level 10 Meeting, the weekly meeting in EOS. It lasts 90 minutes and has seven parts, and IDS, the part for solving issues, takes 60 of them.
A huddle in Headwater lasts an hour and has five steps. Everything in it comes from work already done in Headwater. The wins are the milestones ticked and issues solved since the last huddle, and each climb’s status comes from its owner’s Monday check-in.
There is no scorecard or to-do list to go through, and 40 of the 60 minutes are for solving issues.
- Segue 5
- Scorecard 5
- Rock review 5
- Headlines 5
- To-do list 5
- IDS 60
- Conclude 5
- Wins 5
- Initiatives 5
- Climbs 5
- Issues 40
- Wrap up 5
Ninety supports several business operating systems, including EOS. Many companies learn EOS from a licensed implementer before they start.
Headwater has its own method, in six steps. Each step has a guide on this site with examples and exercises, and Headwater is set up to follow it, so a team can start on its own.
Yes. Start with the vision and pillars, add the initiatives under them, then set this quarter’s climbs with their milestones. It can be done in one planning session, and everything can be changed later.
Details about Ninety are from ninety.io in September 2026. Ninety, EOS, V/TO, Rocks, Level 10 Meeting, L10, and IDS are trademarks of their owners. Headwater is not affiliated with Ninety or EOS Worldwide.
Book a demo and we’ll show you how Headwater would run your week, from the vision down to Monday morning.