IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve)
Why it matters
Most stated problems are symptoms. "The website is slow" may really mean "one form step is broken". A team that jumps to solving fixes the wrong thing, and the same complaint returns a month later.
The opposite failure is just as common. A team talks round and round without deciding, and the meeting ends with nothing changed. IDS makes each issue take one clean pass: name it, talk it through, leave with a decision.
How to apply it
- Keep a running issues list. Anyone can add to it between meetings.
- Rank the list and take the top issues first. Not every issue needs solving this week.
- When an issue is raised, ask what is actually causing it. Ask again if the first answer is still a symptom.
- Time-box the discussion. Park side topics on the list instead of following them.
- Finish every issue with a to-do that has one owner. A shared owner is nobody.
- Remove the issue from the list only when the action is agreed, not when it is merely discussed.
What it is
IDS comes from EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, where it is the way a team clears its issues list during the weekly Level 10 meeting. The steps are:
- Identify: find the root cause, not the first complaint.
- Discuss: let everyone add what they know, once, and stop when the point has been made.
- Solve: agree one concrete action, with a named owner and a due date, and write it on the to-do list.
Common mistakes
- Treating the meeting as a place to vent. Without an owner and a date, nothing leaves the room.
- Solving before the root cause is clear.
- Tackling the loudest issue instead of the most important one.
