During the five-minute To-Do list review, our team members cannot resist the urge to explain why a to-do is done or give a detailed status report on why it is not, which routinely stretches this brief section to fifteen minutes. How do we train the team to stick to a binary done or not done response without sounding dismissive?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The five-minute To-Do list review is designed to be a rapid, binary check of completion, not a status meeting. When team members spend minutes explaining the backstory of their completed tasks or giving excuses for their incomplete ones, they are introducing agenda drift and stealing valuable time from IDS®.

To correct this, the facilitator must enforce a strict rule of two words only: done or not done. There is absolutely no middle ground, and no explanations are allowed during this portion of the agenda.

If a to-do is done, the facilitator marks it off and moves to the next item immediately. If a to-do is not done, it is simply marked as such. If the incomplete task is critical and is holding up other operations, any team member can ask to add it to the Issues List for later discussion.

By keeping the To-Do list review to a strict binary format, you train the team to value speed and execution. It also keeps your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ moving at a high pace, ensuring you preserve the maximum amount of your ninety minutes for identifying, discussing, and actually solving your most critical business problems.