- 60 - 90 minutes
- 5 - 11 people
- Table + chairs
- PostIts and Pens
- Timer
- Arrange table and chairs so that all participants can sit together and see each other. Some of the best discussions seem to come when the table is a bit too small and people have to sit very close.
- Prepare a simple Kanban board in the middle of the table. Use three PostIts to make column headings for "To Do", "Doing" and "Done".
- Each participant takes a pad of PostIts and a pen.
- Generate Topics. As folks settle in, get coffee, say 'Hi', etc. ask them to start writing potential topics on PostIts. Arrange the topics in the middle of the table so that no PostIts are covering others. Don't worry about fitting them in to the Kanban Board yet.
- Introduce Topics. After the flow of new topics slows and before folks settle into a conversation topic, introduce topics. For each PostIt, ask the person who wrote it to introduce the topic in two or three sentances. Keep the introductions very short. Cut off folks who go more than five sentances. Cut off folks who respond to the introduction.
- Vote on Topics. Once all topics have been introduced, invite all participants to vote for the topics they'd like to discuss. Each participant gets three votes. They may distribute these among the topics however they wish. They indicate their votes by making marks on the topics they choose.
- Prepare the Board. Arrange the topics by count of votes, from greatest to lest. There will be many ties. Resolve them without thinking about the topics.
- Start New Topic. Pull the hightest ranked (by vote) topic from "To Do" and place it in "Doing". Start a timer for six minutes. The person who proposed the topic starts the discussion.
- Vote. When the timer goes off, let whomever is talking finish making their point. Do not respond to their point. Everyone now more-or-less simultaneously votes by holding out a hand. Thumbs up means "Ceasar wishes to continue talking about this". Thumbs down means "Ceasar would like to move on to the next topic". A thumb sideways means "Ceasar cannot make up Ceasar's mind". Sum the up thumbs and subtract the down thumbs. Ignore the sideways thumbs. If the total is greater than zero, set a two minute timer and continue on the topic. After two minutes, vote as described here. If the total is zero or less, move the topic from "Doing" to "Done", then Start a New Topic.
End the disussions about five minutes before the group's time is up. Then ask each person to share one take-away they got from the conversation. These should be one or two sentances only.
Taking a couple minutes to go over the rules, even with experienced Lean Coffee participants, helps the whole experience run more smoothly.
Pens that make a thick line are better, as they both make it easier to read what's on the PostIts from across the table and they discourage writing long, complicated items.
Ask participants to make name tents by folding a PostIt in half and writing their name on the flap that sticks up, then placing the PostIt in front of themselves.
Lean Coffee was developed by Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith as a way to explore Lean topics.