There are certain sayings that people use that seem wise, but really say nothing. They may be used to deflect blame, change the topic, or just fill up silence. Here are some strategies for working with some of these sayings.

1. Thank you, Captain Obvious. These are sayings that I even find myself blurting out on occasion and I wish I could retroactively shut myself up.
"It is what it is."
"What happened happened."
"Let's leave the past in the past."
"What's done is done."
"No use crying over spilled milk."

Reactions: No, do not say, "Thank you, Captain Obvious!" or something equally sarcastic. Instead just ignore it and maybe even a little play on words to et back on track such as, "Now what was it that happened?", "Ok, well, I'd like to understand what it is, now what can help us do that?" "Well it is past, but it is still impacting us today, so how can we make sure it is better in the future?", "How do we best mop up that spilled milk before it stinks and the baby starts crying?"

2. So what? These are sayings that if you think about them too long make you wonder why anyone thinks they are helpful.
"There is no "I" in team."
"We just need to do more with less."
"I'm 1000% sure!"
"Give 110% to get the job done!"

Reactions: "While there is no 'I' in team, there is a me, and there is also MEAT, but it isn't kind to eat your team or beat your team, so treat them well, all of them, and do not say this." "While I understand resources are constrained, what are the priorities so we know what to drop since 100% really is the total. There is no extra 10% nor is there a realistic way to do more with less, so what is most important to you?" Also, I've learned the larger the percentage of confidence, the more of a lie you are being told. The person who is 1000% sure really isn't sure at all. The person who is 95% sure is way more sure than any percentage above 100%. Do not trust people when they have a creative numerical scale.

3. Yeah, and, that changes the situation because?
"It worked on my machine!"
"That isn't ready to be tested yet."
"I noticed that, I just haven't fixed it yet."
"Oh, I already fixed that in a future build."
"No user is going to do that!"
"That doesn't happen in my file."

Reactions: "Let's find out what's different on my (machine, file, monitor) so that we can fix it." "When will that be ready for testing? Can I have a handoff when it is?" "Great, send the bug back to me with notes so I can regress around it when I get your fix." "Well, I'm a user and I did just do that, but if you don't think it is a common scenario, perhaps it's deferrable. Let's check with the user data to see what percentage of customers this is likely to impact."