Is there a word to describe the act of discussing a problem and avoiding solving it?

Question

I would like to pin it to my company's noticeboard.

I'll give an example scenario... at work today a colleague encountered a problem, and solved it quickly, but needed their manager to speak with a different team's manager to help avoid the problem in the future. However, rather than my colleague's manager quickly speaking with the appropriate team manager, he had a 30+ minute discussion with a different manager about the problem, which yielded no useful results.

I'd love a word or phrase, something to "brand" this type of scenario, so that I can politely and humorously warn people about the dangers of wasting time by unnecessarily chewing over simple problems that could be solved easily.

I thought about words like 'fusspot' (worrier, stickler, an anal person) but it's more the act that I want to describe. So I thought about 'time-wasting' but that's far too general. Thanks for any suggestions!

Answer 1

Procrastinating:

to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done

Or bike-shedding:

Parkinson provides the example of a fictional committee whose job was to approve the plans for a nuclear power plant spending the majority of its time on discussions about relatively minor but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what materials to use for the staff bike shed, while neglecting the proposed design of the plant itself, which is far more important and a far more difficult and complex task.

Answer 2

If the person failed to act because the discussion was just taking up time, to shilly-shally or dither might be useful.

In other words, the person was wasting time by being indecisive.

Cambridge Dictionary (for both terms):

Stop dithering and choose which one you want!

shilly-shally - to spend too much time doing something or making a decision because you do not know what is the right thing to do"

Stop shilly-shallying and make a decision now!

Colloquially, we say: Stop screwing around.

Answer 3

beat (about/around) the bush TFD

To speak vaguely or euphemistically so as to avoid talking directly about an unpleasant or sensitive topic.

Answer 4

Consider filibuster. It comes from a parliamentary setting, but can easily be pressed into service for ‘management’ meetings.

A filibuster is a political procedure where one or more members of parliament or congress debate over a proposed piece of legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision being made on the proposal. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out a bill" and is characterized as a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body. - Wikipedia

Answer 5

Conversational narcissism

This phrase addresses the tendency to shift the conversation away from the intended goal or target, and focus on topics that benefit oneself. The manager in your example could be exhibiting Conversational narcissism by speaking with people that are unnecessary to solving the problem.

Another way to think about it is

Deliberative

The act of deliberation is to discuss a matter at great length. That that length can imply 'care', the major concept is the slow speed at which the conversation moves. In government (like parliament), "deliberation" can imply a tactic, intentional or not, meaningful action.