During our Level 10 Meeting, someone will mention an issue, and another team member will say, 'That actually reminds me of a separate problem with our billing system,' and suddenly we are thirty minutes deep into a completely new topic we never planned to discuss. How do we kill these rabbit-hole segues instantly?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic segue storm that completely derails meeting efficiency. It happens because your team has not mastered the discipline of compartmentalization. When someone introduces a tangential issue during the discussion of another problem, they are muddying the waters and preventing you from solving the original issue. The solution is simple: the facilitator must immediately use the drop it down rule. The moment a team member starts a sentence with 'that reminds me of' or 'while we are on the subject,' the facilitator must stop them. Ask a single question: 'Is this point directly required to solve the specific issue we are currently discussing, or is it a separate issue?' If it is separate, the facilitator must immediately add it as a new, distinct item at the bottom of the short-term Issues List and return to the active topic. Do not allow even thirty seconds of explanation. By enforcing this barrier, you protect the focus of your IDS® time. You ensure that you solve the priority issues completely before moving to secondary topics. This keeps your weekly execution clean and prevents the team from feeling like the ninety-minute pulse is an unproductive waste of time.