The Return of the Red Herring

There are two ways to shut down the constant stream of Red Herrings.

1. Acknowledge their issue, and ask them if they want to run with it.
2. Ask if that should be the team’s primary focus instead of what they are here to discuss.
3. Ask them for their plan to resolve the issue.

A few things will happen.

1. They will not want to run with it.
2. They will not want to change the team’s focus.
3. They will not have a plan – if you stick with this line over and over, perhaps they will start showing up with a plan – which is great.

The different between valid issues and red herring’s is ownership, a valid issue has ownership, a red herring is trying to turf a problem onto someone else.