During IDS®, we often hit a wall because we lack a critical piece of data or need feedback from an external partner to solve the issue. Do we keep this issue active on our list, or how do we handle it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

One of the biggest time-wasters in a Level 10 Meeting™ is trying to solve an issue when you do not have the necessary facts. If your team starts speculating, guessing, or debating hypothetical scenarios, the facilitator must step in and halt the discussion immediately.

The rule for IDS® is simple: if you lack the information required to solve the issue permanently, you must stop discussing it. To handle this efficiently, you assign a To-Do to a specific seat owner to gather the missing data, conduct the research, or consult the external partner before the next weekly meeting.

Once the To-Do is assigned, the issue is tabled. You can either leave it on the Issues List with a note that it is waiting for data, or move it to your long-term Issues List on the V/TO® if the research will take several weeks.

Do not allow the issue to remain an active topic of debate in the current meeting. This discipline keeps your ninety minutes highly efficient. It ensures that when you finally solve the problem, you are doing so based on real, accurate data rather than guesswork, preventing the issue from resurfacing in the future.