Associated Rocks

Associated Rocks let you link related Rocks together so a larger “parent” Rock can track the progress of smaller “child” Rock. This is useful when your company runs a high-level Company Rock made up of several departmental Rocks or when you want one place to view related work and combined progress.

This article explains what associated Rocks are, how to open the Related Rocks panel, how to add or remove a parent or child, and how to read the indentation that shows the relationship hierarchy.

What are Associated Rocks?

• Associated Rocks is a simple one-to-many relationship: a Rock can have one parent and a parent can have many child Rocks.
• A parent Rock’s aggregate progress represents the combined completion of work in the parent Rock and its direct child Rocks (computed from the Action Items in those Rocks).
• The Related Rocks panel displays the parent (if any) and a list of children. Indentation in the list shows how Rocks are nested (parent → child → grandchild, etc.).

Important notes

• Only users with permission to edit the Rock can add or remove associations.
• Rocks must belong to the same company/tenant to be linked.
• To prevent mistakes, the system prevents cycles (you cannot make a Rock a parent of one of its own ancestors).

How to open the Related Rocks panel

1. Open the Rock Details page for the Rock you want to inspect.
2. Click the Related Rocks button near the top of the page (it toggles a panel without reloading the page).
3. The panel will expand and show the Rock’s parent (if set) and a list of children.

How to add a parent Rock to the current Rock

Use this when you want the current Rock to be a child of an existing higher-level Rock.

1. Open the Rock Details page for the child Rock.
2. Click Related Rocks to open the panel.
3. If the Rock already has a parent, the parent will be shown at the top of the panel. If there is no parent, the parent area will read “—”.
4. Use the parent control to set a parent:
   • Start typing the name or ID of the Rock you want to assign as the parent (the field uses search/autocomplete).
   • Select the desired Rock from the search results.
   • Confirm the selection (Add / Save).
5. The system will validate the selection (permission and tenant checks, and cycle prevention). If validation succeeds the child’s parent is set and the parent appears in the panel.

To remove a parent

• Click Remove Parent (or use the parent remove action). The current Rock will no longer have a parent after confirmation.

How to add a child Rock to the current Rock

Use this when you want the current Rock to act as the parent for an existing Rock.

1. Open the Rock Details page for the Rock you want to become the parent.
2. Click Related Rocks to open the panel.
3. In the Children area, use the Rock search/autocomplete to find the Rock you want to add as a child.
4. Select the child Rock from the search results and click Add Child (or the equivalent action).
5. The system will set the selected Rock’s parent to the current parent’s id (after permission/tenant/cycle checks). The new child appears in the list.

To remove a child

• Click the Remove button next to the child in the list and confirm. The child will be unlinked from the parent.

How indentations show hierarchy

• The Related Rocks list uses indentation to show parent → child relationships:
  • The parent Rock is shown at the top (not indented).
  • Child Rocks are listed under the parent and are indented one level.
  • If a child Rock itself has child Rocks (grandchildren), each level is indented further to reflect the nested relationship.
• Indentation visually communicates ownership and nesting: more indentation = deeper level in the Rock hierarchy.

What the indentation means for progress

• The parent Rock displays aggregate progress that reflects the work in the parent Rock and its direct children (the panel also shows progress for each listed child).
• If your organization later enables deeper aggregation, the UI will continue to show nesting via indentation so you can see the full structure at a glance.

Troubleshooting & tips

• Can’t add or remove relations? Check your permissions: you must have update/edit rights on the Rock to modify associations. Also confirm both Rocks are in the same company/tenant.
• Trying to add a Rock that causes a cycle? The system will reject the operation with an error because cycles are not allowed. Re-evaluate the intended structure and choose a different parent or child.
• Performance: If a parent has many children and Action Items, computing aggregate progress may take more time. The panel loads progressively and shows the latest calculated progress; contact your admin if you notice slow performance.
• SubAction Items: If your team uses subAction Items, those are handled in a separate workflow. The parent-Rock aggregate currently considers Action Items in Rocks (and will be updated later if subAction Items need to be included).