How to end useless, drawn-out technical conversations?

Question

For context, I work on a software development team and I have a teammate we'll call Bob. Bob regularly comes up with ideas on how we can improve things and proposes these ideas to his teammates. In general this is great; there is always room for improvement in processes, architecture, design, etc.

The vast majority of Bob's ideas however are not good ideas. He will come up with Idea A, and within 10 seconds or so of hearing it the teammate to which he's talking can think up reasons X, Y, and Z as to why Idea A is not feasible. That teammate will calmly and rationally explain reasons X, Y, and Z for not taking up Idea A and Bob will not accept those reasons. What always proceeds is a 10-60 minute drawn-out conversation/argument eventually leading to Bob letting the topic go and nothing having been improved.

After a few years now of this happening on at least a weekly basis, I'm tired of and frustrated with it. I'd like to let Bob at least feel heard because I don't at all want to discourage ideas for improvement, but I don't want to keep wasting time over things that at face value can be immediately dismissed.

How can I better nip these ideas in the bud when they come up? Or how should I proceed with this type of scenario?

Answer 1

Informal chats as you described in the comments are harder to manage. At least in a meeting you can reign in the discussion with, “let’s get back to the agenda” kind of thing.

One idea is to establish an informal, completely optional forum, like a lunch brown bag, for open discussions. When one of these ideas come up, redirect it with, “Hey Bob, great idea. Let’s table it for now but you should bring it up in the (witty name for this open chat forum).” Those who are interested can spend their time debating. Those who aren’t can skip it. And if nobody but Bob shows up? Bummer.

Another idea, that I’ve used more successfully, is to put Bob on the hook to follow through: “Interesting idea, Bob. Flesh it out as a proposal, draw up some designs, and make some estimates. Schedule a meeting with (senior team members) and pitch your ideas.” In my experience, odds are good that Bob will never follow through. But, if he does, have him collect the feedback given at the formal review and schedule a follow up to present an amended plan.

This puts all the work on him. If he actually follows through with good ideas, then that’s great. If not, that’s fine too. Should he keep trying to bring it up informally, redirect the discussion with, “oh right. Weren’t you going to schedule a session to present your proposal? When is that meeting again?”

He may well be the type of person that thinks through problems by talking them out with others, so I wouldn’t just shut him down. But I would look for ways to redirect his energy, putting the burden on him and giving you a reason to opt out of the immediate discussion.