Hello! I’m an American at a mostly-American company, but one of our offices is based in the UK. I was wondering if the UK has any word for this:
In America, a “parking lot” in the context of a meeting is a place for questions to be recorded that don’t require immediate follow-up in the meeting – i.e., a list of questions that can be taken offline that might not be relevant or important enough for spending the time on in that meeting. Our locally hired people (UK citizens) can’t think of a word for it, wondering if anyone else has any experience using such a word? It came up particularly because “parking lots” are obviously called “car park”, which doesn’t really make sense / feels like a literal translation that probably shouldn’t be literally translated.
EDIT: I would definitely say a lot of these suggestions in the comments – but I think the thing here is that a “parking lot” is a thing or place (on an agenda, sticky note, etc.), whereas a lot of the suggestions are just…pleasantries or phrases (e.g., “let’s put that on the back burner” – where is the back burner?? Or, “let’s park that for now” – who is responsible for circling back on this, and where are we explicitly tracking it?? etc.)
EDIT 2: No no, not a town hall – at least, as I would describe a town hall or Q&A. This is in the context of a structured meeting with an agenda, where an off-topic point is raised.
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It would probably just come under ongoing action points and stay on the agenda for the next meeting, I think.
I don’t think we really have a word for that. You can “park” a thought which is basically so save it for later, I assume based off the same idea. But generally questions like that would just be referred to “questions to take away”
I’d totally understand “we’ll park questions for later”, but I’m not sure we have a name for the place questions are actually ‘parked’.
Having a meeting just for questions with no immediate answers isn’t really a thing, so they’ll use generic business terms like “Q&A”, “Townhall”, “Round table”, “Feedback session”, etc which are still slightly different
“Let’s take that offline/let’s park that for today. OP, are you taking the note? Thank you.”
Which means OP, you’re writing down said list.
I just think we refer to them as addressing them ‘offline’ or it would become an action point for someone to follow up ‘offline’ and update at the next meeting.
We talk about ‘putting things on the back burner’, or ‘one for later’ or just to defer something.
As a UK person working with US based people we’ve taken to just calling it a Car Park even though as you say it doesn’t really make sense
We just don’t use the word ‘lot’ – it’s perfectly normal to say ‘We’ll just park that issue for now’ – other people have suggested other idioms too.
Potentially the phrase “putting it on the back burner for now” might be applicable.
Usually something we don’t need to deal with immediately but will in the future at some point.
“Park it for now”
“Put it on the back burner”
“Stick a pin in it till next time”
are all phrases I would use, but I can’t think of a specific name for said parking.
I have several meetings a week with people from the US, and I’ve never heard “parking lot” used in this context ever. Is it a regional thing in the US?
In meetings where minutes are recorded, they just put the questions on there or create an action list if it’s a question that a specific person needs to answer.
Take it off line, maybe. My office don’t take well to that sort of jargon. If we hear a phrase like that, it usually means you have to take a drink.
If someone has a question but you want to address it later, the approved British terminology is to tell them to “shove it up your arse”. HTH
I’ll put that in the Laterbase
Its a “Car Park” but in most meetings the term isnt used and instead just the term “Park”.
“Lets Park that for now and discuss it another time”.
An even more common phrase for the same thing though is “Lets take this offline” which basically means “Lets not discuss this now it can be discussed another time”
Isn’t that just an action log lmao?
Why would you call it a ‘parking lot’ of all things???
We just call it a parking lot.
Eh….? I would just say “park it”/ put it on the back burner/ “let’s talk about it later
I run a meeting with people in Europe and US. I always have a slide for AoB. After about 18 months one the US team (and the rest chimed in) asked ‘What’s AoB?’
Never realised it wasn’t a universal term. Also, the slide was always empty and I’d ask, “Does anyone have anything else they want to discuss?”
If think you’ve already said it. Follow-up.
That’s what we’d use, follow-up questions to be addressed after the meeting
Car Park was common a few years ago. Even to the extent that one would draw a 🅿️ on a blank flip chart at the start of a meeting. Not so much these days…
This basically just AOB any other business at the end of a meeting.
I think what you’re asking about is much less common in the UK and I’ve only really seen it in specific requirements workshops, usually run by a BA. Usually called a car park, but have seen it called a queue before as well.
Car park
Sounds like something that just shouldn’t be anything to do with a meeting at all… so better just keep it seperate rather than find a word for it.
Man I hate corporate talk , can we just circle back here and take this offline and have a meeting to try and make the quarter more quarterly .
Follow Up
I don’t know your term, but understand the concept. It would be recorded in minutes as ‘Follow up’ for example:
“Follow Ups: Arctan_pete requested Manager check with Logistics about availability in August”
This sort of thing isn’t really my wheelhouse so I’m just gonna stick a pin in it and pop it on the back-burner for good measure.
We usually say:
> “Let’s place that in the thought fridge and snack on it later”
It’d called a car park. Mostly because you take your car and you park it there. Simples.
Well, this is interesting.
I’m in the UK, I work in an “Agile” department and I have heard and used “parking lot” in exactly the context you describe.
It’s not *common* but it does exist.
We call it the graveyard. Because the “parking lot” as you call it is the place where ideas wither away and die /s
We call it Critchet’s Back Passage. So if someone has a question that isn’t relevant or would bog down the meeting or just to save for later you could say “Let’s shove that one in Critchet’s Back Passage for now, Bob”