How to Use Ninety's “Tangent” Button During Meetings
“Beware of the tangents that exist in most unproductive meetings. That is when people start getting off the subject and going down rabbit holes.”
— Gino Wickman & Tom Bouwer, What the Heck Is EOS?
The Tangent Button helps any meeting attendee signal when discussions veer away from the agenda. This creates shared accountability for staying focused, ensuring your team solves Issues efficiently without relying solely on the facilitator to police the conversation.
What the Tangent button does
The Tangent Button gives every meeting participant a respectful, low-friction way to course-correct in real time. When someone clicks the button, the facilitator receives an immediate alert notification, and all attendees see a message reminding the team to refocus. This instant feedback helps teams catch drift early and finish meetings strong.
Why this matters: In most meetings, only the facilitator feels responsible for keeping discussions on track. This dilutes accountability and creates awkward situations where calling out tangents verbally feels confrontational. The Tangent Button makes course correction simple, respectful, and available to everyone.
When to click the Tangent button
Click the Tangent Button the moment you notice the conversation has drifted away from the current agenda item or Issue being discussed. Catching drift early prevents wasted time and ensures key topics don't get rushed or skipped.
Common tangent scenarios include:
The team started discussing sales goals, but is now debating the target for a procurement metric.
An Issue about customer retention has shifted into a detailed conversation about one specific employee's performance.
An Issue about customer retention has shifted into a detailed conversation about one specific employee's performance.
Multiple unrelated topics are being raised instead of solving the current Issue.
How the Tangent button works
The Tangent Button appears in all meetings once you've joined the meeting session:
Join your meeting: Start or join a scheduled meeting from the Meetings tool (works in both default and custom meeting agendas).
Detect drift: When you notice the conversation going off track, look for the Tangent Button.
Click the button: Signal the tangent with a single click — available to all attendees at any time during the meeting.
Facilitator receives alert: The facilitator gets an on-screen pop-up notification that a tangent has been called.
Team is notified: All meeting participants see a brief, “toast,” message that a participant has called a tangent.
Course correct: The facilitator acknowledges the alert and redirects the discussion back to the current agenda item or Issue.
Note: You must be actively joined to a meeting to access the Tangent Button. It's not visible when viewing meeting agendas or history outside of an active meeting session.
Who can use the Tangent button
All meeting attendees with Managee/Team Member or higher permissions can click the Tangent Button during active meetings. This shared access means every team member can help keep the meeting on track.
Facilitators receive a dismissible pop-up notification that gives them control over how to respond while maintaining smooth facilitation.
All attendees see a toast notification when someone clicks the button, creating collective awareness without disrupting the meeting flow.
Best practices for staying on track during a meeting
Using the Tangent Button effectively creates stronger meeting outcomes and reinforces shared accountability:
Signal drift early: Don't wait until the conversation is completely derailed. Click the button as soon as you notice the discussion drifting—catching tangents early prevents compounding time loss.
Capture the tangent as an Issue: If the tangent topic is important but not relevant to the current discussion, add it to your Issues List to address later in priority order.
Keep it respectful: The Tangent Button replaces awkward verbal interruptions with a simple, non-confrontational signal.
Refocus quickly: After a tangent is called, the facilitator should acknowledge it and return focus to the original Issue being discussed.
Build the habit: Encourage all team members to use the button. The more your team uses it, the more natural course correction becomes.
Why shared accountability matters
Meetings stay tight and outcome-driven when everyone feels responsible for maintaining focus:
Prevents delayed decisions: Off-track discussions compound across meetings, leaving issues unresolved and momentum stalled.
Reduces facilitator burden: When only one person polices the room, accountability is diluted, and meeting quality varies wildly depending on who's facilitating.
Eliminates silence: Team members often stay quiet even when they know the meeting is drifting off track because interrupting verbally feels awkward. The Tangent Button removes this barrier.
Improves meeting ratings: Teams that stay focused solve more Issues, meet more commitments, and consistently rate their meetings higher.
Troubleshooting the Tangent button
Issue: I don't see the Tangent Button in my meeting.
Solution: Verify that you've joined the meeting session (not just viewing the agenda). The Tangent Button only appears when you're actively in a meeting. If you still don't see it after joining, refresh your browser or verify you're on the web version of Ninety.
Issue: Nothing happened when I clicked the Tangent Button.
Solution: The facilitator receives a pop-up notification they can dismiss, while attendees see a brief toast message. The button works as intended, even if you don't see a dramatic change — only the facilitator gets an interactive alert.
Issue: Someone keeps clicking the Tangent Button inappropriately.
Solution: Use this as a coaching opportunity. Discuss as a team when tangents should be called and reinforce that the button is for keeping discussions on the current Issue, not for shutting down legitimate discussion or debate. Healthy conflict during Issue discussion is productive. Teams should only signal tangents when the conversation has genuinely drifted away from the topic at hand.