We have several issues on our Level 10 Meeting Short-Term Issues List that have been sitting there for over six weeks because they never get prioritized for IDS. How do we clean up these stale issues?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A bloated Short-Term Issues List is a clear sign of poor prioritization and avoidance. If you have issues sitting on your Level 10 Meeting agenda for more than six weeks, they are cluttering your workspace and draining your team's focus. These stale issues must be purged. To clean up your list, the facilitator must call out any issue that has survived multiple weeks without being selected for IDS. For each stale issue, ask the owner a simple question: is this issue truly a priority for us to solve this quarter? If the answer is no, immediately move it to the Long-Term Issues List on your V/TO. This keeps your weekly focus sharp and prevents your short-term list from becoming a dumping ground for non-urgent ideas. If the issue is still critical but the team has been avoiding it because it is difficult or uncomfortable, you must force it to the top of the IDS list today. Do not allow your team to choose easy, comfortable problems over hard, systemic ones. By enforcing strict discipline on the age of your issues, you maintain a high-velocity pulse and ensure your leadership team is always working on what matters most.