Our short-term Issues List is clogged with forty items, and we never get to the bottom of it, which leaves our team feeling defeated. How do we ruthlessly filter what belongs on the weekly Level 10 Meeting™ list versus our long-term list?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A clogged short-term Issues List with dozens of items is a recipe for team fatigue. When you look at a massive list of forty open issues every single week, the team feels defeated before you even start IDS. The reality is that most of those items do not belong on your weekly Level 10 Meeting agenda.

You must use Gino Wickman's six compartments framework to bring order to your lists. Your weekly short-term list should only contain issues that must be solved this week or this quarter to keep your Rocks and scorecard metrics on track. Anything else is a distraction.

During your weekly meeting, if an issue is brought up that does not require immediate, weekly resolution, the facilitator must ruthlessly move it to the long-term Issues List on your V/TO. This is your parking lot for ideas, opportunities, and problems that can wait until your next quarterly planning session.

Keep your short-term list lean, ideally under fifteen items. If the list starts creeping up, go through a quick purge at the start of IDS. Ask the team: Is this a critical operational issue for this week, or can it wait for the quarterly? Move the non-essential items to the V/TO list immediately. This keeps your weekly focus sharp and ensures you are only solving high-priority problems.