Wisdom often lies in knowing which question needs answering first.

Questions have an order, and taking them out of order wastes enormous effort. People argue about how to do a thing before establishing whether it should be done, or debate who is at fault before working out what actually happened. The answer to a later question is worthless if an earlier one goes the other way. Much of what looks like difficulty is really sequence error.

When a discussion is going in circles, stop and ask which question, if answered, would make several others unnecessary. Say it out loud and get agreement on it before continuing. Often the circling ends immediately, because the group discovers it was answering three questions at once.