Issues and obstacles log
An issues and obstacles log is the named, owned, dated list of what stands between a team and its Objective. It is seeded when the goal is written, kept current in weekly check-ins, and drained by escalation. An obstacle with no owner and no date is a complaint.
Seed it at the start
Most goals fail on something the team already suspected in week one. The obstacle was known; it just never got written anywhere that obliged somebody to act.
So the log starts when the goal does. Before anything is committed, the team says what will get in the way. That single act converts a hopeful intention into a plan, because the plan now has to route around a real thing.
Three fields, no more
What it is, who owns it, and by when. Anything more elaborate turns the log into a project management artefact that somebody has to maintain, and it will stop being maintained.
The owner is the interesting field. Many obstacles are owned outside the team, which is precisely why they are obstacles, and naming the external owner is what makes escalation possible rather than awkward.
Drained by escalation, not discussion
The check-in is not for solving obstacles. It is for confirming which ones have moved and which have not, and pushing the ones that have not to somebody who can act.
An obstacle that has been discussed three weeks running and not moved is not an obstacle any more. It is a decision somebody senior has not made, and the log exists to make that visible.
What is an issues and obstacles log? +
The named, owned and dated list of what stands between a team and its Objective, started when the goal is written and reviewed in every check-in.
How is it different from a risk register? +
A risk register lists what might happen. An obstacle log lists what is already in the way, with a named owner and a date. It is a shorter, more uncomfortable and considerably more useful document.