Lean Coffee Meetings

Lean Coffee Meetings are structured, agenda-less meetings where participants gather, build an agenda, and begin talking. Conversations are directed and productive because the agenda for the meeting is democratically generated.

Origins

Developed by Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith in Seattle in 2009.

Inspired by Lean principles to create efficient and effective meetings.

Adopted by teams seeking to improve meeting productivity and engagement.

Implementation Details

How Lean Coffee Meetings Work

Lean Coffee is a structured, but agenda-less meeting. Participants gather, build an agenda, and begin talking. Conversations are directed and productive because the agenda for the meeting is democratically generated.

Key Components

Topic Generation: Participants write topics on index cards.
Voting: Each participant votes on the topics they are most interested in discussing.
Time-Boxed Discussions: Each topic is discussed for a set amount of time, typically 5-10 minutes.
Continued Voting: After the time is up, participants vote to continue the discussion or move on.

Best Practices

Use a timer to keep discussions on track.
Encourage equal participation from all attendees.
Document key takeaways and action items.

Implementation Steps

1

Gather participants and explain the Lean Coffee format
2

Have participants write down topics on index cards
3

Vote on topics to prioritize discussion
4

Discuss each topic for a set time, then vote to continue or move on
5

Document key takeaways and action items

Available Tools

Lean Coffee Table Trello Miro

Usage

Usage data is only available to HyperFormation members

Benefits & Considerations

Benefits

increased meeting efficiency
enhanced team engagement
better decision-making

Considerations

requires discipline to adhere to time limits
may need facilitation to ensure equal participation
can be challenging to implement in large groups