Stephen Turner
Akash Kumar
Jordan Lee
Taylor Scott
How to run a Lean Coffee: a meeting where the group builds the agenda
A Lean Coffee is a structured but agenda-less meeting. Participants write topics on sticky notes, introduce each in a sentence or two, and vote with two dots each. The group then talks through the most popular topics first, moving each across a three-column board.
What a Lean Coffee is
Lean Coffee is a format with no agenda prepared in advance. The people in the room build it at the start, so the meeting covers what they actually want to discuss.
It started in Seattle in 2009. Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith wanted a group to discuss Lean techniques in knowledge work, without steering committees or speakers.
Set up the board
The board is a simple Personal Kanban with three columns. It shows what is waiting, what is being discussed and what is done.
| Column | What goes there |
|---|---|
| To Discuss | Every proposed topic, one sticky note each |
| Discussing | The one topic the group is talking about now |
| Discussed | Topics already covered, with any takeaway noted |
Agenda for a one-hour Lean Coffee
The core steps come from leancoffee.org and Agile Coffee's Lean Coffee guide. The timings are our suggestion for a group of six to ten people. Adjust them to your group.
| Step | Time | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Add topics | 5 min | Everyone writes topics on sticky notes and adds them to To Discuss |
| Introduce | 5 min | Each topic gets a one- or two-sentence introduction so people know what they are voting for |
| Vote | 3 min | leancoffee.org gives each person two votes: two topics, or two dots on one topic |
| Discuss | 40 min | Rank the most popular topics first, then take them one at a time |
| Close | 5 min | Read back the Discussed column and agree any follow-ups |
Keep the conversation moving
The voting does most of the facilitation. A few habits keep it on track:
- Set a timebox per topic. Agile Coffee suggests five minutes, then a thumbs up, sideways or down vote on whether to continue for a shorter round.
- Keep one topic in Discussing at a time.
- Note a takeaway on each sticky as it moves to Discussed.
- Leave unvoted topics in To Discuss. They can seed the next session.
Running it with a distributed team
Remote groups need a shared board. An online whiteboard works, and leancoffee.org also points to tools built for Lean Coffee.
Ask people to add topics before the call. That shortens the start of the meeting and gives quiet participants time to think.
When it fits, in our view
| Good fit | Poor fit |
|---|---|
| Communities of practice and meetups | Meetings that must reach a specific decision |
| Team syncs where several issues compete for time | Status updates with a fixed list of items |
| Open forums with leadership | Sessions that need prepared material in advance |
Keep a record people can use
The board shows what was covered, but not what was said. Record the session if the group agrees, so people who missed it can catch up.
In Bridge, a hosted meeting gives you a speaker-labeled transcript, notes and a recording. Use Add to Space to file each session in the same Space and keep the history together.