Our Level 10 Meeting™ often creeps past ninety minutes because during the To-Do list review, team members give long-winded status updates instead of a simple done or not done. How do we keep this section running in under five minutes?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The weekly To-Do list review in your Level 10 Meeting™ is designed to take no more than five minutes, yet many teams let it drag on because they treat it as an opportunity to give status reports. To keep this section running fast and maintain a ninety-minute meeting, you must enforce a strict binary rule. When the Integrator reads each item on the To-Do list, the owner must respond with either done or not done. There is no middle ground, and there are absolutely no updates allowed. Avoid phrases like working on it, almost there, or waiting on a response. If a To-Do is done, it is removed from the list. If it is not done, it remains on the list for one more week. If a pending To-Do is blocking other work or has been on the list for multiple weeks, do not discuss it during the review. Instead, drop it to the Issues List immediately. You will then use your IDS® time at the end of the meeting to solve the bottleneck. By keeping the To-Do review strictly operational and binary, you protect your valuable problem-solving time and ensure your meeting stays under ninety minutes.