Lean Coffee
A meeting with no agenda until the people in it write one. Everyone posts the topics they want to talk about, gives two votes, and the group works through the topics in vote order on a simple board: To Discuss, Discussing, Discussed. Each topic gets a short timebox, and the group decides together whether to keep going or move on.
Use when a group meets regularly to learn from each other and the most useful topics are the ones people bring themselves.
Solves: Standing meetings follow an agenda one person wrote, so the questions people actually have never get airtime.
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Step 1: Draw a board with three columns: To Discuss, Discussing, Discussed (2 min).
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Step 2: Everyone writes topics they want to talk about, one per sticky note, and introduces each in one or two sentences as they post it (5 min).
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Step 3: Each person gets two votes. Two dots on the same topic is allowed (3 min).
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Step 4: Sort the To Discuss column by votes and move the top topic to Discussing (1 min).
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Step 5: Talk it through within an agreed timebox, often 5 to 8 minutes. When time is up, thumbs up to continue, down to move on (30-60 min).
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Step 6: Move each finished topic to Discussed with a one-line takeaway. End with a quick round on what people take with them (5 min).
- Ask for topics written as a question or a claim. 'Culture' gives a vague talk; 'Why do our retros never change anything?' gives a useful one.
- Name a timekeeper who is not also leading the conversation.
- Write the takeaway on the card as it moves to Discussed, so nobody has to reconstruct the meeting afterwards.
- For larger groups, run several tables, each with its own board, and share takeaways at the end.