IDS stands for Identify, Discuss, Solve — the issue-solving method used in the Level 10 Meeting. Rather than letting problems surface as rambling discussion, IDS forces three explicit steps: name the real issue (often not the one first stated), discuss it once with everyone heard, and solve it with a decision plus a to-do that has an owner and a date.
The three steps
- Identify. State the real issue in a sentence or two. This is the hardest step: “the website is stale” is usually a symptom of “nobody owns marketing.” Teams that skip real identification solve the same surface issue every week.
- Discuss. Everyone says their piece — once. When people start repeating themselves, discussion is over. This is what keeps a 60-minute issues block covering more than two issues.
- Solve. The conclusion is never “let's keep an eye on it.” It's a decision, plus a to-do with one owner and a date, which gets checked done-or-not-done next week.
What makes it different from normal discussion
Most meeting discussion fails in one of two ways: it solves problems in the order they come up (loudest first), or it ends without anyone owning anything. IDS fixes both — the issues list is ranked before solving starts and worked top-down, and a solve isn't a solve until it produces an owned, dated to-do. It's normal not to get through the whole list; the discipline is that the most important issues die first.
Related
EOS®, Level 10 Meeting™, and Rocks are trademarks or concepts of EOS Worldwide, LLC. Vetta is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by EOS Worldwide. This page exists to explain the terminology accurately for teams who use it.