The quiet before the wheel spins

Everyone was settled, notebooks open, but the air was thick with that familiar, polite hesitation. I could see people glancing at the whiteboard, then at each other, waiting for someone else to speak first. It was time to move from planning to action, and the weight of deciding who would do what was holding us all back.

Letting the wheel decide for us

I pulled up the wheel on the shared screen, a simple circle waiting to be filled. There was a collective shift in the room, a subtle release of tension. The act of typing in the tasks felt different than just listing them; it was like we were externalizing the decision, handing it over to something neutral.No one had to volunteer or be volunteered. The responsibility for the awkward 'who wants this one?' moment just dissolved. I remember someone quietly saying, 'Okay, that’s fair,' before I even spun it. The fairness wasn't in the outcome, but in the process itself.

A clear direction, not just a name

When the pointer landed, there was no debate. The person it selected gave a small, accepting nod. There was a clarity that a simple discussion never seems to achieve. The 'why me?' question was answered before it could even be asked—it was just the luck of the spin.The energy in the room changed immediately. The silent negotiation was over. We all knew exactly where to direct our focus next, because the ambiguity of assignment was gone. It created a clean starting line for everyone.

What was on the wheel

These were the concrete next steps we needed to own, the pieces that had been floating in the air between us.