A rathole is a minor issue or tangential topic that derails a productive meeting or project timeline. Teams often fall into these traps when they obsess over a highly specific, irrelevant detail instead of focusing on the main objective. Managers have to actively cut off these discussions to prevent the crew from wasting hours on problems that do not impact the final delivery.
Heard on the job
Let's not go down a rathole arguing about the paint color until we actually get the engine running.
Insider tip
A good project manager will use a parking lot board to capture these tangents and keep the meeting moving.
Also heard as
- rabbit hole