The Lean Coffee Playbook

Have you ever attended a meeting and wondered, "Why am I here?"

"Death by PowerPoint and the endless echo of 'let's circle back'—welcome to meetings, where minutes are kept and hours are lost; good ideas die by committee, and 'quick sync' is the biggest oxymoron since 'Microsoft Works..."

If not, consider yourself lucky! I've endured many such meetings.

Meetings often lack focus, prioritize the wrong topics, or run over time. The Lean Coffee method changes that by turning meetings into highly productive and democratic discussions where the players decide what matters most.

Let's dig into this refreshingly simple way to run meetings called "Lean Coffee". No complicated frameworks. No fancy tools. Just people talking about what actually matters. It works. That's all there is to it.

What is Lean Coffee?

Lean Coffee is a structured, agenda(less) meeting format designed to foster productive discussions. The Players choose the talking points, prioritize them through voting, and use time-boxing to ensure focused conversations. It’s ideal for fostering collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making in a variety of settings.

Why It Works

• Self-Organizing: The group collectively decides what to discuss.
• Time-Efficient: Discussions are time-boxed to prevent dragging on.
• Democratic: Everyone gets a say, not just the loud folks.
• Action-Oriented: You walk away with clear next steps, not fuzzy maybes.

Running a Lean Coffee Session

A simple step-by-step guide to running your own Lean Coffee session.

1. The Prep

What You’ll Need:

• In-Person Meeting: Sticky notes, markers, a whiteboard, and a timer.
• Virtual Meeting: Use collaboration tools like Figma, Miro, Mural or ToDoist.
• Participants: Ideal group size is 6–12 for interactive discussions.

Set up your board: Create three columns:

• To Discuss: Where all suggested topics go.
• In Progress: The current topic being discussed.
• Discussed: Completed topics.

2. How You'll Run the Session

Step 1: Topic Generation ?? (10 Minutes)

Each player writes down 1–2 topics they want to discuss on sticky notes (physical or virtual). Keep topic descriptions short and sweet (e.g., “Improving sprint planning” or “CI/CD pipeline issues”).

Step 2: Topic Prioritization ?? (5 Minutes)

1. Participants vote on the topics they find most important.
2. Each participant gets 2–3 votes.
3. Topics with the most votes are prioritized at the top of the To Discuss column.

Step 3: Time-Boxed Discussions ?? (20–40 Minutes)

1. Start with the top-priority topic.
2. Set a Timer (5–7 minutes per topic).
3. When time is up, ask: “Should we continue or move on?”
4. Move completed topics to the Discussed column.

Step 4: Wrap-Up (5 Minutes)

1. Summarize key takeaways ??
2. Identify next steps or action items ?
3. Assign follow-up responsibilities ??

Virtual Lean Coffee (An Adaptation)

Lean Coffee works just as well in a virtual space. Here’s how ????

• Board Tools: Use Figma, Miro, Mural or ToDoist for creating a virtual Lean Coffee board.
• Voting Tools: Use Zoom polls or Slack reactions for prioritization. (you can use tools within the boards too or just count a show of hands)
• Collaborative Notes: Capture highlights and follow-ups in Google Docs or Confluence. (or, in the board tools, GitHub/Lab, etc.)
• Breakout Rooms: For larger groups, use breakout rooms to keep discussions focused. (be cautious, it's hard enough running meetings with 5-7 people)

Tips for the Win

1. Stay Neutral: Guide the process without dominating the conversation
2. Ask the quiet ones what they think—they usually have the best ideas
3. Respect Time-Boxes—use that time like you mean it!
4. Get real about next steps—no "let's circle back" nonsense
5. Adaptive—If something's not working, change it

When Lean Coffee Make Sense

Meetings don't have to suck. Here's where Lean Coffee shines:

• Team retros that actually fix things
• Starting projects without the endless planning
• Getting different teams to talk (and actually hear each other)
• Learning stuff together without falling asleep

It works because it's honest—you talk about what matters, for exactly as long as it needs to be talked about. No fluff. No nonsense. Just better meetings.

?? Note To Readers:

• These are my opinions, shaped by experience and inspired by all the great thinkers and creators before me. Take them for what they are—a perspective through my lens, not an absolute truth.

• My advice follows the Just Sharing Principle. I’m "Not" prescribing solutions; I’m "Sharing" ideas and observations. If they resonate with you, great. If not, that’s okay too. Take what’s useful and leave the rest.