How do we stop our weekly Level 10 Meeting from creeping past 90 minutes when our team has too many urgent operational issues to cover?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A Level 10 Meeting runs long for two reasons: poor reporting discipline in the first 25 minutes, or failing to prioritize the Issues List during IDS.

The first 25 minutes are strictly for reporting, not discussion. The Segue takes five minutes. Reviewing the Scorecard takes five minutes; you read the number, say whether it is on track, and drop any off-track metric down to the Issues List with zero debate. Reviewing quarterly Rocks takes five minutes using the exact same rule: on track or off track. Customer and employee headlines take five minutes. The To-Do list takes five minutes to confirm whether last week's seven-day commitments are done or not done. If your team starts explaining why a number missed or why a Rock is delayed, cut them off and move the topic to the Issues List.

That leaves 60 full minutes for IDS. The trap teams fall into is trying to solve all twenty issues on the board. You will never solve twenty issues in an hour. Instead, spend 60 seconds ranking the top three issues: number one, number two, and number three. Tackle number one. When it is solved with a clear To-Do and owner, move to number two. If you only resolve two issues in 60 minutes, the meeting was still a success because you eradicated root problems instead of grazing across twenty superficial symptoms.

At minute 85, stop IDS immediately. Use the final five minutes to recap new To-Dos, decide on cascade messages, and rate the meeting.